Tell Kristi Noem: Treat Detainees With Dignity

Angola prison is infamous for abuse, forced labor, and racial violence. It’s the last place anyone should be held. But that’s exactly why Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is using this notorious facility to cage immigrants.

Already, dozens of people are locked inside Angola. Hundreds more are expected in the coming months. Instead of safety and fairness, detainees face overcrowding, medical neglect, and degrading conditions. 

Courts have already ruled against the Trump administration’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” concentration camp in Florida. But instead of changing course, Noem and Trump are trying to make it harder to hold them accountable. They are rapidly shipping detainees into more facilities across the country—the “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana and the “Cornhusker Clink” in Nebraska. Angola, which they’ve dubbed the “Louisiana Lock-up,” is one more part of their plot, and we need to fight back.

Tell DHS Secretary Kristi Noem: “Respect the human rights of detainees. Shut down the Angola detention plan and end the use of America’s prison system as a network of immigrant concentration camps.”

Families and asylum seekers deserve due process and dignity, not punishment in prisons chosen for their notoriety. Noem and the Trump administration are treating human lives as props for political theater.

But with Noem’s political ambitions in plain sight, how she responds to public outrage will determine whether she’s remembered as a leader who listened, or as the face of government cruelty. That’s why it’s crucial that we hold her accountable now.

We cannot allow cruelty to become official policy. Tell Secretary Kristi Noem: Ensure every detainee in custody is treated with dignity, medical care, and basic human rights.

The petition to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem reads: “Respect the human rights of detainees. Shut down the Angola detention plan and end the use of America’s prison system as a network of immigrant concentration camps.”