Community Battles ICE Site
Social Circle, Georgia, Raises Public Health Concerns Over Proposed ICE Detention Site
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Social Circle, Georgia — a town of about 5,500 people where Donald Trump won by a landslide — is fighting the federal government's plan to turn a local warehouse into a detention mega-center holding up to 10,000 immigrants. The town has locked its water lines, filed a federal lawsuit, and told Washington to "go away," according to CBS News.
The federal government paid $128.5 million in February 2026 for the PNK warehouse at 1365 East Hightower Trail — nearly $100 million above its assessed value, according to Monroe Local News. City leaders say the facility would triple the town's population overnight and push its sewage system past the breaking point.
A Town's Water and Sewage Cannot Handle 10,000 Detainees
Social Circle's sewage plant handles 660,000 gallons of waste per day. The ICE facility would demand over 1 million gallons per day, according to CBS News. City engineers say the math is simple: the system would fail. Raw sewage could spill into neighborhoods sitting as close as 1,000 feet from the site.
The facility would also need 1.113 million gallons of fresh water daily, according to The Covington News. On March 18, 2026, city officials physically locked the water meter serving the warehouse to stop construction from moving forward. City Manager Eric Taylor said the federal government's engineering review was done without ever visiting the city's utility plants.
Conservative Town Sues Federal Government Using Left-Leaning Legal Tools
On May 13, 2026, Social Circle filed a federal lawsuit against ICE and DHS in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, according to CBS News. The city argues the federal government broke the National Environmental Policy Act by skipping required impact studies. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons is named as a defendant.
Legal scholar Timothy D. Lytton of Georgia State University told The Guardian that the city's use of "public nuisance" law is a novel strategy. It could give other small towns a roadmap to fight federal siting decisions. Mayor David Keener says the town was "blindsided" by the government's warehouse purchase. Taylor has been blunt: "The community is very unified. We want them to go away."
The Mega-Center Plan Would Cut 300 Facilities Down to 34
The Social Circle facility is part of a DHS strategy called the "Detention Reengineering Initiative." The plan would shrink the U.S. detention network from roughly 300 privately run sites to just 34 government-owned mega-centers, according to The Guardian. Social Circle was picked as a regional "hub" to hold detainees for up to 60 days before deportation.
The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" set aside $38 billion to fund this expansion, according to reporting reviewed by The Guardian. DHS claims the facility will have "no adverse effect" on the community and says modular design can handle sewage on-site. Local engineers and city officials flatly reject that claim.
A Federal Pause Buys Time, But the Fight Is Not Over
On April 2, 2026, DHS announced a nationwide pause on warehouse purchases to review the strategy, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. New DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, confirmed on March 23, is overseeing the review. He has struck a softer tone than his predecessor, Kristi Noem, who was ousted from the role.
Senator Raphael Warnock has toured the site and said the town "did not vote for a 10,000-person mega-prison," according to CBS News. The federal lawsuit remains active. The city also lost roughly $1 million in annual property tax revenue when the warehouse became federal land, according to Monroe Local News. The pause is temporary. The lawsuit may not be.
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