You know, when I read my first Xweet about this situation, all I could think was, “Okay. Another woke town wants to play f**kf**k (as we used to say in the Corps). Let them find out the hard way.’
It didn’t help that most of the hyper-partisan ‘conservative influencers’ were the ones who had picked up on it. I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Daugherty post where he’s not hyperventilating in histrionics about whatever he’s posting about, good or bad.
🚨 HOLY CRAP. The City of Social Circle, Georgia just CUT OFF all water to an ICE warehouse that’s set to be turned into a detention center for illegal aliens
Local officials are literally trying to SHIELD illegals from being removed from the US by any means necessary
This is… pic.twitter.com/9oc98WNx6t
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 17, 2026
And as I was looking for something to write about that might be a little off-kilter, I thought, lemme go see what kind of whackdoodle nut jobs live in ‘Social Circle,’ Georgia – and isn’t that, like, the goofiest Doc Hollywood name ever. Dang.
Well, it turns out I wasn’t too far off the mark. Social Circle is tiny – just a shade over 5000 people. And it is old, having been incorporated in 1832 or thereabouts. It’s considered an Atlanta suburb even though it’s 45 minutes outside the city proper, just north of I-20 on the city’s east side, and butts up against Hard Labor Creek State Park. And it kind of likes to be known as ‘Georgia’s Greatest Little Town.’
It looks a lot like the Grady from Doc Hollywood in many small-town respects.
Hard to believe it would be a bastion of woke resistance, but I can also understand the NIMBY (not in my backyard) attitude people trying to preserve that vanishing way of life have.
It turns out, it’s a little more complicated than AWFLs with ‘ICE out!’ placards, considering that the area voted 75% for Trump in the election.
It seems, unbeknownst to anyone in charge, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) purchased an empty million-square-foot warehouse on the outskirts of the tiny town at the beginning of February.
A proposed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holding center for detainees in Social Circle, Georgia, could open as early as April, even as city officials voice strong concerns and frustration over the process.
The City of Social Circle said in a social media post on Sunday that it recently learned that 1365 E. Hightower Trail, a property previously owned by PNK, had been purchased by ICE, making it the preferred site for a detention center.
Worse, when local officials did get word and inquired about what plans the government had, they were informed DHC and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had plans to turn the building into an ICE detention center for up to 10,000 detainees at a time, along with some 2500 or so employees.
Well, Social Circle types were shocked because that meant DHS was in essence more than tripling their tiny town’s population overnight, not to mention the location of the facility was far from ideal
…City leaders say they were not involved in key stages of the process, including an engineering evaluation of city utilities conducted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and they worry that the center could overwhelm Social Circle’s resources—potentially tripling the city’s population overnight.
The planned facility, which could house up to 10,000 detainees, is less than a mile from Social Circle Elementary School.
I can see where they might be concerned.
It doesn’t help that in the month since they got wind of DHS plans, the government has ignored the town’s questions, concerns, and requests for information about the project, leading to unnecessary hard feelings.
One of the big sticking points is the sheer number of people planned for the warehouse detention center – twice the town’s current population. Where do they get water, what about sewage – all legitimate questions that the town officials weren’t getting answers to, all of which were alarming as Social Circle’s infrastructure is already tapped out.
…From the first time that Social Circle was informed of the plan, the city has expressed concerns over how the detention center may strain its services.
“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 reads. “Their BLUF analysis indicates a daily water and sewer need that exceeds these amounts.“
The agency has argued in an infrastructure analysis that the detention 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,” DHS’s document reads.
When the city had a meeting with DHS on February 18th, they realized that the infrastructure DHS was relying on to support the additional 10-12,000 people at their facility was a paper fantasy. Part of the DHS plan was based on a proposed Social Circle sewage treatment plant that had yet to be built, and another sewage plant that made no sense whatsoever, as it’s not owned by the city, is in an entirely different county, and could never connect in any fashion to the detention facility.
…Documentation provided indicates that the facility will include, but not be limited to, holding areas, gyms and recreational spaces both indoors and outdoors, court facilities, intake areas, cafeterias, laundry facilities, on-site health services, and a gun range.
In documents supplied to the City by DHS, it is stated that the facility will have “no adverse effect on the community and surrounding properties.” The City contends that the information provided is insufficient in fully answering our questions and does not adequately support the conclusion that the surrounding area would not be impacted.
The City’s concerns regarding water and sewer infrastructure have not been addressed to our satisfaction. We continue to have more questions than answers. DHS referenced a wastewater analysis to support its claims of available capacity; however, a portion of that capacity was attributed to the A. Scott Emmons Treatment Facility. This treatment facility is not owned by the City of Social Circle, is not located within the city limits, is in a different county, and does not connect to the City’s utility system or this building.
The remaining available capacity referenced in the analysis was attributed to a sewer treatment plant the City is planning to build. Construction on this plant has not yet begun and will take a year to eighteen months to build, meaning it will not be operational by the time DHS intends to begin intake. The City’s plan was to construct the plant with an initial capacity of 1.5 million gallons per day and then increase capacity incrementally as the City grows, with long-term expansion to 3 million gallons per day. Documents provided by DHS indicate this detention facility alone would have a sewage demand of 1,001,683 gallons per day. The City’s current wastewater system processes 660,000 gallons a day and is already operating at capacity. It cannot accommodate an increase in usage of this magnitude.
It is also important to note that the City’s current $65 million bond allocation only funds construction of the new plant to its initial 1.5 million-gallon-per-day capacity. Any expansion beyond that level would require additional funding. If DHS intends to rely on this future facility to meet the demands of its project, the question remains whether it plans to assist in alleviating the significant financial burden associated with accelerating or expanding that infrastructure.
DHS has not met with anyone from the city since, in spite of repeated requests and appeals for more information, and the errors in the DHS site plan have been pointed out to the government.
Are you beginning to understand a bit of their irritation?
So I guess push came to shove when someone from DHS showed up at the water company to ask how to open an account without providing a revised, realistic sewage and water plan for the massive center.
That’s when the city manager said ‘shut it down’ until we get some answers on where the government expects all that poopie to go. He had the water meter locked.
…“There is a lock on the meter,” Taylor told GPB. “A representative from ICE was informed about the lock on the meter shortly after the sale of the property when she 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 detention facility would have a sewage demand of 1,001,683 gallons per day, but the city’s wastewater system processes 660,000 gallons a day and is already operating at capacity, according to Social Circle.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has held one conversation with city officials about the facility, according to local authorities. That conversation, detailed in a Feb. 18 statement from the city, did not satisfy local concerns about strains to the city’s infrastructure.
…“What remains notably unclear is where the resulting liquid effluent would actually be discharged. Where exactly is this effluent intended to go, given that the City’s existing wastewater treatment plant is already operating at capacity and is strained to manage current demand, let alone accept additional waste from a facility of this scale? In addition, this raises concerns regarding potential impacts to local wetlands depending on the final disposal location,” the city wrote.
As this fellow explains in his Xweet, this facility will crash the system, and DHS is trying to go cheap because they’ll be closing this down in five years, so no, they don’t want to build out the infrastructure as they should, or as an incoming factory would be required to.
Ok, I’m fine with ICE and Detention Centers – but this facility CANNOT handle 10,000 people
I’m a former VP of OPS for numerous companies ( now retired )
Look at the parking lot, its maybe setup for 500 – this mean the MAX sewage and water capacity is for 500-1000 people based…
— John Mcguire (@GhostofArtBell) March 19, 2026
You cant shove 10 lbs of s**t into a 1 lb bag
Now, you could TRY – but this is a town of 5,000 people, I can almost guarantee you there water treatment faciltity can not handle 2x the volume
This will crash the system
Now there is a legit solution – DHS needs to pay to improve / expand the lines and the current treatment facility – thats it
In the commercial world, I’ve built facilities where yeah we had to pay to improve ..
In many situations the local town WOULD pay to increase capacity – for example it a Factory bought this site and was moving in 10,000 workers, F yeah they would jump at that , 10,000 full time workers in a town of 5,000 oh yeah easy decision
But 10,000 prisoners and a facility that is going to be used for a few years yeah no there is no additional tax revenue coming in from that.
There are enough outrageous outrages attempting to stymie the current immigration efforts to be mad about. This isn’t one of them.
If anything, Social Circle should be snorting fire at DHS, because it didn’t have to be this way.
This has been handled arrogantly in friendly territory, and why on earth would they want to antagonize allies in the fight to that extent?
Someone needs to sit down with the folks there in Georgia and work this out before it’s completely poisoned – the land and the mood.
They also need to call the howling mobs off the elected officials in that town. They’re doing what they were elected to do.
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