$47 Million ICE Expansion Paused: Plan for Nation’s Largest Immigration Jail in Georgia Halted After Public Outcry

Plans to expand the Folkston ICE Processing Center in Charlton County, Georgia, have been paused following outcry from immigrant rights groups and the public. The $47 million contract to enlarge the facility has been flagged for review under a federal policy that requires all Department of Homeland Security contracts over $20 million to be evaluated by the Department of Justice’s Office of General Ethics (DOGE), as reported by The Washington Post.

The proposed contract would have created the nation’s largest immigration detention center by combining the existing Folkston facility—which holds up to 1,100 people—with the nearby, unused D. Ray James prison, which has a capacity of 1,870. The expansion would have established a major detention hub for immigrants apprehended across the southeastern United States, including Georgia and the Carolinas.

Activists have long criticized the conditions in Georgia’s detention centers, pointing to overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and inhumane treatment. “They are reporting overcrowded conditions at this facility. People are sleeping on the floor. People don’t have access to proper medical attention when they get sick,” said Amilcar Valencia, Executive Director of El Refugio, during a protest outside the Atlanta ICE Field Office.

Valencia and other organizers called on the Biden administration and local officials to halt the expansion entirely. “People should be able to go back to their communities to continue a process without being detained… where their human dignity, their human rights are at risk,” Valencia told CNN. He warned that expanding the Folkston center would harm not only southern Georgia but also immigrant communities across the region.

The Charlton County Board of Commissioners had been scheduled to vote Thursday evening on a contract modification that would have greenlit the expansion. However, that vote has now been postponed indefinitely, and a new date has not been announced, according to local outlet 11 Alive.

As public scrutiny increases and federal oversight steps in, the future of the Folkston facility—and broader immigration detention strategy in the Southeast—remains uncertain.

Link: News4Jax