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| A proposed detention centre would triple the population of Social Circle, Georgia (Image: Getty Images) |
Democrat Gareth Fenley and conservative John Miller, two neighbors, have shared a daily mission for months. The two of them get in their cars each morning and drive a few miles down the farm-lined roads of their small Georgia town to a gray, one million square foot warehouse that is empty. When they get there, they look very carefully for signs of construction and breathe a sigh of relief each time the huge property looks like it hasn't been touched. The sprawling industrial warehouse, which the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bought in February, is part of a $38.3bn (£29bn) plan to open up dozens of immigration detention centres across the US.
Those plans have faced fierce opposition, not just in Democratic communities, but in conservative towns like Social Circle, which overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in the last election - including his campaign promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
According to Fenley, "people have different reasons for aligning with the exact same message." "That message is: 'Detention centre, not welcome here.'"
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| John Miller's horse farm is across from the proposed detention centre (Image: Getty Images) |
Many people who support the president's immigration policies are concerned that the facility would triple the population and deprive the small town of essential resources, making it a prison town instead of the charming Blue Willow Inn buffet restaurant.
In March, those concerns led City Manager Eric Taylor to shut off the water in the warehouse, a move that made this one-stoplight town the unlikely face of resistance to the administration's plans.
"If you open up that water meter, it gives them full access to the entire supply of the whole city," Taylor told the BBC. "I can't allow that to happen without knowing what will happen in the end." Now those plans for a 10,000-person detention centre appear to be on hold.
The department also signalled that it is pausing plans to buy more warehouses like the one in Social Circle - though the fate of facilities it already has spent millions on remains unclear. A BBC statement regarding the facility of Social Circle did not receive a direct response from DHS. "As with any transition, we are reviewing agency policies and proposals," a statement from the department said.
According to Taylor, DHS postponed a meeting scheduled to discuss the Social Circle warehouse because it was planning a "department review of processes" under new leadership. Residents are cautiously optimistic.
"We can't wait to see what comes of this review. They have already committed to buying it. They have already bought the building, so there's going to be some effects no matter what's done or not done," Miller said.
"We're still whispering up the chain as much as we can to make sure that if they are indeed reviewing it, we can give input."
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| Residents from both parties push back against detention center (Image: Reuters) |
'We don't have the capacity'
A well replica sits in the middle of Social Circle, a nod to the town's early days, when it was founded in 1832. A plaque said that a group of men were drinking "their usual drink" around a well and invited a stranger who was passing by to join them. The stranger responded, "This is definitely a social circle." Nearly two centuries later, the wells of Social Circle are at the center of the residents' struggle against ICE. They claim that the 5,000-person town's water system has been in trouble for decades and that the ICE facility would require significantly more than the fragile system could provide. According to Taylor, the city manager, the town has a permit that only allows it to draw one million gallons of water per day from the Alcovy River, which is south of the town. During the summer, at least 800,000 gallons are used by the town. According to ICE, the facility will require one million gallons per day on its own. Taylor told the agency as soon as an application for water service was filed that he was not going to turn it on, he said.
"At that time, I told them that there was a lock on the water meter, and that it would remain there until we had a better understanding of what the impact would be on our water," I said.
Miller, whose 50-acre grassy horse farm sits just across the road from the Social Circle warehouse, said officials had not done due diligence on selected locations.
"It's the same story over and over," he said. "Communities were not made aware. They weren't consulted."
"I understand the rationale, but I simply do not comprehend how they are handling it," According to Miller, federal officials have considered a number of options, including trucking in a million gallons of water per day or drilling a well on the warehouse property. However, the father of seven claimed that he could lose the well he uses to feed his horses, chickens, and barn cats and dogs. On the two-lane roads of Social Circle, bringing in gallons of water also presents challenges. Miller stated, "That's six or seven trucks every hour, 24 hours a day." DHS did not directly respond to a list of questions from the BBC inquiring about how it would address the water supply.
Additionally, Taylor is concerned about the town's aging sewage systems, which were installed in 1962 and have been in need of replacement for twenty years. "Where's the sewage supposed to go?" He inquired. "We don't have the capacity to handle a million gallons of sewer coming off that site," the statement reads.
A country-wide fight against ICE plans
Residents in Social Circle have been waging their battle against the ICE facility ever since they found out, in a Washington Post report last December, that the warehouse was one of 23 sites earmarked to become detention centres.
They quickly appealed to the government and their federal representatives, claiming that they lacked the resources to support the facility. However, ICE nonetheless purchased it in February for nearly $130 million, which was more than four times its initial estimated value. Since then, Miller, Fenley and others have led the charge to slow the project, holding protests and meetings with hundreds of concerned residents. A spokesperson stated that "many questions remain unanswered" after Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia visited the facility and his office participated in a briefing with ICE personnel. Other communities who have been tapped for similar projects also have fought back.
The state of Michigan filed a lawsuit last week to prevent DHS from converting a Romulus warehouse into an ICE facility. The state claimed that the warehouse was too close to schools and residential areas and could flood. In addition, residents of Merrimack, New Hampshire, successfully lobbied elected officials to stop a facility in town while residents of Maryland and New Jersey filed lawsuits to halt ICE projects.
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| Gareth Fenley, a Democrat, says she is worried about the human-rights issues that a detention centre could bring to the town |
Human rights are at the heart of some Social Circle residents' opposition as well as resource concerns. Fenley said she and other Democrats in town were concerned about having people "warehoused in a place that was not built for human habitation".
She is concerned about reports of abuse in detention facilities. Civil rights groups have claimed that immigrants are being subjected to unsafe conditions such as a lack of food, overcrowding, and medical neglect. According to ICE, at least 13 immigrants died while in the custody of the agency between January 2026 and the beginning of March 2027. Others raised alarms for the surrounding community as well as those inside the facility. We have a single high school, a single zip code, a single grocery store, and a single stoplight. And we are going to triple the size of our town," said Valerie Walthart, who works on a veterinary farm down the road from Miller. "We're going to be thrown off our feet." Walthart went on to say that she was worried about safety as a mother because the detention facility was only five minutes' drive from the neighborhood elementary school. "It's unnerving," Joy Coker, a mother of three in the area, said of the warehouse's location.
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| Phhoto Curtesy: BBC |
'Georgia's greatest little detention centre'
Social Circle's Republican Representative Mike Collins also publicly opposed the ICE project.
"Although I am aligned with the mission of ICE to detain and deport the criminal illegal aliens who have flooded across our border due to Joe Biden's reckless policies, I agree with the community that Social Circle does not have the sufficient resources that this facility would require," he wrote.
Rick Cook, who lives in Monroe, said he was against the facility but thought the United States needed to crack down on illegal immigration. He said he and others in his Social Circle church hoped to provide religious counseling to immigrants held in the facility.
He stated, "It's going to be what it is," and "we're going to try to find the ways to make the best of whatever happens." To Steven Williford, the owner of a cattle farm in Social Circle who voted for Trump, ICE is a "necessary evil". But he couldn't believe the news when he learned the detention centre was coming to his hometown.
He stated, "I just thought it was crazy to put something like that in this community, with no forethought, no prior authorization, and not even asking the community." He also stated that there was no prior approval.
"I'm all for doing what's best for the nation, but is this community's best interest at stake?" he added. "That's the question."
Miller said he understood why some would be confused by the Republican town's reaction. He said detention facilities were necessary to detain people so they could be guaranteed due process.
He stated, "You can't say it's something that's needed and then not be a little willing to allow a facility to be there." But, he said, realistically, no community wants such a facility tarnishing the reputation of their town.
He said, "I miss the days we were known for the Blue Willow Inn," referring to the well-known buffet restaurant that closed during Covid and was once frequented by celebrities like Helen Mirren. "Now," he said, "we're going to be known as Georgia's greatest little detention centre."
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| Photo Curtesy: EPA |
Some residents had been hoping that a change in federal leadership would put the warehouse plans on pause. After backlash over the administration's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis earlier this year, when federal agents shot and killed two US citizens, Trump fired Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem at the beginning of March.
Following the president's nomination of Senator Markwayne Mullin to replace her, DHS indicated that it may be reevaluating its plans. In its statement to the BBC, DHS referenced remarks from Mullin's confirmation hearing:
"We got to protect the homeland and we're going to do that, but obviously we want to work with community leaders," he said in March. "We want to be good partners."
Social Circle's facility was originally slated to open in April, but work appears to have stalled. The agency has yet to award a contract for the warehouse or begin the massive construction needed to convert the bare warehouse into a sprawling court facility, complete with holding areas, gyms and recreational spaces, court facilities, cafeterias and even a gun range.
The possibility of a pause has pleased residents, including Walthart, who stated that the decision provides locals with "a little time to breathe, since we wake up nearly every day wondering if today will be the day the trucks start rolling in." Walthart was one of those residents. She stated, "We hope we can enjoy our small town life for at least a little while longer."
Source: BBC
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