Social Circle is going after the federal government in its attempt to open an ICE detention center there.
A lawsuit filed this week asks a judge to vacate the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) purchase of a warehouse, where an estimated 7,500-10,000 detainees would be kept. The lawsuit claims the government went ahead with the project without input from Social Circle or regard to any potential problems. ICE bought the massive warehouse for $128.6 million. City officials said from day-one that they don’t have the infrastructure to triple the area’s population.
The city is so concerned about the strain on its water supply that it put a lock on the warehouse’s water meter. DHS has suggested trucking in drinking water and trucking out waste, according to a letter from Georgia Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, who said the plan was unworkable.
DHS also bought a 540,408-square-foot warehouse in Oakwood for $68.2 million, a deed shows. City Manager B.R. White said his first inkling that a deal was imminent came when a warehouse supervisor told a city inspector he’d been instructed to clear the job site to make way for the new owners – the federal government.
Earlier this week, White said he had learned the DHS had “paused” its plans to locate similar facilities in Maryland and New Jersey. The latest on proposed ICE facility in Oakwood