{"id":29605,"date":"2026-04-09T10:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&p=29605"},"modified":"2026-04-09T10:48:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:48:17","slug":"sen-ossoff-backing-bill-to-require-federal-government-to-get-local-approval-for-ice-detention-facilities-including-social-circle","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-backing-bill-to-require-federal-government-to-get-local-approval-for-ice-detention-facilities-including-social-circle\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Ossoff Backing Bill to Require Federal Government to Get Local Approval for ICE Detention Facilities, Including Social Circle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. <\/strong>\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is backing a bill that would require local approval before the Federal government can open ICE detention facilities, like in Social Circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff recently cosponsored the Respect for Local Communities Act<\/em>, which would require the Federal government to secure written approval from state and local governments before opening new ICE detention or processing facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill, first introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), would prevent the Federal government from beginning the construction, acquisition, or renovation of any new ICE detention or processing centers without securing consent from local officials and meeting certain requirements, including conducting and making public engineering, environmental, economic impact assessments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill would also require the Secretary of Homeland Security to notify relevant Congressional committees before moving forward with plans and require a public comment period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor months, the Social Circle community has been clear in its opposition to this administration\u2019s proposed ICE detention facility, which local leaders have warned risks overwhelming the city\u2019s infrastructure,\u201d Sen. Ossoff said.<\/strong> \u201cYet despite clear local opposition, this administration\u2019s plans and intentions have been shrouded in secrecy without any local input. This bill will require the Federal government to get local agreement before building such facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur community remains strongly opposed to ICE\u2019s proposed detention facility, which risks overwhelming our infrastructure and more than tripling our population. ICE and DHS\u2019 failures to communicate with us about these plans has made the situation even worse and created months of havoc,\u201d said Social Circle Mayor David Keener.<\/strong> \u201cWe\u2019re grateful to Senator Ossoff for his continued opposition to this project and for his support of this Federal legislation that would ensure our community has a voice in this process and cannot be ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff has been pushing back<\/a> against the ICE detention facility in Social Circle since plans for its construction were first reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January, alongside Social Circle Mayor David Keener and local leaders, Sen. Ossoff elevated the City\u2019s concerns<\/a> directly to former U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, urging them to promptly engage the City\u2019s leadership with more information on the reported plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, Sens. Ossoff and Rev. Warnock launched an additional inquiry<\/a> with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons to again urge that DHS abandon its plans and to amplify the Social Circle community\u2019s objections to the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> to read the Respect for Local Communities Act.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

# # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is backing a bill that would require local approval before the Federal government can open ICE detention facilities, like in Social Circle. Sen. Ossoff recently cosponsored the Respect for Local Communities Act, which would require the Federal government to secure written approval from state and local governments before opening new […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29605","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/29605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/29605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29606,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/29605\/revisions\/29606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}