House lawmakers call for shutdown of Georgia immigration detention center during visit
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Democratic lawmakers are trading words after a visit to Georgia's Stewart Detention Center on Tuesday.
House Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Hank Johnson, Nikema Williams, Valerie Foushee, and Deborah Ross toured the privately-operated Lumpkin facility to speak with some of the men and women being detained by ICE.
Following their visit, the lawmakers called for the detention center to be closed, bringing up concerns about allegedly unsanitary conditions and medical neglect at the facility.
"What we heard from detained people today was that they are not getting the care, the proper food, or the clean water that ICE says they are — to the point that we heard from several people who are simply not drinking water that they haven't bought bottled from the commissary," Jayapal said. "Stewart is a failure of the promise of America, and I will continue working to get this facility, and all private, for-profit detention centers, shut down."
Johnson said the center had a "long history of denying basic human dignity and rights to detainees."
In a post on X, the federal agency said it had been scheduled to provide a tour to the House members from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, but the lawmakers arrived early and stayed in the facility after their designated time.
"Upon being asked to depart the facility around 2 p.m., the delegation indicated resistance to leaving the facility. Thanks to the calm and professional engagement of ICE personnel onsite, the delegation ultimately did leave, and moved to a separate Department of Justice facility located next to the Stewart facility, where they demanded to sit through a hearing in an immigration courtroom. The delegation remained onsite until about 3:45 p.m," the agency said in a statement, arguing that the group "disrupted operations" during their visit.
The lawmakers called ICE's statement "absolute lies" and said that they arrived at the facility at the scheduled time and that they had previously made arrangements to observe a hearing at the immigration court.
"This is not the first time ICE has attempted to interfere with a congressional inspection and refused to answer basic questions about the number and demographics of the people in their custody - basic information we would expect ICE to have at their fingertips to ensure appropriate care and safety," a post on Jayapal's X page reads. "Despite these challenges, we will not be deterred from doing our jobs to conduct oversight and hold ICE accountable."
A Georgia detention center in the spotlight
Jayapal, other Democratic lawmakers, and advocacy groups have pushed for more oversight of the facility in the small southwest Georgia town.
During her visit to Georgia, Jayapal visited with Rodney and Mildred Taylor. Rodney Taylor, a double amputee and Atlanta father of seven, was detained in Stewart Detention Center for 15 months in connection with a decades-old burglary charge that was later pardoned, advocates said. He was released to his family in May.
Taylor described the conditions during his time in detainment as deplorable, saying "the facility is not fit for humans."
"From the medical to the lack of maintenence on the facility, drinking water, everything, is not meant for human consumption," he said.
A CBS News analysis in July found that Stewart Detention Center had last been inspected by federal officials in March 2025. While the privately-run facility was deemed "acceptable/adequate," inspectors did find multiple deficiencies, including two designated "primary components" connected with suicide prevention.
Since the inspection, two detainees, including one in April of this year, have died by suicide, the county coroner said. In July, a 29-year-old detainee died in the hospital after being transferred to the facility.
