SOCIAL CIRCLE, GA — U.S. Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are urging ICE to meet with local leaders in Social Circle before any detainees arrive at a planned detention facility.
Community members continue to voice concerns about the impact of the facility on the town’s infrastructure and resources.
Resident Valerie Walthart said the small town is unprepared for a facility of this scale.
“If you put all the humanitarian concerns aside, the problem with this for Social Circle is one, we like the water and sewer capacity. Two we lack adequate roads, three we lack the civic resources this site will require of us,” Walthart said.
City officials said they estimate constructing the water and wastewater infrastructure necessary to support the detention center would cost $44 million and take more than two years.
Opponents of the facility met with state lawmakers on Thursday to highlight the town’s challenges and urge federal transparency.
“We write to express our strong opposition, along with those of local officials and residents, to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s plans to open a large-scale detention facility in Social Circle, Georgia. We ask that ICE abandon its plans over the objections of the community,” the senators wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons.
Warnock emphasized that the concerns of Social Circle’s roughly 5,000 residents must be addressed before ICE moves forward.
“Social Circle is small, about 5,000 residents. We have one stoplight, one high school, one grocery store, and one zip code,” Walthart said. “If we had satisfactory communication and knew there was a reasonable timeline and sufficient resources allotted to address the concerns of our community, I would not be standing here.”
Earlier this month, the Mableton City Council unanimously approved a temporary moratorium on the development of facilities that could be used to detain people for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
City leaders said the measure comes as other metro Atlanta communities have plans for similar facilities including proposals to house immigrant detainees in warehouse spaces in Social Circle and Oakwood.
