Entrance to Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin (photo courtesy Stewart County)
Stewart County has a less than 5-thousand people, but following the census their numbers will swell. 17-hundred illegal immigrants being held in the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin will be counted as residents even though they stay in the facility less than two months.
Stewart County Commission Chair Joe Williams says the Corrections Corporation of America which operates the facility, also gives the county a daily fee for each inmate and provides jobs.
“They pay property tax and they spend money here in the county. Their payroll comes through our local bank.”
The county could receive around 15-hundred federal dollars for each detainee, be eligible for more government grants and greater representation in Congress.
