Senator Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the US Senate Finance Committee, has called for an end to secrecy surrounding a proposed family detention centre in Alexandria, Louisiana. The facility, first revealed by the Guardian in March, would be the first of its kind and is part of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement plans.
In letters to the project's contractors and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Wyden expressed 'grave concerns' over conflicts of interest, environmental contamination, and the lack of public consultation. 'A federal facility designed to hold children and families in federal custody cannot be stood up in secrecy,' his letter stated.
Documents obtained by the Guardian, including layout designs and draft contracts, show the centre will have 528 beds and is expected to hold families and unaccompanied minors for around 72 hours before deportation from a regional airport on the same site. The airport already houses a separate detention centre for men run by Geo Group, which has faced allegations of due process violations and poor conditions.
The facility is to be operated by Compass Connections, a Texas-based child welfare non-profit, alongside LaSalle Corrections' charitable arm. Wyden questioned how Compass Connections could reconcile its child-welfare mission with involvement in a 'deportation pipeline', given it has received over $1.6bn in federal funding for unaccompanied children's care. Compass Connections did not respond to requests for comment.
At a public meeting in February, Compass Connections' president Sonya Thompson described the project as a 'humanitarian effort' for voluntary self-deportation. However, records refer to 'detention services', and immigrant rights groups have dismissed the claims. Wyden warned the facility would 'punish unaccompanied children' and 'terrorize their families'.
