The Trump administration plans to send migrant detainees to one of the country's most violent prisons, according to a new report.
The Wall Street Journalreported Thursday that the Trump administration plans to send detainees to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, an 18,000-acre facility once known as the "bloodiest prison in the country."
The administration expects the facility to provide 450 beds, and it could be officially announced as early as September, according to the report.
Eunice Cho, senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, slammed the idea of sending migrant detainees to Angola.
“The idea of placing people in a brutal prison for alleged violations of immigration law is profoundly disturbing,” Cho told the outlet. “There is a very long history of abuses at this particular facility.”
The Trump administration has made immigration enforcement a central issue for the Republican Party. Trump's Department of Homeland Security has set an aggressive quota of 3,000 arrests per day and is currently on a hiring spree to increase the number of immigration agents on the streets.
DHS is reportedly offering recruitment bonuses of $50,000 and benefits like partial or full student loan forgiveness.
Cho said threats like the one Trump issued are part of a broader strategy to terrify immigrant communities.
“There seems to be an intent to create sadistic terror in immigrant communities by establishing these detention sites across the country,” Cho added.