A new immigration detention facility designed to house hundreds of undocumented immigrants convicted of serious crimes opened in Louisiana this week as part of what Attorney General Pam Bondi called a “historic agreement” between the state and federal government.
The new facility — which is located inside the Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as Angola — is designed to house more than 400 detainees.
The facility was given the name Camp 57 after Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry being the 57th governor of the state. Federal officials have also dubbed Camp 57 as “Louisiana Lockup.” In a news release, the Department of Homeland Security described it as part of a “new partnership” between the Trump administration and the state of Louisiana.
U.S. Immigrations Customs and Enforcement officials said that 51 detainees had already arrived at Camp 57 as of Tuesday.
“This is not just a typical ICE detention facility that you will see elsewhere in the country,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during a news conference Wednesday in front of Camp 57, alongside Bondi and Landry.
She said some of the men who have already transferred there were convicted of serious crimes, including murder and rape.
“Louisiana is one of several states stepping up to solve these problems,” Noem said.
Noem also indicated that Angola’s “notorious” history was one of the reasons that it was chosen for Camp 57.
“This is a facility that’s notorious, it’s a facility, Angola Prison is legendary — but that’s a message that these individuals that are going to be here, that are illegal criminals, need to understand,” Noem told reporters.
During Wednesday’s news conference, Landry said the facility is next to a lake “full of alligators” and surrounded by a “forest full of bears.” An officer with the Louisiana Department of Corrections told CBS News Wednesday there are alligators as big as 10 feet in the lake.
Camp 57 has a chapel and law library, law enforcement officials familiar with the project told CBS News Wednesday.
The facility, which will house only men, is separated from the rest of the Louisiana state prisoners incarcerated in the Angola complex, which spans 18,000 acres.
Camp 57 was shuttered for many years before renovations started about a month ago. DHS officials said it was renovated into working order in about 30 days.
Prior to its closure, Camp 57 had been used for disciplinary actions against state prisoners, according to law enforcement officials familiar with the project.
Transferring ICE detainees between facilities isn’t new but has increased under the current administration. A CBS News analysis of government data found that more than half of immigrants detained by ICE between Jan. 20, 2025, and July 29, 2025, were transferred to another facility two or more times — a greater share than during the Biden administration, the first Trump administration or the second Obama administration.
Detainees are also getting shuffled further away during these transfers, CBS News found. Under the current administration, about 61% of detainees who started their stay were transferred more than 100 miles at least once. That’s also a higher figure than in past administrations.
Some immigration advocates are concerned this practice could make it more difficult for detainees to contact loved ones or their attorneys.
Asked about the increase in detention transfers and how and when ICE determines someone should be transferred, Noem said Wednesday that “this specific facility is going to host most dangerous criminal illegal aliens in the country, because it is so secure. Those individuals are being moved from other facilities around the country…because it is so secure behind these fences. I would say that we move people to other facilities for logistics, based on what country they’re being repatriated from, where their flights are going, what we need to do to build deficiencies, and we will continue to do that as we need to in order to deport them out of the country and take them back home.”
Last month, a federal judge ordered that the Trump administration dismantle a state-run immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” DHS began moving detainees out of the facility last week.
Regarding “Alligator Alcatraz,” Noem said Wednesday the White House will continue to appeal the judge’s orders, because she believes the judge “made the wrong decision.”
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