ADVOCATE THE
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
T h u r s d ay, s e p T e m b e r 4, 2025
$2.00X
Letlow rules out bid to lead LSU House member cites focus on congressional district
BY TYLER BRIDGES 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 7A
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 the search, said he hopes the university will announce Tate’s replacement Letlow 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. 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. Political insiders have been discussing Letlow’s plans for weeks because of her academic background — she was a top official at the University of
ä See LETLOW, page 7A
EBR schools look to match $2K state stipend for teachers
BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
The East Baton Rouge Parish school system is considering matching a state-funded stipend for teachers and support workers with an identical one of its own. It is a tide-me-over proposal until the state’s second-largest traditional school district completes an overhaul of its employee compensation system, which is expected to
increase the salaries of most, perhaps all, district employees. East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent LaMont Cole is asking the parish School Board to approve a district-funded stipend of $2,000 to teachers and $1,000 to support workers. That is the same stipend amount the Legislature approved in June. “We figured that would be a gesture of goodwill,” Cole said. The board plans to consider the
WEATHER HIGH 93 LOW 72
can look like anyone.
employee pay raise in summer 2024, but opted not to do so again in June when it approved its annual budget for the 2025-26 school year. Instead, it hired Huntsville, Alabama-based LEAN Frog Consulting to rework the district’s complicated salary schedules with an eye toward employee raises the following school year. But as the summer progressed, Cole said he saw local competition for educators heat up, so he decid-
Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................6D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-5D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
PAGE 6B
HUNGER
local stipend when it meets Thursday, with a final vote set for Sept. 18. State stipend checks are set to go out Nov. 26 in East Baton Rouge, and district stipend checks would follow Dec. 23. It is the third year in a row that the state has stopped short of approving permanent pay raises for school employees, opting instead for a one-time payment. The East Baton Rouge Parish school system approved a sizable
ed the district should take action sooner. “We started talking about after the budget process and after seeing what is happening in other school systems in the area,” Cole said. In the nine-parish Baton Rouge metro area, home to 12 public school districts, four approved employee pay raises for the 2025-26 school year and three more passed
ä See TEACHERS, page 7A
101ST yEAR, NO. 66
HOPE looks like you.
2X DONATION DOUBLE YOUR
FOR HUNGER ACTION MONTH
SCAN CODE