Top Democrat urges end to secrecy over proposed ICE child detention center

Architectural plans for the ICE family and child detention center in Alexandria, Louisiana. Photograph: Obtained by the Guardian View image in fullscreen Architectural plans for the ICE family and child detention center in Alexandria, Louisiana. Photograph: Obtained by the Guardian Top Democrat urges end to secrecy over proposed ICE child detention center Ron Wyden tells of ‘grave concerns’ over plan, first revealed by Guardian, to hold families at sprawling Louisiana facility The ranking member on the US Senate’s influential finance committee has demanded transparency over a proposed “first-of-its-kind” ICE family and child detention center in Alexandria, Louisiana, citing reporting by the Guardian that first revealed the Trump administration’s plans in March. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has written to the project’s contractors and to the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] expressing concerns over conflicts of interest, environmental contamination , and “the absence of a public process” in the center’s planning. “A federal facility designed to hold children and families in federal custody cannot be stood up in secrecy,” the letter states. The move comes as documents obtained by the Guardian, including layout designs, draft contracts and email communications, provide further details of the proposed facility’s operations, as the Department of Homeland Security continues to refuse to comment on the project. A spokesperson for England Airpark, the local authority responsible for leasing the land, confirmed that no contract had yet been signed. According to the documents, released under a public records request, the planned facility, partly based in an old military barracks, will have space for 528 beds and is expected to hold families and unaccompanied minors for around 72 hours before they are deported from a regional airport at the same site. View image in fullscreen Ron Wyden, the ranking member of the Senate intelligence committee, in January. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images The Alexandria airport is a central node in the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda and already houses a separate detention center for men, which is run by the private corrections company Geo Group. An investigation by the Guardian in 2025 revealed an array of due process violations, medical issues, abuse and crowded conditions. The planned family facility is set to be run by a Texas-based child welfare non-profit named Compass Connections alongside the charitable arm of a private prison group, LaSalle Corrections. Senator Wyden has written directly to Compass Connections expressing concerns that the non-profit’s existing work with the Office of Refugee Resettlement [ORR], which is mandated to promote the health and well-being of refugees and unaccompanied migrant children and not to conduct immigration enforcement activities, is evidence of a conflict of interest. The ORR is an agency within the HHS. The letter states that Compass Connect