DHS Partners With Three States to Add 80,000 Detention Beds

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security partnered with Louisiana, Indiana, and Nebraska to expand immigrant detention capacity, citing Florida's Alligator Alcatraz facility as inspiration. The initiative is supported by a $45 billion federal budget reconciliation package intended to add 80,000 detention beds nationwide.

As part of the expansion, Indiana is adding 1,000 beds at the Miami Correctional Facility. Louisiana is providing 416 beds in the previously closed Camp J section of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, and Nebraska is converting the McCook Work Ethic Camp to house 280 detainees. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated that maintaining this bedspace is critical for removing public safety threats from the country.

Critics and the American Civil Liberties Union have condemned the expansion as dehumanizing. The ACLU noted that approximately 70% of current detainees have no criminal convictions and warned that some of the selected facilities have histories of human rights abuses.