Why Did ICE Transfer Four Academics It Seeks to Deport to Louisiana and Texas? – NPR

Following a dinner with family and friends, Mahmoud Khalil was apprehended by immigration officials at his New York residence on March 8. The following night, the Columbia University graduate student found himself in a remote Louisiana detention center, nearly three hours from the nearest city. Meanwhile, mask-clad agents arrested Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk on the streets near Boston, and within a day, she was placed in a private prison located in rural southern Louisiana. Badar Khan Suri, a scholar at Georgetown, was detained near Washington, DC, and subsequently transported first to Louisiana and later to a detention center in Texas.

Students and scholars detained under the Trump administration’s directive to deport pro-Palestinian activists have, in some cases, been relocated over a thousand miles away — despite their attorneys’ efforts to prevent such actions — to detention facilities in the secluded South, which advocates have denounced as “black holes” where conditions are severely lacking.

Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi house 14 of the 20 largest immigration detention centers in the United States. Both Democratic and Republican administrations have historically utilized these centers as hubs for immigrant detention.

The recent fast-tracking by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of several academics detained in the past weeks to Louisiana has drawn increased scrutiny on how pivotal this state has become in the detention process since the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency. It has also reignited worries regarding a persistent tactic known as “forum shopping,” which attorneys for the detained claim the government employs to have these deportation cases adjudicated in more conservative courts.

A Customs and Border Patrol officer observes while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visits the San Ysidro Port of Entry, March 16, 2025, in San Diego.

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Alex Brandon/AP/AP

In legal documents, government attorneys assert that ICE relocated Khalil, Khan Suri, and Ozturk to Louisiana due to a lack of available beds or “detention space” in facilities closer to their arrest locations.

On Friday, a federal judge examining a challenge to Ozturk’s arrest questioned the reliability of the government’s assertions. In her decision to deny the government’s request to move the case to Louisiana, the judge highlighted that when the Turkish national was apprehended outside of Boston, there were available beds at an ICE facility in Maine, approximately a hundred miles away.

A lawyer representing Khan Suri, a professor at Georgetown University and Indian national, questioned why—if ICE was indeed seeking available beds—her client is currently sleeping on the floor.

In an NPR interview, she explained that Khan Suri, detained at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, is currently on a mattress in a shared room because no beds are open.

“It’s quite alarming,” remarked Edith Heilman, legal director for the ACLU of Virginia, which has taken Kahn Suri’s case. “It seems there’s a deliberate effort to relocate him out of Virginia.”

Brett Kaufman, an ACLU attorney, indicated that the decision to send detainees south is not merely about available space.

“A distinct pattern appears to be emerging,” he inferred. “The government feels it has an edge when they transport individuals to that region.”

Attorneys for the detained argue the government is following a deliberate pattern

Currently, Louisiana holds the second-highest number of detainees in the U.S. after Texas. Out of the approximately 47,000 individuals that ICE had in custody nationwide last month, over 7,000 were in Louisiana, according to data from TRACreports, a nonpartisan organization that analyzes immigration data. ICE runs nine detention facilities in the state, mostly operated by for-profit companies, and 23 in Texas.

Kaufman pointed out that relocating an immigrant far away for detention makes it increasingly challenging to contest deportation.

“You remove someone from their community, their family, their legal representation,” he elaborated. “It is a massive, debilitating factor being unable to visit your client face-to-face.”

The ICE detention facility of the Department of Homeland Security is depicted in Jena, La., on March 21. Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate student, and a recently detained doctoral student from the University of Alabama named Alireza Doroudi are currently held at this center.

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Stephen Smith/AP/AP

However, legal analysts have also observed an additional potential benefit for the government in relocating individuals to the South. Many of the arrested scholars have initiated federal challenges against their detentions. If these cases are assigned to a federal court in Louisiana, the appeals will be handled by the Fifth Circuit, which is widely regarded as the most conservative court in the nation.

“If the Fifth Circuit were known to be especially liberal and immigrant-friendly, I believe they wouldn’t have transported them there,” stated Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia.

The Justice Department declined NPR’s request for a response to the assertion that the government is intentionally seeking more favorable jurisdictions. ICE also did not respond to a request for comments for this article.

Protesters congregate outside the federal court during a hearing for the lawyers of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University doctoral student from Turkey who was detained by immigration officials on April 3 in Boston.

Rodrique Ngowi/AP/AP

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Rodrique Ngowi/AP/AP

Khalil, a lawful permanent resident of Palestinian descent but originally from Syria, was detained in New York and briefly held in New Jersey. However, the government is currently arguing that his lawsuit contesting his arrest should take place in Louisiana, given that it is where he is currently held.

Last week, a federal judge decided the case will proceed in New Jersey, where Khalil was located when his attorney filed the suit. The government has stated its intention to appeal.

Attorneys for several other detained academics have sought similar rulings.

On Friday, a federal judge determined that Ozturk’s case would be heard in Vermont. Attorneys for Khan Suri have also requested that a federal judge keep his case in Northern Virginia. In all these federal suits, the academics allege that the government has violated their constitutional rights.

Even as their lawsuits against the Trump Administration are progressing, the government is pushing forward with attempts to deport them. Khalil is set to appear before an immigration judge in Louisiana on Tuesday. The government is seeking to revoke his green card based on allegations that his pro-Palestinian advocacy “aligns with Hamas terrorism.” His attorneys assert that the accusations against him lack merit and that officials have not presented any supporting evidence.