Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights has filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Homeland Security alleging officials at a Louisiana ICE center perpetrated widespread abuse, including sexual assault, forced labor, and medical neglect. Filed in collaboration with other advocacy groups, the complaint details how detainees were allegedly coerced into an unauthorized “night shift cleaning crew” by former assistant warden, Manuel Reyes, who is accused of stalking and sexually assaulting them.

The complaint describes systemic retaliation, with detainees placed in solitary confinement or beaten after attempting to report abuse. Official complaints under the Prison Rape Elimination Act were reportedly ignored or dismissed by ICE, and calls to oversight hotlines went unanswered.

Referring to a warden at the facility, Robert F. Kennedy Staff Attorney, Sarah Decker, said, “(Reyes) was using this program to intentionally punish people on the basis of their gender identity. The people who were involved in this were all either trans men or masculine-presenting LGBTQ people.”

“The more we learned, the more apparent it became that this was a really heinous situation,” she added.

Read more about the complaints here.