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ICE on the Bayou Part 2:
One Man's Odyssey
A Philadelphia-area immigrant held 8 months, moved through Louisiana in a deportation system costing taxpayers an estimated $205,836 just to move him multiple times
in ICE custody
to move one man
Alexandriathat he tracked himself
on one stretch alone
Hundreds of flights out of Louisiana every month are moving thousands of people in handcuffs and shackles across the country and around the world, according to a WBRZ investigation "ICE on the Bayou."
WBRZ's Stephen Stock spoke with nearly a half dozen people caught up in the system, some in person, some by telephone, some through FaceTime and some through encrypted messages.
Angela Della Valle, a 49-year-old Philadelphia school teacher, stood in the rain and watched busloads of people being unloaded in handcuffs and shackles off airplanes at Louisiana's Alexandria airport.
"Every human being who has been transferred here, deported from here, has some family, has someone who loves them, is someone who's looking for them," Della Valle said.
She also watched others in custody led off buses and onto airplanes with little publicly known destinations.
"The most disorienting is the lack of information. You're always in a black hole. You never know. You never know where you are, where you're going. You have no control."— Angela Della Valle, Philadelphia school teacher
She couldn't help but think that one of those people could be her husband of 24 years, Carlos.
"Could be Carlos, but it also could be my student," Della Valle said. "It could be my neighbor. They could be from Minnesota or Florida, California or Maine. Because I've met them all. We've met them all. Many were. And they can be. They can be sent back despite having entered even legally."
Carlos Della Valle's Story
A three-decade Philadelphia-area resident, detained the day after a federal jury acquitted him — then moved across the country for eight months
"Unbelievable that this can happen here. That's like the hardest thing for me."
Carlos Della Valle has lived in the Philadelphia area for three decades where he built and ran his own successful business. ICE agents detained him last August, a day after a U.S. District Court jury in the U.S. Virgin Islands acquitted him of illegally re-entering the country. That detention started an eight-month legal ordeal of ICE flights and bus trips that only ended when a court released him in late April.
"There was no information," Carlos Della Valle said. "I was trying to gather information from whatever little bit I could hear."
The Journey Through the System
While he said ICE agents kept him in the dark during his eight months in custody, he pieced together enough information to know he flew in and out of Alexandria at least four different times.
"I was able to see one sign that says Alexandria," Carlos Della Valle said. "And that's when I figured, well, I don't know, I'm in Alexandria, but I had no idea whether it was Alexandria, Florida. Or Alexandria, Mississippi. No idea at all."
With his help, WBRZ traced his path through the deportation system. From the U.S. Virgin Islands, ICE flew him to Puerto Rico, then Miami, then bused him to Krome Detention outside Miami, then flew him to Alexandria, then back to South Florida and Broward County's Transitional Center, then a bus to Alligator Alcatraz in the middle of Florida.
"No humanity there at all. I didn't see it."— Carlos Della Valle, on his time flying on ICE flights
After Alligator Alcatraz, ICE sent him back to Krome, up to Broward, then to Pompano Beach, a flight to Jacksonville, then a bus to Orlando, to Baker Correctional in north Florida, then to Lake City, then a flight back to Alexandria and a bus to Winn Correctional, then a flight out of Alexandria to Port Isabel in Texas and to the border in Brownsville.
Thinking he was being deported, he ended up on a flight to El Paso, then another flight back to Alexandria and a bus back to Winn Correctional in Winnfield, Louisiana.
(route map graphic)
"I was in chains for 38 hours before I was let out. You actually had people falling asleep and falling on the floor because they couldn't stay awake."— Carlos Della Valle
The Price of One Man's Odyssey
Using publicly available costs — published landing fees, fuel taxes, jet fuel prices, fuel capacities, travel times and pilot and ICE officer salaries — WBRZ estimated that moving Carlos Della Valle alone cost U.S. taxpayers at least $205,836.47 in bus and airplane fuel, ICE personnel expenses, pilot costs, rent and airport fees.
"We know at least eight people who passed through Alexandria," Angela Della Valle said. "They were sent to Arizona. And they came back to Alexandria. Then they're in Florida and then they're back (in Alexandria.) Where's the efficiency in this? How does it make economic sense?"
Carlos Della Valle said he believes the lack of information and constant moving from place to place was intentional.
"I do believe it was by design. If you don't have a chance to know where you're at, if you can't communicate with your family and loved ones, with your lawyer, you're going to give up."— Carlos Della Valle
"ICE Air Operations utilizes restraints in accordance with U.S. ICE policy."
ICE spokesperson Angelina Vicknair added that "ICE is committed to the safety and welfare of those in custody throughout the entire transfer and removal process. Allegations of inhumane treatment or attempts to hide information is categorically false."
Read the Full ICE Statement →Other Voices from the System
Others who passed through Alexandria's deportation pipeline share their experiences
"We are in handcuffs. We are tied from the feet to the belly (of the airplane.) It's a scary experience."
"You ask the ICE members (officers) and they tell you, 'Oh, you go to Alcatraz' or 'We're going to throw you into the ocean or you're going to Texas.' They don't give you information (about) exactly where you are going. So basically, you just go with the flow like whatever happened, happened."
"The government put me on a flight. I don't lie because I don't know the people (in Louisiana.) I don't have any family or any of others (who I know.) So that's why I don't like it."
"I know my husband he has nightmares of wearing the chains, of feeling them. He feels them still. He still feels the chains."
The Broader Picture
WBRZ tracked nearly 4,000 of these flights dating back to October of last year. Most ICE flights headed from Alexandria to Texas cities near the Mexican border like Harlingen and El Paso, but WBRZ also tracked hundreds of flights to places like Youngstown, Ohio, Gadsden, Alabama, Indianapolis and Milwaukee, and even Anchorage, Alaska.
More than 400 international flights out of Alexandria were also tracked, going to at least 17 different countries including Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, Brazil, Havana and Guantanamo Bay and as far away as Bulgaria and Senegal on the west coast of Africa.
An ICE spokesperson said all these flights, bus rides, restraints and back-and-forth movements are done in accordance with U.S. ICE policy and that Alexandria serves as a hub for these operations to enhance ICE's "removal and transport efficiencies."
WBRZ found these operations have also become big business, making millions for private contracts and the state of Louisiana. That part of the story is in Part Three of ICE on the Bayou.
Methodology
WBRZ's Investigative Unit compiled all ICE flights from October 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026 using data from ICE Flight Monitor, operated by Human Rights First. Reporters cross-referenced those records with comprehensive flight data purchased from FlightAware covering all aircraft movements in and out of Alexandria International Airport. Cost estimates for Carlos Della Valle's journey were calculated using publicly available landing fees, fuel taxes, jet fuel prices, aircraft fuel capacities, flight durations, and published ICE officer and pilot salary data. The team conducted this six-month investigation continuously and witnessed dozens of ICE operations firsthand.
