A new ICE facility could speed up deportations for families and kids

By — Jack Brook, Associated Press Jack Brook, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/a-new-ice-facility-could-speed-up-deportations-for-families-and-kids Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter A new ICE facility could speed up deportations for families and kids Politics Jul 6, 2026 5:56 PM EDT NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Trump administration plans to open a 528-bed holding facility for migrant families and unaccompanied children next to an airport hub, positioning itself to speed up deportations. The location in Alexandria, Louisiana, would remove logistical headaches caused by wrangling children from foster homes and shelters across the country and not having anywhere to put them during final preparations for flight. Those obstacles were apparent last year when Guatemalan children were awoken at night and given almost no time to get to Harlingen, Texas, where they waited on an airport tarmac for hours. A federal judge prevented their deportation, but the chaotic episode illustrated the challenges authorities face because they don't have anywhere to put families and children near the airport. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is calling the Alexandria facility a "staging area," not a detention center, and says people would only be there a few days at most. However, several immigration advocates expressed concern that children could be held at the new facility for weeks or months, which happened at other federal immigration holding sites. These advocates are also concerned about oversight, and say the facility represents a departure from how the government manages those children. "It's an expansion of the deportation system in ways we haven't seen before," said Leecia Welch, chief legal counsel at the nonprofit Children's Rights. "There's just so much that could go wrong with this facility." ICE has tapped a private prison company to run the deportation facility Unaccompanied children who are in the U.S. without parents or close relatives are not taken to facilities overseen by ICE. Instead, the law says they must be swiftly placed in the care of state-licensed shelters and foster care programs. Those are run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services. However, that agency isn't involved in the Alexandria facility's operation, according to a spokesperson at the airfield where it's being built. Instead, the facility would be run by a nonprofit arm of LaSalle Corrections, a private prison contractor, according to Ralph Hennessy, executive director of the England Airpark Authority. He said it could be operational as early as August. ICE officials signed a contract late last month to build the facility at the former military base near Alexandria International Airport, roughly 175 miles (280 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans, Hennessy said. It would operate as a 72-hour holding center for migrants awaiting depor