Queer and trans immigrants allege forced labor and sexual assault in Ice facility: ‘I was treated worse than an animal’

At the South Louisiana Ice Processing Center in Basile, detainees say they were forced into hard labor - and sexually assaulted and stalked by an assistant warden

Queer and trans immigrants at a detention facility in south Louisiana have alleged that they faced sexual harassment and abuse, medical neglect and coerced labor by staff at the facility, and that they were repeatedly ignored or faced retaliation for speaking out.

In multiple legal complaints, immigrants detained at the South Louisiana Ice Processing Center (SLIPC) in Basile, Louisiana, said they were recruited into an unsanctioned work program that forced them to perform hard manual labor for as little as $1 per day. Detainees also alleged that queer people were targeted by an assistant warden who stalked, harassed and sexually assaulted them.