Department of Homeland Security purchases a warehouse in Oakwood for another ICE detention center

Caption

The warehouse in Oakwood that the Department of Homeland Security plans to use for an ICE detention center.

Credit: Courtesy qPublic.net

The Department of Homeland Security has purchased a second Georgia warehouse as part of its nationwide revamp of immigration detention.  

DHS paid just over $68 million, many times the assessed value for four parcels in the purchase including a $1.9 million warehouse in the 3600 Block of Atlanta Highway, near Interstate 985 in the city of Oakwood in North Georgia’s Hall County.  That’s according to a warranty deed published by Oakwood officials and information from the county’s property records.

Though comparable in size to the warehouse DHS bought about an hour south in the city of Social Circle, the Oakwood warehouse is planned to detain far fewer people, only about 1,500 instead of the 8,000 to 10,000 capacity of the earlier acquisition.

That gives Oakwood the role of a “processing center” in DHS plans shared with the city of Social Circle recently.  Republican U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, whose district includes Oakwood, wrote on his website that he was told by ICE that processing center stays were to last no longer than a week. Other DHS documents describe how detainees would then go to longer stays in larger centers like the one in Social Circle before finally being deported. 

Both facilities are part of DHS plans to reduce the number of their detention centers nationally (Social Circle city leaders were told the reductions could be close to 90%) while also adding tens of thousands of new detention beds.