SOCIAL CIRCLE, GEORGIA — The city of Social Circle, Georgia, filed a federal lawsuit in May 2026 against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to block construction of a large detention center on a 235-acre site the Department of Homeland Security purchased in February 2026 for nearly $129 million. The lawsuit alleges the facility would harm public health, strain local water and sewage systems, and overwhelm emergency medical services.

The planned detention center is expected to hold between 7,500 and 10,000 detainees—more than New York City’s Rikers Island jail and nearly triple the capacity of the largest existing immigration facility in El Paso, Texas. Court filings state the facility would require about 1 million gallons of water daily, potentially depleting residents’ supply and contaminating local streams with sewage. The city also claims the federal government failed to conduct required environmental reviews or seek community input before acquiring the land, whose assessed value was nearly five times lower than the purchase price.

Social Circle, a city of about 5,500 people located 45 miles east of Atlanta, has limited emergency resources, with 14 firefighters, 15 police officers, and two school resource officers; ambulance services are provided by Walton County. City Manager Eric Taylor said federal officials held only one meeting with local leaders and dismissed concerns about infrastructure and public safety. “The community is very unified. We want them to go away.” Taylor said. He added, “I don’t buy that. And that’s the problem.”

Residents expressed alarm over the project’s scale and potential consequences. John Miller, who has lived in Social Circle for 21 years, said, “I thought it was a joke,” when he first learned of the plans. He argued the detention center would recreate problems the Trump administration sought to address, stating, “Whether people are concentrated in a detention center or out in the public, they’re still there.”

Gareth Fenley, a retired social worker who lives near Social Circle and ran for Georgia state Senate in 2024 as a Democrat, warned the town could lose its character. “Social Circle is not exactly flourishing, but it’s making it. If Social Circle becomes a prison town, we’re gonna lose what we have.” he said.

The lawsuit follows a period of expanded ICE detention operations. From February 2025 to February 2026, three ICE facilities in Folkston, Georgia—housing about 2,000 people—generated 130 emergency calls for incidents including anaphylaxis, assaults, suicide attempts, and strokes. ICE is currently detaining all individuals it seeks to deport, including those without criminal records, without bond eligibility.