UPCOMING

Every Friday 3PM, protest at Rep. Mike Collins’s office, 110 Court St., Monroe

Sunday, March 8, 2PM, rally on the green in front of historic Walton County Courthouse, Monroe

Sign up to attend

Sponsored by Indivisible Boldly Blue, IndivisibleGA10.org

Co-sponsored by Indivisible ATL, Indivisible North Metro Atlanta, Indivisible Necessary Trouble, Indivisible Cobb, 50501 Georgia

(sponsorships from other orgs welcomed; email NoIceSocialCircle.com)

does a 10,000-person detention facility belong in a small georgia town?

social circle and oakwood say no.

help fight against the ICE facility

On Christmas Eve, Social Circle town leaders learned from a news article that an empty warehouse in their town of 5,000 was on a list of proposed ICE “mega” detention centers. No one from Homeland Security has contacted any officials in Social Circle before or since. It has been shrouded in secrecy.

Town residents who were already organized in a group, One Social Circle Community Coalition, moved quickly to fight the facility. Other groups and individuals joined in. They held meetings and protests, called their senators and congressman and, most of all, resolved together to fight this inappropriate addition to their town.

Unfortunately, the warehouse owners didn’t listen. On February 8, town leaders learned that the sale of the warehouse to ICE had been completed.

The fight is not over.

Social Circle is not giving up. And people beyond the town have joined the fight. We ask everyone who believes this facility is wrong to join us.

Here are some things you can do right now:

  • Call Rep. Mike Collins at (770) 207-1776 and urge him to tell Homeland Security that this plan should not go forward. He has bragged about his close association with DHS and the Trump administration—it’s time for him to use that connection for his constituents. He stated publicly that he believes the facility should not be located here.

  • Show up and stand up! Every Friday at 3:00 PM, join protestors at Mike Collins’s office, 110 Court St., Monroe, for a peaceful protest. Bring signs.

  • Talk to friends and neighbors. Let them know the story. Invite them to join you in taking action. We have a ‘zine you can print and fold to hand out with lots of good information. Here’s the ‘zine to print and here’s information on how to fold it.

  • SIGN OUR PETITION and share it with friends.

Stay informed

Subscribe to emails from Indivisible Boldly Blue and IndivisibleGA10 to stay up to date. And fill out the form below if you’d like to be added to a list of dedicated advocates.

Interior photo of the Social Circle warehouse taken the week of February 8th.

Partial exterior photo of the Social Circle warehouse.

Why an ICE facility is wrong

  • Our taxes may go up. We projected tax income from the warehouse at about $1 million per year. That will drop to $0 (federally owned properties pay no local taxes), jeopardizing the existing town budget and bonding capacity.

  • Our law enforcement and fire departments are meant to serve a town of 5,000, not 15,000.

  • Sewer and water systems are at capacity with 5,000, not 15,000 inhabitants.

  • The site is located in a busy intersection. Increased traffic will cause gridlock and harm nearby businesses.

  • The site is only 4,000 feet from our new elementary school.

  • The site undoubtedly will be surrounded by high metal fences topped with barbed wire and will be an eyesore.

  • Many people find the detention of undocumented community members to be unlawful and inhumane. The administration claims to be extracting dangerous criminals, but the libertarian Cato Institute says only five percent of the people detained by ICE and CBP have a record as violent criminals.

  • The conditions in the facility will be worse than we can imagine. Currently it is a huge open building of concrete and metal, without bathrooms, kitchen, windows, only minimal heat or air conditioning, or materials that would make it soundproof—not an appropriate setting in which to house 10,000 people. ICE claims to be operating the facility by April, which makes us doubt how well it will be modified.

  • Currently, the largest prison in Georgia holds fewer than 2,500 inmates. The proposed Social Circle facility would hold four times that number.

It’s not just social circle

A smaller (1,500-person) ICE processing center has been proposed for Oakwood in Hall County, also known as Flowery Branch. The address is 3619 Atlanta Highway, Flowery Branch. This facility would be about 45 miles from the Social Circle detention center.

According to Oakwood city manager B.R. White, he was informed by Congressman Andrew Clyde that federal authorities are in the process of buying the property and expect to start housing detainees within months. Like Social Circle, many Oakwood community members strongly oppose the location of a detention center in their town.

“I feel that it’s a great, gigantic federal overstep to be able to come into small communities and establish what they feel is necessary without having the input from the local community and the impact that it will have. We’re not going to stand idly by and allow something like this to just be shoved on us and for us to accept it.” —Councilmember Todd Wilson as reported in the AJC

Contact Us

Interested in working with us to fight these ICE facilities? Fill out some info and we will be in touch. Please remember, we’re all volunteers—we’ll respond as quickly as we can!

NOTE: Your information will not be shared with any organization or agency. It will be kept secure to the best of our ability.