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DHS to Use Louisiana’s ‘Angola Prison’ for ICE Detainees
The facility will house the ‘worst of the worst,’ said Secretary Kristi Noem. Nebraska’s ‘Cornhusker Clink’ and Indiana’s ‘Speedway Slammer’ will also be used.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (C), along with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi (L) and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, participates in a press conference near Camp 57 at Angola Prison, the Louisiana State Penitentiary and America's largest maximum-security prison farm, to announce the opening of a new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility that will house immigrants convicted of crimes in West Feliciana Parish, La., near the town of St. Francisville on Sept. 3, 2025. Matthew Hinton/AFP via Getty Images
Authorities announced on Sept. 3 the use of Louisiana’s “Angola Prison” for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees.
The rural Louisiana State Penitentiary facility will be used to house the “worst of the worst” detainees, said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“Today, we’re announcing a new partnership with the state of Louisiana to expand detention space,” said Noem in a statement.
The use of Angola is a strategy to encourage illegal immigrants to self-deport. The homeland security secretary stood in front of a new sign outside the prison that read, “Louisiana Lockup,” at a press conference on Sept. 3.
Noem added that “if you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in [El Salvador’s maximum security prison] CECOT, [Nebraska’s] ‘Cornhusker Clink,’ [Indiana’s] ‘Speedway Slammer,’ or ‘Louisiana Lockup.’ Avoid arrest and self-deport now using the CBP Home App.”
According to officials, 51 ICE detainees are already at Angola, but Gov. Jeff Landry said that in the next few months, he expects the facility to be filled to capacity, which would be more than 400 detainees.
“Criminal illegal aliens beware: Louisiana Lockup is where your time in America ends,” said Landry. “Louisiana Lockup will give ICE the space it needs to lock up some of the worst criminal illegal aliens—murderers, rapists, pedophiles, drug traffickers, and gang members—so they can no longer threaten our families and communities.”
According to Landry, the facility “fulfills President [Donald] Trump’s Make America Safe Again” agenda.
This comes a day before an appeals court blocked a federal judge’s order to dismantle the South Florida detention facility—also known as Alligator Alcatraz—at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.
Alligator Alcatraz was opened early in July, and by July 25, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that several hundred illegal immigrants had been flown to U.S. deportation sites in other states, and 100 had been deported via the facility.
Following a lawsuit filed by environmental groups against local, state, and federal officials, a judge ordered a halt to all new development of the area on Aug. 7. On Aug. 21, the judge ordered the government to stop sending new detainees, and dismantle the facility by removing “all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support [the] project,” within 60 days.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (2nd L) tours "Camp 57," a facility to house immigration detainees at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana, with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (3rd L) and ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan (L) on Sept. 3, 2025. Gerald Herbert/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Indiana was the second state to partner with the federal government to continue mass removals of illegal immigrants, targeting those with criminal convictions, with the help of expanded space at the Miami Correctional Facility near Bunker Hill.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that ICE will use 1,000 beds at the site, known as the “Speedway Slammer” because Indiana hosts the Indianapolis 500 every year.
ICE will also be able to use Nebraska’s “Cornhusker Clink” detention center in a remote southwest corner of the state.
In an Aug. 19 announcement, Gov. Jim Pillen said the state will work with DHS to convert its Work Ethic Camp in McCook, Nebraska, into the holding center.
In March, Noem announced that El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, would accept gang members from countries such as El Salvador and Venezuela deported from the United States.
