The Mableton City Council voted on Wednesday, March 11 to enact a moratorium on the development of immigration detention centers within the city limits.
The moratorium would remain in effect through Dec. 31, 2028, giving city staff time to propose or adopt new regulations related to planning, zoning and land use ordinances that could affect the construction of a detention center.
Mableton City officials expressed concern that immigration detention centers may have significant negative effects on the economy and the potential to damage or overwhelm local and rural infrastructure, particularly water and sewer systems.
The move follows similar legal actions taken by cities in Georgia and across the country to stop the development of immigration detention centers. In some cases, those projects initially began under the guise of warehouse construction and development.
“The real goal of this is not to rush into anything or even have a scenario where that where an ICE detention center would come in, unknowingly posing as a regular warehouse, and then all of a sudden being sold to ICE facilities, which has happened before, and we didn’t want that here in the city of Mableton,” Mayor Michael Owens said.
A federal judge in Maryland issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday halting construction of a massive immigration detention center – capable of holding 1,500 detainees – after the state filed a lawsuit citing environmental concerns.
Mableton city leaders also say the presence of a detention center could “create a climate of fear and distrust of authorities,” reduce participation in religious, social and economic activities, erode public trust in public institutions, and contribute to severe or even fatal health crises for detainees.
“There aren’t that many immigrants in the US for DHS to buy up this property to be abandoned 3 to 5 years from now,” said one resident. “These tax payer purchases are being done in secret, and DHS is not being transparent.”
The city of Social Circle is also cosidering legal action after repeatedly communicating to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that it does not have the capacity or resources to accommodate this demand, and no proposal presented to date has demonstarted otherwise.
DHS stated that they “will fully implement a new detention model by the end of Fiscal Year 2026”. The plan is to transition the ICE detention system from private operations to government-owned facilities. DHS plans to implement a “Hub and Spoke Model,” in which four smaller processing facilities will feed into the larger detention facilities. The proposed facility in Social Circle is identified as one of eight “mega centers” that will be located across the nation.
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and deportation efforts have drawn widespread condemnation from rights advocates, who say the policies violate free speech and due process rights. Experts also say the crackdown has created an unsafe environment, particularly for minorities.
