Our Voices

Newsweek: ICE Warden Put Transgender Detainees into Forced Labor Program: Complaint

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, alongside the ACLU of Louisiana and the National Immigration Project, recently filed multiple complaints exposing systemic abuse against immigrants at a South Louisiana ICE Processing Center. Four detainees, three who identify as transgender, suffered months of abuse, including sexual assault, forced labor, and retaliation, orchestrated by a former assistant warden. 

Speaking with one of the detainees, Newsweek reports on an unsanctioned “night shift program” at the facility, wherein transgender men and masculine presenting LGBTQ+ people were targeted for hard manual labor without any protective equipment. 

Our Senior Staff Attorney Sarah Decker said, “The program had actually a much more sinister purpose and that from my perspective was designed to punish and physically torture people who identify as LGBTQ or transgender.” 


Read more about the complaints here.