US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to establish a detention facility for migrant children and families at the England Airpark in Louisiana, a former military base with some of the highest levels of toxic PFAS chemicals ever recorded in groundwater. The site, which also serves as a hub for deportation flights, has groundwater PFAS concentrations at least 575,000 times higher than federal drinking water limits, according to tests.
The England Airpark, previously England Air Force Base, is contaminated with PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), also known as 'forever chemicals', as well as other hazardous substances including TCE, volatile organic compounds, and asbestos. Public health advocates warn that children are especially vulnerable to the chemicals, which are linked to cancer, kidney disease, and birth defects, and can move from soil into air and dust.
Jared Hayes, a senior policy analyst at the Environmental Working Group, said: 'There shouldn’t be housing at contaminated bases and we need to be cleaning up this stuff much faster if we’re going to put people in harm’s way.' The Department of Homeland Security stated it has no new detention centres to announce at this time, while ICE and the EPA did not respond to requests for comment.
The proposed facility would be a 'first of its kind' short-term centre, holding families and unaccompanied children for three to five days in converted barracks, according to project developers. They claim it will only house those who voluntarily choose to 'self-deport', but immigrant rights groups argue this is misleading and that most detainees are in the programme involuntarily, potentially for longer periods.
The site's contamination stems from decades of military use, including firefighting foam containing PFAS, burn pits, and jet fuel. The Department of Defense is phasing out PFAS due to widespread environmental contamination at over 770 bases nationwide. Activists call for faster cleanup before housing people on such sites.
