Receiving Body
United Nations International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement (EMLER)
Report Type
Submission
Tags
Today, over 6,000 people are detained across nine ICE detention centers, all operated under the New Orleans Field Office (“NOLA ICE”). These detention centers, in some of central Louisiana’s most remote and economically vulnerable areas, form a carceral corridor known as “Detention Alley.” They also share a common hub: a converted air force base known as the Alexandria Staging Facility, a primary departure hub for deportation flights with a massive “processing area” where people are detained, shackled, and deprived of access to counsel.
For Black noncitizens, detention is not merely a procedural hold, but a tool for racialized exclusion, legal isolation, and coerced deportation. This report describes human rights abuses of Black people carried out in NOLA ICE detention centers, including racial discrimination, solitary confinement, medical neglect, and deprivation of legal counsel and language interpretation.
What solutions exist?
The submission recommends that EMLER publicly call for:
- Ending abusive immigration detention and implementing community-based alternatives to ensure non-citizens can attend immigration proceedings
- Stopping government corruption and financial waste by ending contracting with private prison companies to operate for-profit immigration detention facilities in the U.S. and banning new contracts
- Ending racially disproportionate detention of Black people by repealing mandatory detention laws that rely on discriminatory policing in the criminal legal system
How can I get involved?
Read our submission to learn more about the systemic human rights abuses of Black people in Louisiana immigration detention centers.
Share this information with your networks.
August 2025
Submission to the International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice
and Equality in Law Enforcement
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ACLU of Louisiana
Since 1956, the ACLU of Louisiana has worked to advance and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States and the State of Louisiana.
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National Immigration Project (NIP)
The National Immigration Project is a membership organization of attorneys, advocates, and community members who are driven by the belief that all people should be treated with dignity, live freely, and flourish. We litigate, advocate, educate, and build bridges across movements to ensure that those who are impacted by our immigration and criminal legal systems…
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American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
With more than 1.1 million members, 500 staff attorneys, thousands of volunteer attorneys, and offices throughout the nation, the ACLU fights government abuse and vigorously defends individual freedoms including speech and religion, a woman’s right to choose, the right to due process, citizens’ rights to privacy and much more.
