FOLKSTON, Ga. _ Behind tall fences topped with coils of barbed wire in this rural corner of South Georgia, hundreds of immigrants from around the world are facing deportation. Eventually, they will file into a small room here and appear before an immigration judge via a video link so they can get an answer to the all-important question: Can I stay or must I go?
The privately operated detention center where they are being held is confronting a similar question about its fate. In November, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement moved to close the Folkston ICE Processing Center, citing "low usage." Days later, the agency said it was re-evaluating that decision after Republican U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who represents the area, pushed hard to keep the facility open.
An ICE spokeswoman wouldn't elaborate about the detention center's future, saying her agency "doesn't comment on ongoing contract negotiations or activity." But during an exclusive tour of the facility that ICE recently granted The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, there were no indications it was shutting down or even shrinking. On the day of the AJC's visit, the 780-bed center was holding 661 detainees. Many grim-faced immigrants in blue uniforms could be seen waiting for their appointments in the health clinic, reading in the library and standing in line for lunch.
Carter said the pressure to close the facility "seems to have eased" since November, adding he has been working to facilitate a meeting about it between ICE and the Florida-based corrections company that operates it, GEO Group.
The congressman is defending the facility at a time when Georgia lawmakers are scrambling to eradicate rural poverty across the state. He has joined Charlton County, where just over one-quarter of the 12,497 residents live in poverty, in rallying to protect the 233 jobs, $10 million in annual payroll and $265,000 in annual county property tax revenue and fees tied to the center. GEO, which also operates the federal D. Ray James Correctional Institution next door, is Charlton's largest employer.
"There are a lot of people here who work there and rely on" the detention center, said Patti Gantt, the owner of Gantt Hardware and Hunting, a Folkston store that sells guns, ammunition and television sets to GEO workers. "If it closes, people would have to go an hour's drive to find a job."
Critics want ICE to shut down the Folkston facility and sever ties with private companies such as GEO.
"This immigrant prison doesn't benefit anyone but the company and county officials profiting off of the suffering of immigrants inside," said Christina Fialho, the executive director of Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement, which wants to end immigration detention in the U.S. "This facility is a waste of taxpayer dollars and needs to be immediately closed."
The Trump administration, meanwhile, is pushing to add hundreds of additional detention center beds as it ratchets up immigration enforcement across the nation. Last month, ICE won a victory when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that people held in immigration detention centers do not have a right to periodic hearings to determine whether they should be released on bond. Some are now held for months or even years behind bars.
In the court's decision, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. wrote that detaining immigrants during their deportation proceedings gives the government "time to determine an alien's status without running the risk of the alien either absconding or engaging in criminal activity before a final decision can be made."
