The Trump administration plans to open up a new migrant holding facility next to an airport hub in Louisiana, potentially allowing the federal government to speed up deportations of families and unaccompanied children.

A holding facility with 528 beds is set to open in Alexandria, Louisiana near the Alexandria International Airport (AEX), according to The Associated Press. 

The proximity to the airport is believed to make it easier for federal immigration officials to house illegal immigrants and unaccompanied children during final flight preparations, the outlet reported.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is describing the new Louisiana facility as a «staging area» and not a detention center, saying migrants would only be held there for a few days at most.

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«England Airpark is a staging facility for deportations. A staging facility is where illegal aliens await their deportation flight to their destination country or transfer to a detention facility,» a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, which deferred to DHS.

Airpark officials at the airfield where the structure is being built said the facility is a «humanitarian effort» for families who are «self-deporting,» but immigration advocates say families and unaccompanied children sometimes decide to leave due to pressure or a lack of an understanding of their options, The AP reported.

The facility would be stationed next to the nation’s largest hub for deportations.

More than 4,400 immigration enforcement flights came to and from the Alexandria International Airport last year, according to data from the ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First.

ICE documents say families and children at the facility «are in the legal custody of ICE and can only be released at the direction of ICE.»

The agency has told contractors that families at the facility should not be referred to as prisoners, detainees or inmates, records show.

Contractors were instructed not to utilize bars or cages when transporting families and unaccompanied children. The facility will not be required to take headcounts and should allow families to wear their own clothes, the agency said.

The facility would be stationed next to the nation’s largest hub for deportations. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Unaccompanied children are typically not taken to facilities overseen by ICE and must instead be placed in the care of state-licensed shelters and foster care programs, which are run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services, but that agency is not involved in the new facility’s operation, a spokesperson at the airfield where the facility is being built told The Associated Press.

The facility would be run by a nonprofit arm of LaSalle Corrections, a private prison contractor, according to Ralph Hennessy, executive director of the England Airpark Authority, who said it could be operational as early as next month.

«These are people that are volunteering to go back home and they’re going back home as a family unit,» Hennessy told The Associated Press.

ICE signed a contract late last month to build the facility at the former military base near Alexandria International Airport, Hennessy said.

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ICE is describing the new Louisiana facility as a «staging area» and not a detention center. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

The facility would operate as a 72-hour holding center for migrants awaiting deportation, records show, according to The Associated Press.

LaSalle Corrections runs several private prisons and federal immigration detention centers throughout the south, including the «Louisiana Lockup» inside the state’s maximum-security prison in Angola. 

The official contractor for the new ICE holding facility will be the company’s nonprofit arm, the LaSalle Family Foundation, but LaSalle Corrections itself will be involved in operating the holding facility and ensuring compliance, according to the company’s chief financial officer, Tim Kurpiewski.

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Since April, two detainee deaths have been reported at a LaSalle-run ICE facility in the state.

Winn Correctional Center was also found last month to have violated standards regarding environmental health and safety, food service, use-of-force, medical care and other concerns, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

La película Cordillera de Fuego debutó jueves en la capital guatemalteca con su primera proyección oficial en el Teatro al Aire Libre del Centro Cultural Miguel Ángel Asturias, una presentación que puso en circulación nacional la quinta cinta de Jayro Bustamante y situó desde el inicio su eje temático: la amenaza de un nuevo volcán, la vulnerabilidad de comunidades mayas y el peso de la corrupción y los intereses económicos sobre una emergencia.

La producción fue filmada en 2022 en municipios de Sololá como San Lucas Tolimán, San Andrés Semetabaj y Santiago Atitlán, además de la ciudad de Guatemala, y según la productora supuso una inversión de USD 1.5 millones en la economía local. La película incorpora diálogos en español, kaqchikel y tz’utujil.

El estreno de gala reunió al director, al elenco, al equipo de producción, representantes del sector cultural, invitados especiales y medios de comunicación. Varios integrantes del equipo viajaron desde Santiago Atitlán y San Lucas Tolimán para participar en la función del jueves 2 de julio, que cerró entre aplausos.

La trama se centra en Paula, una vulcanóloga que intenta poner a salvo a poblaciones mayas amenazadas por el surgimiento de un nuevo volcán. En ese proceso enfrenta intereses políticos y económicos que, de acuerdo con la sinopsis y la presentación de la obra, convierten el desastre en un terreno de disputa y agravan el riesgo para miles de personas.

La cinta combina ficción, ciencia y drama, y también incorpora elementos de realismo mágico, según el texto de presentación de la producción. El relato explora la relación entre desastres naturales, resistencia comunitaria, territorio y desigualdades que atraviesan a los pueblos indígenas del país.

Bustamante explicó después de la función que la película se aparta del modelo centrado en un héroe individual. “Para los pueblos originarios de Mesoamérica, el viaje de un individuo no tiene importancia si no afecta a la comunidad”, afirmó.

Esa definición ordena buena parte de la propuesta narrativa de la obra, que prioriza el relato colectivo sobre la figura de un solo protagonista. El cineasta sostuvo además que la producción buscó demostrar la capacidad instalada del país para sostener una película de gran escala con personal local: “El objetivo era demostrarnos a nosotros mismos que ya podíamos cubrir todos los puestos y realizar una película de esta magnitud únicamente con el enorme talento que existe en Guatemala”.

La película fue protagonizada por María Mercedes Coroy, quien interpreta a la vulcanóloga, y cuenta con actuaciones de María Telón, Juan Pablo Olyslager, Tatiana Palomo, Enrique Salanic, Willian Toc y Jonathan Shitamúl. Según la presentación del proyecto, el elenco y el equipo técnico reflejan una apuesta sostenida por el talento guatemalteco.

Bustamante destacó que el rodaje se realizó casi en su totalidad con personal guatemalteco, tanto frente como detrás de cámaras, una meta que la productora persigue desde sus primeras películas. La obra también incorporó un programa de formación para nuevos talentos de las comunidades donde se desarrolló la filmación.

La actriz y guionista Margarita Kenéfic señaló que muchas de las personas que participaron en el rodaje habían vivido desplazamientos provocados por desastres naturales, una experiencia que, según explicó, alimentó la construcción del relato. “Esta es una película de toda Guatemala”, expresó.

Según explicó la producción a Prensa Libre, la película incorpora además un trasfondo histórico concreto: la erupción del volcán de Fuego de 2018, cuando el coloso liberó flujos piroclásticos sobre aldeas situadas en sus laderas. El hecho dejó miles de personas fallecidas y desaparecidas, además de graves daños materiales.

Cordillera de Fuego llegó a la Ciudad de Guatemala después de su estreno en Santiago Atitlán. La función en el Centro Cultural Miguel Ángel Asturias incluyó una alfombra roja, un encuentro con el director y parte del elenco, y la primera exhibición oficial del largometraje ante el público capitalino.

Como parte de la velada también se presentó el primer avance de Erupción, el próximo largometraje documental de Bustamante. Ese proyecto, según se anunció durante la actividad, explorará la memoria histórica del país a partir de testimonios, arte y danza.

Cuba’s foreign minister accused the United States of committing an «act of war» by restricting fuel shipments to the island Tuesday, prompting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz to deliver a forceful response blaming Cuba’s communist government for years of blackouts, repression and economic collapse.

The confrontation unfolded at the U.N. General Assembly one day after Cuba’s national electrical grid collapsed, leaving nearly 10 million people without power. It was the third nationwide grid failure this year and the eighth since October 2025, Reuters reported.

Cuban officials had restored electricity to parts of central Cuba and roughly one-third of Havana by Tuesday morning, although large areas remained offline or faced unstable service, according to Reuters.

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Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez told delegates that the Trump administration was carrying out a «multidimensional, non-conventional war» against Cuba that had grown «more cruel and ruthless in the last seven months.»

Rodríguez described U.S. efforts to restrict fuel deliveries as the imposition of «an energy collapse, equivalent to a naval blockade, which is an act of war,» according to a UNTV transcript.

Waltz rejected the claim that the United States had established a naval blockade around Cuba.

«There is no ring of Navy warships, U.S. Navy warships sitting around this island blocking trade or humanitarian aid going into Cuba,» Waltz said. «It’s fake. It’s false. It’s a lie. Period.»

Waltz argued that the real embargo was the one Cuba’s government imposed on its own citizens.

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People walk on the street during a national electrical grid collapse, in Havana, Cuba, March 14, 2025. (Norlys Perez/Reuters)

«There’s a lot of talk today of an embargo. And indeed there is one,» he said. «It’s the embargo the Cuban regime mercilessly imposes on its own people decade after decade after decade.»

He called on Havana to «change your ways» and «turn the lights back on for your people,» while accusing Cuba’s leaders of ensuring that government compounds and propaganda operations had power even as families worried about spoiled food, hospitals losing electricity and phones running out of charge.

Waltz noted that Tuesday’s meeting came days before the fifth anniversary of the July 11, 2021, demonstrations, when thousands of Cubans took to the streets amid shortages of food, medicine and electricity and demanded greater freedom.

As Waltz spoke, a member of the Cuban delegation pounded on the table, prompting the ambassador to respond.

«This is not Havana. This is the United States of America. This is the United Nations,» Waltz said. «And we will speak, we will be heard, and we will not be silenced like your own people. So, pound away.»

Waltz displayed photographs and read the names of several jailed Cuban artists, musicians and activists, including Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Castillo Pérez and Duannis Dabel León Taboada.

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Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez speaks during a news conference in Havana. (Reuters/Alexandre Meneghini)

«They’re not armed. They’re not violent,» Waltz said. «They carry flowers, and write poems and write music. And for that, the regime beats them, detains them and tries to break them.»

Waltz also said GAESA, Cuba’s military-run conglomerate, controls approximately half of the country’s economy and holds $18 billion in assets.

Reuters has reported that estimates of GAESA’s economic reach range from approximately 40% to 70%, while Cuban officials dispute the U.S. government’s $18 billion figure.

Waltz said that despite Cuba’s blockade claims, humanitarian assistance had recently arrived from countries including China, Russia, Mexico, Canada and Spain, as well as from the European Union and the United Nations.

He also said the United States had provided more than $100 million in aid this year and approximately $500 million annually in commodities.

«The answer is simple: because blaming the United States is the only economic plan Havana has left,» Waltz said of Cuba’s decision to bring the issue before the General Assembly.

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Protesters gather outside a Communist Party headquarters in Morón, Cuba, as a fire burns in the street during overnight unrest. Video obtained by Fox News Digital appeared to show demonstrators attempting to set fire to the building amid protests linked to widespread blackouts. (Reuters)

Before the wider debate, U.S. Representative for U.N. Management and Reform Jeffrey Bartos objected to reopening the agenda item and called for a vote on whether the proceedings should go forward.

Bartos said the three-hour meeting would cost approximately $84,000, money he argued could instead provide food, emergency medical supplies and solar lanterns to Cuban families.

«Right now, Cuba is in darkness — again,» Bartos said. «I urge the Cuban regime: turn the lights back on for your people.»

Members of the Cuban delegation also interrupted Bartos several times by pounding on the table. Bartos at one point paused and responded, «Keep banging away. It’s very effective,» before continuing his remarks.

Bartos accused Havana of seeking «another propaganda clip» rather than solutions and pointed to what he said were more than 800 political prisoners held by the government.

Independent organizations have produced varying estimates. Human Rights Watch said in April that more than 700 people remained imprisoned for political reasons, while Prisoners Defenders reported more than 1,200 political prisoners in Cuba in the spring of 2026. Cuba denies holding anyone for political reasons.

«That is the real Cuban embargo,» Bartos said. «It is the embargo the regime imposes on its own people: on speech, on faith, on enterprise, on dissent, on political rights and hope — and now, quite literally, on light.»

Rodríguez accused the U.S. delegation of offering «worn-out lies» and attempting to prevent the General Assembly from debating the effects of American policy.

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Jeff Bartos, U.S. Representative to the United Nations for Management and Reform, addresses a meeting of the Security Council at U.N. headquarters in New York City, Nov. 25, 2025. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Cuba’s electricity crisis has been driven by severe fuel shortages and an aging, poorly maintained power system that has struggled to meet demand. The Cuban government primarily blames U.S. restrictions, while Washington attributes the island’s broader economic crisis to communist economic policies, corruption and repression.

Reuters contributed to this report.