A Small Town Is Trying to Pull The Plug On A Local ICE Detention Center

A small town in Georgia announced that it has cut off water to a planned federal immigration detention center.

The city of Social Circle, Georgia, said it placed a lock on the water meter connected to the warehouse that Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently purchased to detain more illegal immigrants, according to CBS News. City officials notified ICE of the lock after the federal agency inquired about “how to establish an account.”

“The lock is there until ICE indicates how water and sewer will be served without exceeding our limited infrastructure capacity,” the city, which is home to roughly 5,500 residents, said in a statement, according to CBS News.

ICE purchased the facility with plans to house roughly 7,500 to 10,000 detainees, supported by a staff of 2,000 to 2,500, according to CBS News.

Since the city learned of ICE’s plans, local officials began sharing concerns about a potential strain on water usage, the news outlet reported.

“Our permit to draw water out of the river is 1 million gallons a day. Our sewer plant can process 660,000 gallons per day and is at capacity,” the city’s statement adds. “Their BLUF analysis indicates a daily water and sewer need that exceeds these amounts.”

But the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has asserted that the facility will be designed “to not affect the existing infrastructure adversely in any way.”

“The design currently includes on-site mitigation strategies for wastewater treatment. Additional contingencies are in place if required due to non-engineering circumstances,” an internal DHS document on the plans read, according to CBS News.

ICE has reportedly purchased warehouses across the country to expand its mass deportation effort and its capacity to hold more illegal immigrants.

The agency is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the expansion thanks to the influx of cash from the One Big Beautiful bill, according to Axios. The agency was holding roughly 70,000 detainees as of January.

ICE didn’t immediately respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.

ICE hopes to increase its detention capacity to hold 92,600 illegal immigrants at a time, The Wall Street Journal reported last month.

“For ICE to sustain the anticipated increase in enforcement operations and arrests in 2026, an increase in detention capacity will be a necessary downstream requirement,” internal documents said, according to the outlet.