Second ICE detention warehouse confirmed in Georgia

The Trump administration is about to purchase a second Georgia warehouse for mass immigrant detention, this one in Hall County.

B.R. White, city manager for the town of Oakwood, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that a warehouse there is set to begin receiving Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees “within a couple of months.”

White said he received confirmation of ICE’s plans for the facility, located roughly 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, on Monday from the office of U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Athens).

The Oakwood facility will be one of two additions to Georgia’s already-extensive immigration detention network, following confirmation last week that federal authorities have completed purchase of a sprawling warehouse in Social Circle to detain immigrants it is seeking to deport.

The AJC learned on Tuesday that the government paid roughly $129 million for the Social Circle property, according to a copy of the sales deed shared by the town’s city manager.

Officials in Social Circle have expressed concern over the city’s infrastructure being unable to handle a facility with up to 10,000 detainees. Many residents there have recently expressed opposition to the facility during a forum and a public protest.

White said local authorities in his town have yet to hear directly from ICE or the Department of Homeland Security.

Late last month, a report from Bloomberg on documents it obtained about ICE’s plan for warehouse-based jails included Flowery Branch as the possible site of a 1,500-bed facility.

The Hall County warehouse, which White said is at 3619 Atlanta Highway, has a Flowery Branch address but is within the Oakwood city limits.

A WDUN report identified the owner of the property as Houston-based Alliance Industrial Company.

White said the warehouse sale will be finalized in the coming days. The company has not responded to a request for comment from the AJC.

White said he is worried about the city’s sewer capacity when the facility opens, among other concerns.

“Warehouses overall just are not designed to house humans. They’re not designed that way,” White said. “They’re for materials, they’re for people to work at. But at no time are the warehouses designed and built to be habitable.

“We hope that when the facility does locate here, that they will take the necessary steps to upgrade the facility so it is safe for anyone.”

Confirmation of ICE’s plan for the Oakwood warehouse comes on the heels of a city council meeting held Monday evening, which White said drew around 150 people.

Many attendees took turns denouncing ICE’s plans for their community, according to an audio recording of the meeting.

“A city should not normalize the detention of human beings in a warehouse-style facility located down the road from neighborhoods, churches, schools and families,” said Ana Morales, who noted she lives near the warehouse.

Joshua Silavent, a teacher at South Hall Middle School, said fear of ICE and rumors of enforcement operations kept students home and out of school numerous times last year.

“When those students came back to school, boys and girls were crying in my arms, telling me how fearful they were that their mothers, their fathers, their aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents may not be there when they return home from school,” he said. “I’m just asking you, to find it in your hearts, to protect these students, these kids’ lives.

“I believe you will do everything you can stop this injustice from coming to our community. Because know this, if it does, it is an open invitation for ICE to roam our streets and traumatize our children.”

Elected leaders explained that ICE’s decision to detain immigrants in Oakwood is out of their hands, but also expressed frustration.