Alissa AzarIn getting ready for today’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, state police and other law enforcement agencies directed by the Louisiana governor, Jeff Landry, forced over 100 houseless folks onto buses under threat of arrest. They were dumped in an unheated warehouse, all of their belongings are lost and their tents have been destroyed.
When one unhoused man told state police he didn't want to go the warehouse, the officers responded, “It’s either that or jail.”
The man offered to move somewhere else but was told: “No, you can come with us or we’ll cuff you and throw you in jail.” He complied and was bussed to the warehouse, where he was processed and given an identification bracelet.
Other unhoused people, including one woman still wearing a hospital bracelet, had been forced to quickly abandon all their possessions as officers descended and began to rip apart their tents with knives and a Caterpillar front-end loader, according to witnesses.
Three days before police began sending unhoused community members to the warehouse prison, New Orleans chief of staff/city council member visited the warehouse. She wrote in her affidavit that “the warehouse had no floor, and I was told by [on-site] staff that the walls had no insulation”. Rain leaked through holes in the roof, pooling on the ground near the sleeping area. There are also no eye level windows. New Orleans is also experiencing historic snowfall.
Workforce Group, the company that received the operating contract for the warehouse is politically connected to Governor Landry. They’re charging $17.5 million for 3 months. “The price tag is also equivalent to a year’s rent for a one-bedroom apartment for 1,177 people, which would constitute roughly 80% of New Orleans’ unhoused population.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/06/louisiana-unhoused-people-warehouse
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