Kristi Noem will order about 250 Border Patrol agents south to New Orleans on a two-month immigration dragnet called “Swamp Sweep” with a target of about 5,000 arrests, according to secret government documents.
Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who helped lead federal operations in Los Angeles, Illinois, and North Carolina, has been tapped to take on the new mission in Louisiana, according to internal plans reviewed by the Associated Press.
The Department of Homeland Security operation, scheduled to start Dec. 1, is a further escalation in President Donald Trump’s drive to hit the grim deportation target of 3,000 removals a day—a benchmark senior aides including Stephen Miller have pressed field commanders to reach.
Louisiana, whose governor, Jeff Landry, is a Trump ally—is a predominantly Republican state with a splash of Democratic blue in places like New Orleans.
Internal plans reviewed by the AP show agents poised to spread out from New Orleans into Jefferson, St. Bernard, and St. Tammany parishes, extending north toward Baton Rouge and across the state line into Mississippi.
A portion of the FBI’s New Orleans field office will serve as the command post, according to AP. A naval base south of the city will store vehicles, equipment, and thousands of pounds of tear gas and pepper-ball munitions, the news wire reports, while DHS has also asked to use the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans for up to 90 days.
AP says agents are due to arrive Friday to stage assets before Thanksgiving, returning at the end of the month to begin the full sweep.
The push could make use of the multimillion-dollar ICE detention facility housed in Louisiana’s notorious Angola prison, which has been nicknamed “Louisiana Lockup.”
When it was unveiled in early September by Noem as “Camp 57”—apparently in homage to her old friend Landry, Louisiana’s 57th governor—the pair said the 416-bed facility then held 51 inmates.
The most up-to-date analysis by detentionreports.com states that as of Sept. 15, Angola held a rolling average of just five people.
The four-block disciplinary unit was shut down in 2018 after a string of security breakdowns, suicides, and an exodus of staff.
Now back in use, DHS has pledged it will hold the “worst of the worst.” Noem, who has been dubbed “ICE Barbie” for her penchant for dressing up in various uniforms, previously stating she hoped the threat of ending up there would encourage illegal immigrants to self-deport.
”Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “We do not discuss future or potential operations.“
She declined to say how many inmates Angola was holding, or the cost to the taxpayer of turning Angola into “Louisiana Lockup.” Landry’s office did not respond to requests for comment from the Daily Beast.
In the White House, Trump’s deputy press secretary Stephen Miller, 40, has berated DHS brass on conference calls, demanding they hit 3,000 arrests a day and making clear their jobs could be at risk if they fail.
To push the figures higher, Noem has again turned to Bovino, 53. His appointment to run the Louisiana sweep highlights how central he has become to the administration’s most forceful crackdowns.
Bovino’s record is stacked with controversy. In Chicago, a federal judge publicly rebuked him after finding he misled the court about supposed threats posed by protesters during “Operation Midway Blitz,” where he and his agents allegedly fired tear gas and pepper balls without justification.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, his teams touted “dozens” of arrests while scouring churches, grocery stores, and apartment complexes—part of a surge in which American citizens have been detained at gunpoint, sparking protests.
The Daily Beast has approached the White House for comment.
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