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Trump proposes sending Guard to patrol N.O. President’s remarks latest in power struggle with majority-Democratic cities
BY JAMES FINN Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
From left, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Madison Sheahan, Gov. Jeff Landry, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi tour cell blocks Wednesday inside Camp 57 at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
ICE detention center planned at Angola Landry, Trump officials unveil ‘Louisiana Lockup’ BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN
Staff writer
Flanked by several top leaders of President Donald Trump’s administration, Gov. Jeff Landry on Wednesday unveiled plans to open a new ICE detention center on the grounds of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Officials said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility would in the next few months have the capacity to hold over 400 people as state leaders seek to assist in Trump’s nationwide campaign to ramp up immigration ar-
rests and deportations. There were already 51 there as of Wednesday, and 208 would be held there by the middle of the month, they said. “This facility is fulfilling the president’s promise to make America safe again,” Landry said. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan, who previously served as Louisiana’s Wildlife and Fisheries secretary, joined Landry at Angola on Wednesday to announce the opening of what they called the
“Louisiana Lockup.” The center’s official name is Camp 57 because Landry is the 57th governor, a Landry spokesperson said. Landry said the prison would house “the worst of the worst” ICE detainees, listing a litany of violent crimes he said were committed by “illegal criminal aliens.” The detainees will be held in a building once known as Camp J, where inmates who broke the rules were kept in solitary confinement.
ä See ANGOLA, page 5A
Sparking strong local and state reactions, President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that he could send federal agents and National Guard troops to patrol New Orleans, part of a series of intervention threats the president has levied against Democratic-led cities. If the Republican president follows through, it would make New Orleans the first Democratic city in a Republican-led state to become a target of Trump’s widening bid to flex federal power in Democratic enclaves. Crime is on a decline in the city, data shows. “We’re making a determination now: Do we go to Chicago, or do we go to a place like New Orleans, where we have a great governor, Jeff Landry, who Trump wants us to come in and straighten out a very nice section of this country that’s become quite tough, quite bad,” Trump told reporters while meeting in the Oval Office with Polish President Karol Nawrocki. Trump’s remarks were welcomed Wednesday by Landry, a Republican who has intervened in the city’s affairs in varied ways since his 2024 inauguration, including by sending State Police troopers to patrol the city’s streets. “We will take President Trump’s help from New Orleans to Shreveport,” Landry, a conservative Trump ally, responded in a post on X. Trump has sent troops to two other majority-Democratic cities — Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. And he has threatened to send them to Baltimore and Chicago.
ä See GUARD, page 5A
Lafayette to buy Jefferson Street Letlow rules out bid to be next LSU president building for LFT Fiber center House member
BY CLAIRE TAYLOR
cites focus on congressional district
Staff writer
The city of Lafayette is making a big purchase in downtown Lafayette, spending nearly $6.2 million for the three-story building at 214 Jefferson St. that was the Lemoine building. The 42,175-square-foot building is being purchased to house the city’s communications system, formerly the Lafayette Utilities system fiber operations, recently rebranded to LFT Fiber. The LFT Fiber Customer Service Center is expected to house the marketing department, engineering, finance, a customer service center and the operations team on the second and third floors. A tenant already occupies a suite in the first floor and another suite is available to rent. The purchase includes a parking lot behind 214 Jefferson St., a parking lot at the corner of Cypress and Jefferson streets where
WEATHER HIGH 93 LOW 72 PAGE 6A
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By CLAIRE TAyLOR
The city of Lafayette’s fiber operations, LFT Fiber, have moved into a building on Jefferson Street in downtown Lafayette.
customers visiting the center may A ribbon-cutting celebration is park free of charge and a parking scheduled for 9 a.m. Sept. 12. lot at Jefferson and West Grant ä See FIBER, page 5A streets.
U.S. Rep Julia Letlow, R-Baton Rouge, on Wednesday ruled out applying to be the next president of LSU, ending widespread speculation just as the search to replace former President William Tate is gearing up. Scott Ballard, who is chairing Letlow the search, said he hopes the university will announce Tate’s replacement before Thanksgiving and, addressing a matter of much speculation, said Gov. Jeff Landry hasn’t expressed to him a preference for who that person should be.
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In her statement, Letlow answered one question about her future but left another unanswered: Will she join the three other Republicans challenging U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, in his campaign for reelection? “For now, I need to stay focused on the 5th” Congressional District, which includes LSU, Letlow told host Brian Haldane on Baton Rouge radio station 107.3. “There’s so much more good work that can be accomplished for the university right here in D.C.” Letlow said, “It has been humbling, to say the least, to be considered,” but that “now is not the right time to pursue the presidency of LSU.” Haldane did not ask Letlow about her intentions for the Senate, and Letlow declined an interview request from The Times-Picayune | The Advocate after being told she would be asked that and other questions about her political future.
ä See LETLOW, page 5A
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