SOCIAL CIRCLE, GA — ICE plans to shrink its network of more than 200 detention facilities to just 34 government-owned sites, according to Georgia officials with information on the plan.
Social Circle Mayor David Keener, City Manager Eric Taylor and City Attorney Jay Crowley say they learned of the proposal during a meeting with a Homeland Security delegation led by Tim Keiser, Deputy Chief of Staff at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The meeting focused on the federal government’s proposal to convert a large warehouse in Social Circle into an immigration detention center.
The three officials say ICE wants to replace local jails and prisons, mostly run by GEO or CoreCivic, with a centralized system of larger facilities owned by the Department of Homeland Security.
Bloomberg’s Denise Pellegrini contributed to this story.