WASHINGTON, D.C. — FWD.us launches a paid media campaign across digital platforms, radio, and billboards in Alexandria, Louisiana, in partnership with Louisiana Organization for Refugees (LORI), joining local organizations and advocates urging the England Economic & Industrial Development District Board (England Airpark Board) to reject plans for a proposed ICE immigrant child and family jail adjacent to Alexandria International Airport and cancel the contract immediately.
Constructing yet another massive ICE immigrant child and family jail would be a human rights catastrophe. Alexandria is already a central hub of this administration’s mass deportation apparatus, with over 4,400 immigration deportation and enforcement flights in 2025. Adding a new facility slated to have more than 500 beds would only speed up deportations of families and children. If this facility is allowed to open, it would be operated by a for-profit prison company.
“Families across Louisiana are rightly outraged at this effort to open a new immigrant child and family jail, paid for by historic cuts to Louisiana families’ healthcare,” said Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us. “We're proud to be in this fight with so many people and civic organizations in Alexandria and across Louisiana to demand that the Board cancel this contract once and for all.”
“Louisiana already suffers from being a national hub for mass detention,” said Dauda Sesay, Executive Director of the Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants (LORI). “We will all be better off if we are investing tax dollars in creating real opportunity, health, and safety for families—not in caging children and tearing families apart. The community has made its voice clear: the England Airpark Board must stand up for our values and cancel the contract immediately.”
The first ad, Just Wrong, highlights the injustice of detaining children and urges the England Airpark Board to cancel its contract for the proposed ICE child and family jail in Alexandria, Louisiana.
The second ad, Historic Mistake, captures how Alexandria, Louisiana stands on the brink of a historic mistake by allowing ICE and private prison companies to build an ICE immigrant child and family jail in the community’s own backyard
These ads are the beginning of a national months-long grassroots campaign with paid and earned media to bring attention to the urgent need to end family detention and separation. Speak out, take action, and learn more about the campaign at fwd.us/NoChildJail.
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