Georgia cities waiting for updates as federal officials back off on ICE detention center plans

The Department of Homeland Security is pulling back from a plan to use warehouses across the country to hold thousands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.

The policy change would jettison a key piece of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's $38-billion plan to rapidly expand detention capacity this year.

Last week, officials in the small Georgia city of Social Circle announced on social media that it had learned the federal agency "is no longer pursuing an ICE detention facility" within its city limits. Monday, the federal government informed a judge that a warehouse purchased in Romulus, Michigan, will be sold. Local officials in the El Paso suburb of Socorro also announced that plans for their own facility were unraveling.

The New York Times first reported last week that federal immigration officials now plan to get rid of seven of the 11 warehouses — either giving them to other federal agencies or selling them outright.

DHS didn't confirm the reports but said in a statement that it is "moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners."

A national plan for detention "mega-centers"

Documents shared by Social Circle officials earlier this year showed the Department of Homeland Security's plan to "implement a new detention model by the end of Fiscal Year 2026." That would involve creating four smaller facilities that would feed into eight large-scale "hubs" across the country that would hold thousands of detainees.

In a document titled "Ice Detention Reengineering Initiative," the agency said it plans to reduce the total number of facilities from hundreds to around 34 while increasing the total bed capacity.

Officials say the facility, located on Hightower Trail, was expected to hold anywhere from 7,500 to 10,000 detainees.

One of the smaller facilities was set to be built in Oakwood, Georgia. While the New York Times reported that DHS planned to sell or dispose of the Oakwood warehouse property, City Manager B.R. White told the Associated Press that he had not heard anything about the agency's plans for the site.

Criticisms and community backlash to ICE's plan

One issue was that Noem's purchases were largely carried out of public view and angered communities that were caught by surprise. Some only learned about ICE's ambitions after the agency bought or leased space for detainees.

In Georgia, city leaders pointed to concerns over how the project could strain local infrastructure, including water, wastewater, schools, and public safety resources.

Social Circle was one of the cities that filed federal lawsuits, arguing that DHS violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and Georgia's public nuisance law.

Meanwhile, questions about how much DHS paid for some warehouses triggered an internal audit. The agency shelled out double what the New Jersey warehouse was valued at in tax records and nearly five times more than the assessed value of the Social Circle warehouse.

After Noem was fired, her replacement, Markwayne Mullin, quickly paused the purchase of new warehouses.

The New York Times story, which cited internal documents that the newspaper obtained, said a warehouse in Salt Lake City is among those that federal immigration officials plan to hand off or sell. Also on the list are both Georgia warehouses, the Michigan warehouse, as well as one in New Jersey and two in Pennsylvania.

While many in the communities where the facilities were set to be built are releaved by the news, officials remain frustrated as they struggle to get information about possible sales.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.