Federal officials nix plans for 10,000 detainee center in Georgia
The site of a proposed a 10,000-person ICE detention center on East Hightower Trail in Social Circle. (FOX 5 Atlanta)
SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. - Plans to build a massive federal immigration detention center in Social Circle have been canceled following months of intense community opposition and a local lawsuit, officials said Friday.
What we know:
The Department of Homeland Security dropped its proposal to convert a giant warehouse on East Hightower Trail into a mega-center for up to 10,000 immigration detainees. The cancellation comes four months after the agency bought the land for more than $128 million.
Local leaders and residents fiercely fought against the project. City Manager Eric Taylor said, "It’s ten-thousand people too many to be housed in a warehouse that’s not meant for human habitation. That is a tripling of our city in population literally overnight without any consideration at all to how it would impact the community at large."
The city filed a lawsuit against the plan, attempting to block the plan. "Just for sewage alone was for over a-million gallons a day and our sewer plant can only process 650 gallons a day, and it’s already at capacity," Taylor said.
Taylor called the cancellation "great news."
The backstory:
Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff as well as Republican Rep. Mike Collins were part of the effort to block the project.
"The officials in the Trump/Vance got nervous. The people stood up and began to speak out," Warnock said.
Warnock said "this White House and this administration viewed social circle’s concerns as nothing more than a thorn in their side."
Taylor expressed relief that people from across the political spectrum united to defeat the plan.
The other side:
The Department of Homeland Security sent the following statement to FOX 5 when asked about the facility:
"From day one, DHS has remained singularly focused on removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the United States and is always evaluating the best methods to do so. These heinous criminals, once arrested, should be removed at lightning speed, not housed on American soil at the taxpayer’s expense. DHS is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners."
What we don't know:
Federal officials did not answer specific questions regarding what prompted the sudden decision, whether the property will be transferred to a different federal agency, or exactly how much local pushback influenced the choice.
Previous stories
- Social Circle detention facility: Feds drop plans for ICE center
- Social Circle sues DHS, ICE over planned detention facility
- City locks Social Circle ICE facility's utility box
- Social Circle documents reveal $38B DHS plan that includes 'mega' ICE detention center
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from a broadcast report by Christopher King in Social Circle, who interviewed City Manager Eric Taylor, tracking details from a press conference held by Sen. Raphael Warnock, and an official written statement provided by the Department of Homeland Security.