Social Circle Detention Center put on ICE…for now

SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. — The recent changing of the guard at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has prompted a pause in the agency’s plan to transform a Social Circle warehouse into a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center that could house as many as 10,000 immigrants awaiting deportation to their home countries. 

The Associated Press, quoting a senior DHS official, reported Wednesday that the agency is reviewing the already completed purchases of warehouses across the country, which would include the one-million-square-foot facility at the intersection of East Hightower Trail and Social Circle Parkway, for transformation into detention facilities. 

Also, according to the DHS official, the agency has paused purchases of additional warehouses for use as detention facilities. 

In a DHS statement also quoted by The Associated Press, the department is characterizing the pause as a routine administrative move across the entire agency in connection with the leadership change, noting that “as with any transition, we (DHS) are reviewing agency policies and proposals.” 

On March 23, the U.S. Senate confirmed Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), who was President Donald Trump’s nominee for the job, as the ninth DHS secretary. He replaced former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who had previously served as a member of Congress and as governor of South Dakota. 

Noem was fired by Trump earlier in the month, effective March 31, in the wake of controversies, including the deaths of two people in Minnesota, where ICE was conducting an immigration crackdown, and issues with a multimillion-dollar advertising contract awarded by the agency. 

News of the DHS announcement of a pause in plans to transform warehouses into immigration detention centers surfaced in just the past few days. However, there were hints more than two weeks ago of at least some federal recognition of infrastructure issues in communities where ICE detention facilities are planned, and of a need to engage those communities regarding those plans. 

In Social Circle, government staff and elected officials learned of the DHS plan for establishing a detention center in the city in late December, from a Washington Post report naming Social Circle as a potential site. 

From that time, the city government’s staff and elected officials worked feverishly, with limited success, to contact federal and state officials, arguing the city’s water, sewer and public safety infrastructure were vastly inadequate to handle a facility that could nearly triple the city’s population of slightly less than 5,500 people. 

Their work did lead to a March 2 tour of the city’s water and wastewater treatment facilities by U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia), who noted at the time his own lack of success in getting information from DHS on the plan for the Social Circle warehouse. 

During the tour, Warnock criticized “a lack of transparency” on plans for the detention center. 

“I’m struck by the utter lack of conversation,” Warnock said at the time. 

City officials had been scheduled to meet with DHS representatives on Wednesday to discuss engineering concerns about the Social Circle project, but that meeting was canceled, apparently in connection with the announced department-wide DHS review, Social Circle City Manager Eric Taylor said Thursday.   

At a March 18 confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee, under questioning from Sen. Andy Kim (D-New Jersey) about a 1,500-person detention center planned for the city of Roxbury, Mullin referenced his own small-town Oklahoma roots and a need to communicate with communities where ICE detention facilities are planned. 

According to a transcript of the hearing, Mullin told Kim that “…realistically, most municipalities don’t have the capacity in their infrastructure for waste and water.” 

“So it’s important that we’re talking to the communities,” Mullin added. “And if we’re having additional needs, we can work with the cities, we can work with the municipalities. But we should always communicate with them.” 

Mullin had a similar exchange with Sen. Maggie Hassan (D- New Hampshire), who asked about a canceled plan for a detention center in Merrimack. She sought assurances that those plans wouldn’t be revived and that no other facilities would be sought in New Hampshire. 

“We got to protect the homeland, and we’re going to do that,” Mullin told Hassan, “but obviously we want to work with community leaders. We want to go be good partners.” 

Mullin’s comments came in the wake of significant pushback from communities where ICE has been planning to convert warehouses into detention centers. In Social Circle, Taylor locked the water meter at the warehouse site in a move designed to get DHS officials to talk with city officials. This was a move enthusiastically supported by the city council. 

There have also been strong protests of the Social Circle plan from progressive groups across the area. News of the DHS reassessment of its plans for the Social Circle warehouse, purchased earlier this year by the federal government from PNK Group, a New York-based industrial developer, for nearly $130 million, was welcomed Thursday – albeit sharply – by one of those groups, IndivisibleGA10. 

Part of a nationwide network of Indivisible groups, IndivisibleGA10, covering Georgia’s 10th Congressional District, which includes Social Circle, said in a statement released Thursday: 

“We welcome a reassessment by DHS of how they proceed and shape a plan going forward. To date, through their own mismanagement, incompetence, and arrogance, they have managed to turn the majority of Americans, independent of political persuasion, against their policies and practices.” 

The statement went on to contend that “(i)f DHS is being honest in this new evaluation, they will clearly see that the warehouse in Social Circle should never have been considered a viable candidate for a detention center.” 

Elsewhere in its three-paragraph statement, IndivisibleGA10 notes a recent statement by Rep. Mike Collins, who represents part of Newton County as Georgia’s 10th District congressman and a staunch supporter of the administration of President Donald Trump, calling for a more robust review of plans for the Social Circle warehouse.  

In a social media posting made long before the recent news of the DHS review of its warehouse plans, Collins said he was “aligned with the mission” of ICE, but nonetheless had concerns about the city’s ability to handle the infrastructure needs of the proposed detention facility. 

“I have asked DHS to continue evaluating the impacts that the facility would have on Social Circle and to ensure we can accomplish the mission without negatively impacting this community,” Collins noted in the post. 

In its Thursday statement, IndivisibleGA10, contending Collins “…is on record as agreeing that this decision was the wrong one,” urged the congressman “…to honor his prior statements and see that this project is terminated.” 

Also reacting Thursday to the DHS announcement of a pause for reviewing warehouse purchases was John Miller, a Social Circle businessman who is part of the One Circle Community Coalition. The coalition was formed last year to boost citizen involvement in local government. It has been, and continues to be, in contact with various local and state officials in connection with the local detention center proposal. 

“It’s wise and prudent to have one,” Miller said of the DHS review. “We would love to be a part of helping them review it.”