ACLU of Louisiana Demands ICE Detention Facilities Restore Access to Legal Counsel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media contact: Jesse Vad, [email protected]

NEW ORLEANS - The ACLU of Louisiana today sent formal demand letters to ICE detention facilities across the state, citing widespread failures to provide detained immigrants with adequate access to legal counsel, a fundamental constitutional right and a requirement under ICE's own Performance-Based National Detention Standards.

The letters detail systemic barriers at facilities where detained immigrants face monthslong delays in receiving legal documents, unreliable phone appointment systems, and confidentiality violations that make meaningful attorney-client communication nearly impossible.

“ICE is violating its own rules and the Constitution," said Nora Ahmed, legal director of the ACLU of Louisiana. "People detained at these facilities have a right to talk to their lawyers. Instead, this administration is throwing people into detention facilities that operate like black holes. Louisiana cannot be complicit in this abuse. These facilities must follow the law."

The ACLU of Louisiana has documented multiple violations including phone appointment delays exceeding ICE's 24-hour standard, confidentiality breaches, document delivery failures and technology barriers, to name a few.

These failures are particularly acute for individuals in solitary confinement, transgender detainees facing isolation, and those requiring interpretive services.

The ACLU of Louisiana is joined by signatories from the Yale Civil Rights Project, the National Immigration Project and the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center.

"We work with people in these facilities who are alone, afraid, and at the mercy of a confusing legal system," said Sarah Gillman, Director of Strategic U.S. Litigation at Kennedy Human Rights. "Without access to their attorneys, detained immigrants are left stranded in ICE jails that are intentionally designed to isolate. They can't make important decisions about their cases, report abuse, or get help. Access to an attorney isn't just a bedrock of the Constitution - it's a lifeline."

"Denying people access to their lawyers while their freedom hangs in the balance is a constitutional violation and a moral outrage," said Bridget Pranzatelli, staff attorney with the National Immigration Project. "All people deserve their day in court and the right to be heard. Louisiana's detention facilities are not just failing—they are complicit in this administration's deliberate campaign to use detention as a weapon."

“ICE is tolerating decisions of for-profit detention centers to prevent detained people from talking to their lawyers that are not only illegal and unconstitutional, but that also violate its own rules,” said Yale Law students Jake Loor and Alexandra Prendergast, members of Yale Civil Rights Project. “As future lawyers, it is deeply alarming to see a federal agency allow for-profit prisons to denigrate the rule of law. ICE’s rules, federal law, and the Constitution require that ICE ensure every person it detains has meaningful access to lawyers.”

The signatories are demanding facilities implement immediate fixes including:

• Installation of additional confidential telephones and expansion of appointment availability
• Fax access so attorneys and clients can exchange documents within eight hours
• Video teleconferencing equipment and privacy partitions meeting ICE standards
• Reduction of populations if facilities cannot accommodate timely access to counsel

The ACLU of Louisiana has requested responses by April 20, 2026.