The Trump administration is set to expand immigration detention operations at a controversial site inside a rural Louisiana airport, The Guardian has learned.
The administration is seeking to establish a “first-of-its-kind” short-term facility that would house migrant families and unaccompanied children next to an airstrip that has become a central node for the White House’s mass deportation agenda.
The proposed center, located within the Alexandria International Airport complex, will confine family groups and children for three to five days inside a converted military barracks before being deported, according to the project’s main contractors, who presented their plan at a sparsely attended airpark commission meeting in February.
Local airport officials confirmed to The Guardian that a series of leasing agreements are about to be signed with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its contractors. The site is expected to be operational within 60 to 90 days.
According to a public presentation, the center will house only people who have attempted to voluntarily “self-deport,” a claim disputed by a number of immigration and civil liberties groups who argue that the complex will be a detention center in all but name.
Airpark officials said the facility will be operated by the nonprofit arm of a private prison company, the LaSalle Family Foundation, and a Texas-based child care nonprofit, Compass Connections, which has previously housed unaccompanied minors.
The proposed site is located just across the track from a short-term adult detention center run by private prison company Geo Group, which was the subject of a recent Guardian investigation that revealed a series of alleged due process violations, medical problems, abuse and overcrowded conditions.
Speaking at a public hearing on Feb. 26, local airpark deputy director David Broussard described the new facility for families and children as a “humanitarian effort” that would have a “different feel and vibe than what’s happening on the other side of the ramp with Geo Group,” while encouraging a local board of commissioners to approve a five-year lease for the project. The lease also includes the use of an office block and 10 acres of additional land.
The authority would receive more than $535,000 in annual rent with funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which the Trump administration championed and which has designated more than $170 billion for immigration enforcement activities. Commissioners voted on the proposal almost unanimously.
Compass Connections president Sonya Thompson described the site as “the first of its kind.” He also said he would provide “wraparound services” in a bid to “make sure that as these people spend their final days in the United States, it is something they can take with them.”
An environmental impact assessment found issues with asbestos and other unspecified concerns, which would be addressed, according to public comments.
Speaking to The Guardian, the airport’s chief executive, Ralph Hennessy, described the project as a “done deal” and said he was not worried about potential reputational issues.
“I’m not worried about what’s going to happen,” Hennessy said. “I’m not losing sleep.”
Hennessy described previous Guardian reporting on detention operations at Alexandria airport as “full of rubbish”. He also dismissed concerns raised in the report about poor medical care and a series of emergencies, including suicide attempts.
Some immigrants detained in Alexandria “don’t want to go home,” Hennessy said. “They’d rather stay here in the United States being fat and dumb and happy and living off of… our federal government.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the new project.
As the Trump administration’s hardline immigration agenda sees an unprecedented rise in the number of detentions, with more than 68,000 people currently detained, the number of voluntary departures has also increased. In 2025, 28% of custodial removal cases ended in voluntary departure, according to a CBS News analysis. Advocates argue that prolonged detention and coercive measures have pushed many immigrants to agree to drop legal challenges and leave voluntarily.
“We’ve heard story after story of immigrant families who have actually been forced to sign voluntary departure forms,” said Kristin Kumpf, coordinator of the National Coalition to End Child and Family Detention. “Many have not been given options, have not had access to legal advice or have not even seen documents in their own language.
“There are a variety of reasons why people sign these forms, but we must understand that there are many situations where it is not as voluntary as it might seem.”
Compass Connections did not respond to multiple interview requests or written questions.
A representative for the LaSalle Family Foundation did not respond to interview requests or written questions. Nonprofit government documents show the foundation is run by the same father and son directors as LaSalle Correctional, a private, family-run correctional group with prisons and detention centers in Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.
In October, a federal jury found the company liable for $42.75 million in damages for the 2015 death of an inmate, Erie Moore Sr., who was beaten by guards at a prison in Richwood, Louisiana. It was reported to be the largest sentence against a private correctional group in United States history.
The company claimed in court that Moore had failed to comply, according to local press reports.
Alexandria airport has become a major hub for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation and transfer flights, with family groups and unaccompanied minors sometimes held for days in nearby hotels before being placed on planes. The Guardian has previously examined how a mother and her two US citizen children were secretly held in such a manner and allegedly prevented from accessing their lawyers before being deported to Honduras.
National Immigration Project Southeast Advocacy Manager Tania Wolf expressed concern that the new center would perpetuate the same concerns about due process.
“There are two buildings that they are trying to renovate, to make more families and children disappear under the auspices of a voluntary program,” Wolfe said. “They’re just trying to put a coat of paint on something that’s really disgusting. This is just stopping kids and families.”
