Governor Jeff Landry stands next to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as she speaks on Bourbon Street ahead of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune) STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER Louisiana officials are in talks with the Trump administration about housing immigrant detainees at the State Penitentiary at Angola, part of a push to meet the demands of the U.S. president's widening immigration crackdown by outsourcing operations to conservative states.An unused wing at the maximum security prison, the nation's largest state-run penitentiary, has emerged as a possible site for the immigration lockup, according to people familiar with the talks. The move could save Louisiana costs of building a new facility like one unveiled in Florida last month, but critics contend it would place people without criminal records near others convicted of grave crimes. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the former South Dakota governor who is close with GOP Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, in July told reporters that she was "having ongoing conversations with five other governors" about opening facilities in their states modeled after the immigration lockup in Florida called "Alligator Alcatraz."Noem said all five governors are Republicans and challenged Democrats to open similar facilities, too. The facility in Ochopee, Florida has drawn blowback from advocates for immigrants over reports of fetid conditions since it opened in early July. Built on an airfield deep in the Everglades swamp, it is operated by the state of Florida with some oversight from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Supporters have described large populations of alligators in the surrounding swamp as a deterrent to would-be escapees. Trump's administration is also trying to hold immigrant detainees on the actual Alcatraz Island, a former federal prison in the San Francisco Bay now run as a National Park Service museum. A Louisiana state flag flies at the entrance to the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola on the day of the planned execution of Jessie Hoffman, 46. Hoffman was convicted in the 1996 abduction, rape, and murder of Molly Elliott. The state plans to put him to death using nitrogen gas, the first such execution in Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune) Chris Granger Three sources with knowledge of the talks between Louisiana officials and Trump's administration said plans are still in their early stages for opening an immigration facility at Angola.One possible destination for the site on the prison grounds, according to people familiar with the plans, could be a long-abandoned wing called Camp J. Landry declared an emergency at Angola last week in a bid to hasten repairs to that facility. The state shuttered Camp J in 2018 in a move hailed by criminal justice advocates as a much-needed end to harsh conditions at the site.Camp J “just doesn’t seem to be an environment that’s suitable for a human being to be in,” said David Cloud, a former staffer for the criminal justice advocacy group Vera, who led a team in 2016 that partnered with the state to find ways to reduce solitary confinement. “Putting ICE detainees there would just be another, you know, stain in history.”Louisiana already has deep political and operational ties to the country's immigration enforcement system as Trump pursues a dramatic expansion of those operations. The state's cluster of ICE-contracted private jails already makes it second only to Texas for the number of people it holds in immigration detention. The Trump administration has frequently flown its highest-profile immigration detainees to Louisiana, including Columbia University student leader Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk.Many operational details of the plan, including how much it would cost and where funding would come from, remained unclear Tuesday. Spokespeople for Landry's office and the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections repeatedly declined to comment on discussions about the Angola facility.DHS Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Times-Picayune | The Advocate in July that the agency would not divulge pending plans. The federal agency did not respond to follow-up inquiries. “We won’t get ahead of the secretary in confirming what plans are in the works, but as she said, we challenge politicians from both sides of the aisle to partner with DHS to make our communities safer," McLaughlin said in July. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visits Bourbon Street ahead of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune) STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER Under the federal government's 287(g) partnership, Trump has sought to expand state and local agencies' ability to both arrest and detain migrants.The government's need for more detention space sharpened after the president's domestic policy bill passed Congress last month. The legislation increased ICE funding from $8 billion to $28 billion. Officials say the expanded budget will translate to ramped-up immigration enforcement. "We need to double our capacity and detention beds because we need to facilitate getting people out of this country as fast as possible," Noem said in her remarks last month. Facility draws scrutinyThe facility in the Everglades is run by Florida officials under 287(g), which hands local and state agencies immigration enforcement authority typically reserved for federal officials. It is officially named "Alligator Alcatraz," part of what the administration describes as its attempt to frighten migrants into "self-deporting" before they are captured by the immigration system. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said the facility aims to be a launchpad to swiftly deport immigrants rather than a long-term holding center."The whole purpose is to make this be a place that can facilitate increased frequency and numbers of deportations of illegal aliens, and that is the goal," DeSantis said at a press briefing in July. Trump and Florida officials describe the facility as a destination only for detainees who have been accused of serious crimes. But hundreds of people held there face no criminal charges, according to reporting by The Miami Herald. Migrants have told news outlets they were fed worm-infested food and have had to wade across floors flooded with fecal waste. On Tuesday, The Associated Press reported that Florida officials are in talks to open a second, similar facility near Jacksonville. Angola, too, affords ample opportunity for an administration seeking to sow fear among immigrants, said Rachel Taber, a New Orleans-based organizer with Union Migrante, an immigrant advocacy group. The huge penal colony houses more than 6,000 maximum security prisoners, is a built on an old plantation and was once nicknamed "the Alcatraz of the South." It has long had a reputation for violence. In May, Landry issued an executive order urging local and state law enforcement agencies to collaborate with ICE under 287(g). The Louisiana National Guard, State Police, Alcohol and Tobacco Control, State Fire Marshal and Department of Wildlife and Fisheries each entered agreements under the program, along with several local police agencies, according to a federal database. In his May executive order, Landry said the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections has "already begun to partner with DHS … to enforce President Trump's immigration policies." On July 24, federal records show the state's prison agency formalized its agreements with ICE under a pair of 287(g) deals. One is a so-called "warrant service officer" agreement, under which agents in the participating agencies are trained and certified to execute immigration warrants. The other is a "jail enforcement" agreement allowing deputized DOC employees to interrogate people about their immigration status and coordinate with ICE. Deep tiesThe passage of Trump's policy bill last month likely foreshadows an expansion of ICE infrastructure in the state, former federal officials and immigration attorneys predict.One ICE facility in Alexandria is connected to an airport, making Louisiana a key hub for deportation flights.A spokesperson for the GEO Group, a private prison firm that runs four Louisiana ICE facilities, in February said the firm was investing $70 million across its 50 U.S. facilities on "increased housing, transportation and monitoring capabilities and services to meet the anticipated requirements of the federal government’s immigration law enforcement priorities." That was months before the domestic policy bill passed Congress. A GeoGroup spokesperson declined to respond last month to questions about the company's plans following the passage of that legislation. The spokesperson referred questions to ICE.LaSalle Corrections, another private firm that runs several Louisiana-based ICE facilities, could not be reached.Staff Writer Meghan Friedmann contributed to this report. James Finn covers politics for The Times-Picayune | Nola.com. Email him at jfinn@theadvocate.com or contact him on Signal at jamesfinn.82.