DHS Scraps Plans for 10,000-Bed Georgia Detention Center

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security scrapped plans to convert a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse in Social Circle, Georgia, into an immigration detention mega center. The proposed facility would have held up to 10,000 detainees and employed up to 2,500 staff, a scale that local officials warned would triple the town's population and overwhelm its water and sewage infrastructure. To block the project, the City of Social Circle locked the site's water meter and filed a federal lawsuit in May, alleging the agency bypassed environmental reviews.

This decision is part of a broader policy shift under Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to abandon the conversion of seven warehouses across the U.S., including sites in Roxbury, New Jersey, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The program was initiated by former Secretary Kristi Noem. While the federal government purchased the Social Circle property for $128.5 million—a price Senator Raphael Warnock characterized as waste and fraud—DHS now intends to utilize existing detention spaces with state and county partners.

Congressman Mike Collins notified city leaders of the cancellation on June 18. Local officials and Georgia Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock were credited with pressuring the administration to backtrack. While Social Circle received official notification, officials in Oakwood, Georgia, and Salt Lake City are still awaiting formal confirmation that their respective sites have been terminated.