A transgender Mexican national detained at a Louisiana Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility has told Newsweek that he endured months of physical and emotional abuse while in federal custody, beginning well before President Donald Trump took office.
Monica Renteria-Gonzalez is among four detainees—three of whom are transgender—who allege systemic mistreatment by a former ICE assistant warden. According to the detainees, the official implemented a work program that was used to punish and demean them at a center intended for women.
“It got to the point where he would harass me everywhere that I went,” Renteria-Gonzalez, who identifies as male, told Newsweek from the South Louisiana Detention Center in Basile.
“If I was in the recreation yard, he would come and follow me. If I was eating at the dining hall, he would come and just sit there next to me, making me feel uncomfortable. He would follow me into the dorm.”
According to complaints filed by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the ACLU, and the National Immigration Project, the abuse occurred between 2023 and 2025 across two presidential administrations. The detainees allege that staff subjected them to sexual assault, forcible touching, groping, physical abuse, and denial of medical attention.
Renteria-Gonzalez and two other transgender detainees—Kenia Campos-Flores and Mario Garcia-Valenzuela—were allegedly singled out by the warden for an ad hoc labor program, performing manual work for minimal or no compensation.
“We never had the proper PPE and stuff like that. We never got paid. If we did, it would be like a dollar, no more than five at a time,” Renteria-Gonzalez said. “Or we would work for like a bag of chips or a snack bag from the kitchen, or a soda, just small things like that.”
The assistant warden accused of the abuse is named in the complaints as Manuel Reyes, who is no longer employed at the facility. Sarah Decker, staff attorney at RFK Human Rights, said Reyes explicitly targeted transgender men and masculine-presenting LGBTQ+ detainees.
“The program had actually a much more sinister purpose and from my perspective was designed to punish and physically torture people who identify as LGBTQ or transgender,” Decker said.
One example included pushing heavy cinder blocks or metal cabinets across a dormitory, taking about 30 minutes, before being instructed to return the items.
“If this person complained about the abusive conditions, or even when people asked for personal protective gear or equipment when working with dangerous chemicals, the response was always, ‘If you wanna be a man, I’ll treat you like a man,’ or ‘aren’t you strong enough? Aren’t you a man?’” Decker said. “So clearly there was something more diabolical going on.”
The alleged abuses were uncovered through RFK Human Rights’ ongoing monitoring of Louisiana detention centers. The organization claims ICE was aware of the conditions but failed to intervene—an oversight that, they argue, has worsened under the Trump administration.
“It was hard, it made me feel scared, it made me feel frustrated, it made me feel angry, because we don’t have a voice in here,” Renteria-Gonzalez said. “And when I did speak up about it, when I finally did record it, they only do the ‘protocol’, just to make it seem like they’re doing something.”
The complaints have been filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), allowing the organizations to sue the federal government for damages caused by negligent or wrongful acts of federal employees. Administrative complaints have also been filed, with the government required to respond within six months before court action can proceed.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek that the allegations were “another hoax about ICE facilities” and that the Office of Professional Responsibility had found the claims untrue.
“Nobody was forced into coerced labor. The Assistant Warden did not perpetrate or enable any sexual harassment or assault. Nobody was physically abused. And nobody was denied proper medical care,” McLaughlin said. “These types of smears are directly contributing to our officers facing a 1000% increase in assaults against them.”
McLaughlin also emphasized that ICE provides detainees with proper meals, medical care, and opportunities to communicate with lawyers and relatives.
When approached for comment, GEO Group, the contractor operating the detention center, denied the allegations and characterized them as part of a politically motivated campaign.
“GEO strongly disagrees with these baseless allegations, which are part of a long-standing, politically motivated, and radical campaign to abolish ICE and end federal immigration detention by attacking the federal government’s immigration facility contractors,” a spokesperson said.
The detainees, however, say their experiences contradict official statements.
“It’s not true. It’s a total lie,” Renteria-Gonzalez said. “Because of fear of being deported or ICE denying everything, people don’t raise their voice. They know that, at the end of the day, we are in ICE’s hands to do with us whatever they want.”
Those who complained faced retaliation, including solitary confinement, with Mario allegedly beaten and handcuffed. Multiple complaints were later dismissed as “unsubstantiated.”
Decker said the pattern of abuse likely extends beyond these four detainees, particularly in facilities housing women.
“There’s a really intense and disturbing paper trail of ICE’s knowledge of what was happening in this facility,” she said. “This was not just one assistant warden who went off the rails and acted abusively. This is part of a system of neglect and abuse, and it suggests there’s even more going on behind the scenes that we’re not yet aware of.”
