SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. — The U.S. Senate confirmed new Department of Homeland Security Sec. Markwayne Mullin late Monday evening as tensions remain over how the department operates, and its funding.
Both of Georgia’s U.S. senators, with Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock leading the effort, are demanding federal officials answer questions about the mega center detention facility being developed in Social Circle and want the department to confirm they will not send detainees to the Walton County site until those questions are answered and addressed.
Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff are pushing the newly installed DHS Secretary and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons to answer for the lack of transparency surrounding two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers under development in Georgia.
The letter from Warnock and Ossoff was shared with Channel 2 Action News exclusively on Wednesday.
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The debate in Congress over the funding, which includes operations for ICE and the Transportation Security Administration, has led to a multi-week partial government shutdown, impacting security lines at airports across the United States.
Following Mullin’s approval by the Senate, Warnock, Ossoff, and other colleagues sent a letter to Mullin and Lyons about detention centers being built in Social Circle and Oakwood.
Channel 2 Action News has covered the development of both facilities, including the proposed mega-site in Social Circle, and the lack of answers for how those facilities will be maintained within the communities they’re planned for.
Due to the lack of answers from ICE or DHS, Social Circle officials have shut off water and sewer service to the site, saying it will not be returned to operations until they get answers on the developing facility.
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Warnock and Ossoff’s concerns over the City of Social Circle revolve around the lack of transparency from ICE and DHS regarding the development process, as well as the impacts on the small town.
“We write to express our strong opposition, along with those of local officials and residents, to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) plans to open a large-scale detention facility in Social Circle, Georgia. We ask that ICE abandon its plans to open a detention center over the objections of the community,” the senators wrote.
Social Circle is home to roughly 5,500 people, while the mega site planned for the area is expected to hold between 7,500 and 10,000 detainees at a time.
Since learning of the facility’s development, which Social Circle leaders learned of via news coverage rather than from federal officials, they have pushed for answers on the impact to infrastructure, safety and local business.
Warnock and Ossoff echo those concerns, particularly in light of a recent engineering study, which showed the detention center’s potential impacts on the water would be beyond what the city can handle.
“Engineers contracted by the City project that the detention center’s drinking water demand will exceed 1.1 million gpd. According to local leaders, Social Circle’s water treatment plant is permitted to treat 1 million gpd, with current peak demands of approximately 800,000 gpd,” the senators said in a letter to Mullin and Lyons. "The new demand from the detention center will far outpace the City’s permitted and available drinking water supply, resulting in widespread outages for residents."
It’s a concern Social Circle shared with Channel 2’s Tom Regan as well.
The engineering study commissioned by city officials also found that in order to meet the needs of the detention center, Social Circle would have to undergo two years of upgrades, and only if the Georgia Environmental Protection Division grants the permits for it.
The engineering report also expressed concerns about the risk of sewage spills in nearby freshwater tributaries.
Channel 2 Action News reported that when ICE officials said their staff undertakes feasibility studies before selecting detention center sites, repeated requests for those studies by Social Circle have yet to be fulfilled.
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins previously shared his own concerns about the town’s infrastructure, but said he still supported federal immigration enforcement.
“Although I am aligned with the mission of ICE…I agree with the community that Social Circle does not have the sufficient resources that this facility would require,” Collins wrote in a social media post in February.
The senators urged ICE and DHS to answer Social Circle leaders’ questions and address concerns over safety and infrastructure before any detainees arrive at the Georgia facility.
Channel 2 Action News reached out to DHS for comment from Mullin and is waiting for a response.
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