Like the character Cal Naughton Jr. in “Talladega Nights,” I was “a little confused by your tactics” when it came to the Trump Administration’s decision to put a massive ICE detention center in a warehouse facility in little Social Circle, Georgia.

Also like Cal, I thought “I’m going to keep acting tough until I figure it out.”

While I don’t think I’ve got it all figured out by any means, and wasn’t particularly trying to act tough about it, that’s just a great line, I believe I’m beginning to see the administration’s logic.

Initially I thought, perhaps, this could be an effort to hurt District 10 U.S. Rep. Mike Collins’ bid for Senate. Politically, that didn’t make sense to me because the president, up until now anyway, has been a supporter of Collins. The very first piece of legislation President Trump signed into law at the beginning of his second term was the Laken Riley Act, which Collins sponsored and championed through the legislative process. The administration’s current policy to detain and deport undocumented illegal immigrants who commit crimes in the U.S. is literally codified in the Laken Riley Act.

Trump’s got to be fan? Right? If so, why in the world would he put one of these detention centers 15 minutes from Collins’ district office in Monroe?

What if being a fan of Collins and Walton County might exactly be why Social Circle got picked?

Forget about the sensibility of the logistics for a minute. Social Circle is next to the interstate, is an easy shot to the Atlanta airport, not quite as easy a shot but an easy shot to the port in Savannah, has rail. All the qualities that make it a great economic development hub makes it desirable for one of these detention centers, including a facility that is ready-made to be converted.

More importantly to the administration, I believe, is the sensibility of Walton County’s politics and as a result, its likely overall reaction to a detention center of this kind. While there has been some push back locally, and rightfully so, the protests and demonstrations against the center have been noticeably muted compared to what I would have to believe would have occurred if the center had gone into a community that hadn’t voted 75 percent for the president every time he ran.

You think opponents would have to bus folks into a protest in Atlanta, for example? No invitation needed to riot in the streets there. Don’t have to ask them twice.

Don’t misunderstand. There are good, local people opposed to the detention center and have every single right to be. Anyone arguing that if you voted for Trump you can’t now oppose the detention center by crying not in my backyard, well, doesn’t have a detention center being built in their backyard.

You can absolutely support the administration’s immigration policies and want the detention center to go somewhere else. Anywhere else. Otherwise, that’s like implying if you support law enforcement and back the blue then you have to want to live across the street from a federal prison to prove it. That’s nuts folks.

There are plenty of good, local folks who support the detention center as well, they don’t mind telling you about it in the comment section of our Facebook page, which is probably why local numbers at these protests and demonstrations are not at the desired levels, forcing what I’ll call organized opposition groups from outside the community to bring folks into Walton County to get the numbers up. 

I want every single one of the millions upon millions of illegal immigrants, particularly violent criminals, who violated the law when they crossed the border under the Biden administration to be deported as quickly as possible. I do not, however, want 8,500 to 10,000 of them, even though it’s a drop in the bucket really, to be housed 15 minutes from my house and across the street from a local elementary school until their exit can be arranged. Whether I go out and protest about the center or not.

Some might think I’m still a little confused, I’ve been accused of worse, but I don’t consider these statements to be contradictory at all.

How about you?

Patrick Graham is the proprietor and publisher of The Covington News. His email address is patrick.graham@waltontribune.com.