Why this rural town wants an ICE facility

0:01NPR.

0:11This is The Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong. Yesterday on the show, we talked about the hiring boom in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The Department of Homeland Security says more than 12 ,000 new agents have joined the federal agency since last year. The reason? To carry out President Trump's aggressive crackdown on illegal migration. There are about 71 ,000 people in detention right now, which is a record high. So at this point, you might be asking yourself, where are these increasing numbers of people being held? To help me explain all of this, I'm joined by NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltran.

0:50He covers immigration. Welcome to The Indicator, Sergio. Hey, Waylon. Thanks so much for the invite. And you know, the short answer to that question you post is that the administration is building and expanding huge detention centers across the country, many in small, economically depressed towns. When you're in a rural community that relies on those jobs, this is truly our only option as economic development. Today on the show, how and where the administration is expanding its detention capacity and how one small town is reacting to the economic benefits and the negative tension associated with an ICE facility in its backyard.

1:35The Trump administration has dramatically changed how we as a country approach immigration enforcement. Remember, there were millions of removals under President Obama, but the majority of those removals were at the border. The Trump administration is going hard on enforcement in the interior, picking people up in cities like Minneapolis and Chicago. And we know Trump is ambitious. His administration has said it even wants to be able to carry out even more detentions. The goal, Waylon, is to be able to detain about 93 ,000 immigrants all at the same time. And DHS has a lot of money right now to follow through on these big ambitions.

2:12Despite the shutdown over the agency's funding, it got a big chunk of change from the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. The administration plans to spend more than$38 billion of those funds to build and expand its new detention facilities. They'll be located in big cities, but also in small towns. And you reported on one of them in Georgia. Can you tell us about what you found? Yes. So I want to take you to Folkestone, Georgia. It's a rural community of close to 5 ,000 people, mostly Black, with about one-third of the population living under the poverty line. It's also home to one of the largest ICE detention facilities in the U.S.

2:49Glenn Hall was the administrator of Charlton County, where Folkestone is, and he is very blunt about what he thinks having this center could mean for his county. I won't put it in the words of quid pro quo, but we are supporting a major federal policy with this administration. And we need a hospital. We need emergency medical care. We need dollars. He told me that as a county administrator, one of his jobs was to focus on jobs. you know, and creating them. And this is an opportunity for that. What's now the ICE facility used to be a state prison, but it closed. And in 2017, the GEO Group started running an immigration detention center out of it.

3:31That's the private prison corporation also in charge of the expansion of the facility that's happening now with the new dollars. Now, this sounds like a story we've heard before. A small town that has no industries gets a lifeline in the form of a prison or an immigration detention center. Right. And now you drive by the ICE detention center in Folkestone and it's at least three city blocks, shiny barbed wire surrounds the whole area, and the parking lot is full of employee cars. Obviously, you can see the economic development that it has here, the impact that it has on our community with all those jobs and potentially more.

4:08Up until last year, the facility used to have 1 ,100 beds, but it's been expanded to hold up to 3 ,000 people so far. This has brought about 200 new jobs with an hourly rate ranging from around$18 to about$50, with higher rates for physicians and dentists. The expansion of the facility is also giving the local county and the city of Folkestone about a million dollars. This doesn't sound like a lot of money, especially after you compare it to the$96 million contract the Geo Group has with the feds. But for this area, that's a lifeline. I hate to say it, but if it's not here, it's somewhere else.

4:48And, you know, so you take advantage of the stuff that you have on your table. And, you know, I hate to simplify that because these are people's lives and families. But that's the reality of it. When I visited Folkestone late last year, Glenn actually drove me and our producer around the ICE facility. And as we were down a side road by it, a group of detainees were outside in a recreational area. And they got close to the fence and started shouting at us. Help. They ain't treating us good out here. One of the men yelled, help. They ain't treating us good out here. I asked Glenn what he thought about hearing the men shouting this at us.

5:32If I was detained behind barbed wire like that, I would be yelling help too to somebody coming down a dirt road. no doubt. I mean, that's the humanity side of this, right? He's clearly conflicted, and many residents in the community are conflicted too. Right. And it's interesting, Waylon, because for many residents, the detention center has been a place that could help them earn some money. That's what folks to Native Savannah Pollock told me. I know for several of us, we just see it as just like a place that you could always get a job. And that's really what it has been treated as. It's a kind of, you know, if you didn't pursue college and if you didn't go into a trade area or you're waiting or whatever, you know, the prison was always an option at that time.

6:20Of course, by prison, she's talking about the detention center. And she says there's one big thing that attracts people to apply to work there. It offers benefits. You know, sometimes benefits are better than making money. Sometimes, you know, knowing that you have insurance and knowing that your kids have insurance in your house. And that's one of the things that the GEO group offered to people here was this promise of good benefits and of a decent wage, which a lot of people thought was a really good thing. And it gave them a leverage, you know, at least if they didn't want to stay out there for long, it got them enough in their pocket to go somewhere else.

6:59Still, Savannah is very much against this detention center. In fact, she's been advocating for it to shut down. Morally, I don't think we should ever be tied to a system that hurts black and brown bodies. And not just that, a system that puts on a fake vacate of criminality. These individuals haven't committed a crime. Savannah is studying medicine at Mercer University, about two hours north of Folkestone, but all her family still lives in Folkestone. She says sometimes she feels like she's in the minority here because she says having the time to think about the morality of it all is a luxury.

7:35When you're in a poverty level, we're just thinking about how can I get money in my pocket? And that's where they bring up this, you know, we just don't have jobs conversation. But I say that this is just something you don't want to build your future upon, something that changes every four years. She's talking about how immigration policy changes with each new president. So the center might shut down with the new administration. And that's something local leaders like Glenn Hall understand. Glenn no longer works for Charlton County, but when I spoke to him late last year, he agreed that the county should not rely on the detention center in the long term.

8:10I'm hopeful that the prison will work itself out of a job. If this is the truth, that we close our borders and deport all the illegal immigrants. But that would be less jobs for the county. Absolutely would be. As of now, the Trump administration needs Folkestone, as well as the other communities, saying yes to having an ICE facility in their backyard. Up to 24 new facilities are being planned. Sergio, thank you so much for bringing us the story today. You're welcome. Thanks for inviting me. If you learned something from this episode, please send it to a friend who would get something out of it too.

8:47Word of mouth is how we grow. So spreading the word is supporting our journalism. This episode was produced by Julia Ritchie with engineering by Jimmy Keeley. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Kate Concanon edits the show, and The Indicator is a production of NPR.