Senator Ron Wyden, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, has called for transparency regarding a proposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement family detention center in Alexandria, Louisiana.

The Oregon Democrat sent letters to project contractors and the Department of Health and Human Services expressing what he termed "grave concerns" about the facility's planning process. Wyden's correspondence followed reporting by The Guardian that first revealed the Trump administration's plans for the detention center in March.

In his letters, Wyden cited specific concerns about potential conflicts of interest among contractors, environmental contamination issues at the proposed site, and what he described as "the absence of a public process" in the facility's development.

The proposed detention center has been characterized as "first-of-its-kind" and would be designed to hold immigrant families and children at what officials describe as a sprawling Louisiana facility.

Wyden's intervention represents the first major congressional oversight effort regarding the detention center since news of its planning became public. The senator sits on one of the Senate's most influential committees, which oversees federal spending and taxation matters.