Local officials have been caught off guard by a Dec. 24 report in The Washington Post that Social Circle is one of seven sites across the United States where U.S. Customs & Immigration Enforcement (ICE) appears to be planning to use renovated industrial warehouses to house thousands of immigrant detainees and speed up deportations.

The Post report states “(t)he Trump administration is seeking contractors to help it overhaul the United States’ immigrant detention system in a plan that includes renovating industrial warehouses to hold more than 80,000 immigrant detainees at a time, according to a draft solicitation reviewed by The Washington Post.”

The story goes on to identify Social Circle as a proposed site for a detention center comprising between 5,000 and 10,000 beds. Other cities proposed as detention center sites are Stafford, Va.; Hutchins, Texas; Baytown, Texas; Hammond, La.; Glendale, Ariz.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Chester, N.Y.

Social Circle City Manager Eric Taylor, who was meeting with Mayor David Keener on Monday to discuss the situation, said that, as of late Monday morning, the city’s knowledge of any federal detention center plans in Social Circle was limited to “only what is reported in The Washington Post” and in a short item in Border Report, a Nexstar Media Group report that relies on The Post’s reporting.

Taylor said city officials would be working Monday to contact a wide array of state and federal officials and offices to find out more about the reported ICE plans for detention centers.

“There’s a lot of questions we don’t have the answers to,” Taylor said, while also noting that the federal government would not be subject to any local zoning or other regulations in connection with plans for a detention center. 

But Taylor went on to note that the city simply doesn’t have the infrastructure—particularly water and sewer service—to accommodate a detention center that would, in effect, triple the city’s population, currently at 5,415 people.

According to Shane Short, president and CEO of the Development Authority of Walton County, the only existing facility in Social Circle that meets the ICE criteria for the described detention center is a currently unused warehouse on 183 acres at 1365 East Hightower Trail near the Social Circle Parkway.

Taylor concurred with Short’s assessment and went on to note that currently, the facility is “built as a warehouse. It’s not built for human habitation.” Taylor also expressed concern that the site is about a mile away from Social Circle Elementary School. Additionally, Taylor noted that if the facility does become a federal property, it would not be subject to taxation.

The warehouse, which according to Walton County tax records covers more than one million square feet, was built in 2024. According to Short, the warehouse, described in county tax records as a “Mega Distribution” facility, was built as a speculative project for some unspecified future use.

Tax records show the property is owned by PNK S1 LLC, which state incorporation records indicate has a principal office in New York City, with a registered agent in Roswell, Ga. In addition to the 183-acre tract on which the warehouse is located, PNK owns nearly 60 immediately adjacent acres on Social Circle Parkway.  

Short said local officials have been in touch with PNK, only to learn that whatever plans there may be for the property are the subject of a non-disclosure agreement. 

Otherwise, Short said, “We haven’t heard from the federal government or anybody directly” about any detention center planning for Social Circle.

Taylor said Monday that city officials will be working to get in touch with PNK as they work to uncover more information about ICE detention center plans.

News of possible ICE detention center plans for Social Circle came as news to Walton County Commission Chairman David Thompson. “I’ve heard nothing at all,” Thompson said in a Monday morning interview. “We’ve not been made aware (of any detention center plans),” Thompson said.

In a Monday email to The Walton Tribune (which is a sister paper of The Covington News), Ben Hammond, the Walton County public information officer, referred to The Washington Post and Border Report stories listing Social Circle as a potential ICE detention center site as “rumors.”

Hammond went on to say the county, which is a separate entity from the city, “has had no correspondence or communication with the federal government, the Department of Homeland Security, or any private contractors regarding the establishment of a detention center. There are currently no applications or inquiries on file with the county for a project of this nature.”

Also according to Hammond’s email, there currently is “no credible primary source confirming a finalized plan for a facility in this area. For the most accurate and up-to-date information on federal government activities, we encourage residents to monitor SAM.gov, where all active and awarded federal contracts and solicitations are required to be posted for public view.”