The Marietta Police Department has become the latest Georgia law enforcement department to partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown.

Marietta Police Department formalized its partnership with federal agents in January, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. ICE’s 287(g) program allows local law enforcement agencies to conduct some immigration officer duties, like checking immigration status and making arrests.

While there are several sheriff’s departments and local police throughout Georgia that have signed up to work with ICE, Marietta is the largest to date.

ICE will also pay for the salary of local officers designated by their departments to work on immigration enforcement tasks.

Black Lawmakers want to block ICE funding

In response to the acquisition of warehouses in Georgia for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to house large numbers of detainees, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock proposed legislation last week to block funding for the centers.

“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Homeland Security, by this Act, by Public Law 119-21, or by any other Act may be used by the Department of Homeland Security for the acquisition, construction, renovation, or expansion of any U.S. Immigration and Enforcement detention center located in Social Circle, Georgia, or Oakwood, Georgia, unless such action in either such location is explicitly authorized by an Act of Congress,” the amendment reads.

The Oakwood facility is reportedly a pair of warehouses that would house 1,500 people. In Social Circle, the warehouse detention facility will house 10,000 people.

Warnock added that any facilities “intended to be used for the detention of noncitizens” would be subject to inspection requirements and environmental laws, including requiring site assessments.

Georgia state Sen. Jaha Howard and South Fulton Councilwoman Helen Zenobia Willis also announced a new bill Sunday to prohibit the use of state-controlled funds to support the acquisition, construction, renovation, expansion or operation of ICE detention facilities.

The proposal would also require environmental impact reviews, public hearings, and comprehensive site assessments before a detention facility could be considered.

Georgia taxpayers “should not subsidize or facilitate large-scale federal detention expansion without clear public consent or accountability,” Howard said.

New detention facility in Social Circle

As soon as April, people could reportedly begin arriving, further increasing local fears that the metro Atlanta area is poised to see a significant increase in immigration detention and deportation.

Recently, Social Circle had tried to fight the purchase by Homeland Security based on water and sewer concerns, but according to a post on its Facebook page, the deal has been finalized.

“The City of Social Circle has been informed by multiple sources that the sale of 1365 E. Hightower Trail has been completed. … The City of Social Circle will continue to monitor developments and will share confirmed information with the public as it becomes available.”

There are also reportedly plans to open a smaller detention center in Jefferson, Georgia, about 60 miles outside of Atlanta, to hold 1,500 people.

College Park is on alert

When news about the new ICE facility in College Park began spreading, videos of vehicles adorned with ICE logos being trucked into metro Atlanta circulated, along with texts alerting residents to cooperate by showing ID if stopped. 

ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams told WABE that more of the agency’s officials are working in a new office, but she declined to say where it’s located.

In an emailed statement, College Park officials said they’re aware of a possible ICE administrative office recently opening in the city.

“We are committed to complying with all applicable laws while remaining transparent with our residents and businesses,” spokesperson Gerald H. Walker said via email. “Our priority is sharing accurate information, dispelling misinformation, and reducing fear within our community.”

Dangerous prison becomes detention center

Last year, Georgia began quietly working on building what would then be the largest ICE facility in the country, following the passage of President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Charlton County, located 10 miles from the Florida border and 274 miles south of Atlanta, approved a nearly $50 million agreement with ICE in June to expand the Folkston ICE Processing Center from 1,100 detainees to nearly 3,000. The plans incorporate the shuttered D. Ray James Correctional Facility into the existing footprint. 

In previous reporting, Capital B Atlanta noted that Folkston, a private prison run by The GEO Group, is not without considerable problems.

According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in 2022, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General published the results of a 2021 inspection of Folkston, citing “unsanitary and dilapidated” facilities, with water leaks, mold and debris in the ventilation system, insect infestations, lack of access to hot showers, inoperable toilets, and no hot meals.

“Folkston did not meet standards for facility conditions, medical care, grievances, segregation, staff-detainee communications, and handling of detainee property,” the report read. “We identified violations that compromised the health, safety, and rights of detainees.”

In 2024, Jaspal Singh, an Indian national, died after spending nine months in detention at Folkston. He was 57.

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Staff writer Chauncey Alcorn contributed to this report.

This story has been updated.

Angela Burt-Murray is Capital B Atlanta's editor