Immigrant rights groups protest proposed Georgia detention center expansion in Charlton County

Caption

Immigrants' advocacy groups protest against a Folkston facility expansion in Atlanta.

Credit: Sarah Kallis/GPB News

Opponents of a proposal creating the country’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in South Georgia protested in Atlanta on Thursday. Despite a delay in funding for the project, they’re still organizing. 

El Refugio is an Georgia-based organization that has been working with immigrants in detention for 14 years. Executive director Amilcar Valencia said detention facilities are a risk to people’s human rights. 

“It's inhumane, it is unnecessary,” Valencia said. “People should be able to go back to their communities to continue a process without being detained, without being incarcerated.”

The $47 million Folkston expansion proposal is on hold due to a federal directive limiting new expenditures to $20 million, but the plan could still move forward.

Opponents are hoping to stop it altogether.

Meredyth Yoon, a member of the Shut Down Folkston ICE Processing Center campaign, said they’ve been organizing against this center for three years.

“Folkston is an abusive ICE detention center where there are recorded deficiencies and violations of the performance-based national detention standards, constitutional standards and other requirements to provide safety and care to the people in ICE custody,” Yoon said.

If federal funding is approved Charlton County commissioners will still need to vote on the proposal. The Folkston expansion would increase the capacity of the detention center to nearly 3,000 beds, making it the largest processing center in the country.

• PREVIOUS REPORTING: South Georgia ICE processing center doubles capacity in nationwide push

The Folkston processing center’s standards have been scrutinized before. A 2022 Inspector General report found that the Folkston facility violated standards for facility conditions, medical care, detainee grievances and more. 

GPB contacted a spokesperson at the ICE Atlanta field office, who declined to comment.

This story was updated to include a statement from a The GEO Group spokesperson, the private prison company that owns the Folkston facility:

“GEO strongly disagrees with these baseless allegations, which are part of a long-standing, politically motivated, and radical campaign to abolish ICE and end federal immigration detention by attacking the federal government's immigration facility contractors.

We are proud of the role our company has played for 40 years to support the law enforcement mission of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)...In all instances, our support services are monitored by ICE and other organizations within the Department of Homeland Security to ensure strict compliance with ICE detention standards. 

The support services GEO provides include around-the-clock access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation, general and legal library access, dietician-approved meals, religious and specialty diets, recreational amenities, and opportunities to practice their religious beliefs...At locations where GEO provides health care services, individuals are provided with robust access to teams of medical professionals including physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists, and psychiatrists.

Ready access to off-site medical specialists, imaging facilities, Emergency Medical Services, and local community hospitals is also provided when needed. Health care staffing at GEO’s ICE Processing Center is more than double that of many states’ correctional facilities.”