Until recently, this rural city about 45 minutes east of Atlanta was best known for its Blue Willow Inn cookbooks featuring recipes for Southern dishes such as baked pineapple casserole and kudzu blossom jelly. Lately, however, the community has been trying to stave off a new identity of “prison town” as it fights the opening of what could become the nation’s largest immigration detention center, holding up to 10,000 people.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock met with city leaders on Monday in Social Circle to hear the city's concern about a planned ICE detention center there — and see the aging infrastructure that cannot handle the extra load to keep drinking water safe.
On the Feb 27th Edition: Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has issued a half-million-dollar fine for the multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme that touched the top ranks of GOP politics here in Georgia; One Northeast Georgia county has approved a moratorium on new detention centers and data centers; And Colin Gray, the father of the accused Apalachee High School shooter, took the stand in his own defense this morning.
On Sunday night, a coalition of religious groups held a candlelight vigil in front of a federal courthouse in Athens, to remember people detained by ICE.
Documents shared by the Department of Homeland Security with leaders in the town of Social Circle describe a new national model for immigration detention.
Communities across the country have been shocked to learn that the Department of Homeland Security wants to use warehouses in their towns for detention space amid the ongoing immigration crackdown. The small Georgia town of Social Circle is one of them.
What will it take to transform a warehouse like the one in Social Circle that was just purchased by the federal government into something that can house human beings?
On the Feb. 10 edition: A new ICE detention center in Social Circle could be up and running by April; The FBI uses discrepancies in Fulton County's vote counts to justify seizing ballots from 2020; And state lawmakers come up with a solution to address a teacher shortage
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, who represents Social Circle, has been a vocal supporter of ICE. He served as the middleman between DHS and local officials who oppose the facility.
The Department of Homeland Security appears to moving ahead with plans to purchase a warehouse in the town of Social Circle for use as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.
