2026-03-16T09:00:34.743Z / CNN
佐治亚州奥克伍德市—
每个工作日下午，几十名孩子从小型巴士上涌下，前往这里一家舞蹈工作室参加课后项目。该工作室位于亚特兰大东北约50英里处。几个月后，将有超过一千名被美国移民和海关执法局（ICE）拘留的人员被关押在距离这些孩子仅几百英尺远的地方。
“舞蹈工作室和课后托管设施对面，会有持枪特工吗？”经营ALICATS舞蹈工作室24年的艾莉森·伍德伯里问道。
在几乎没有提前通知且未举行公开听证会的情况下，原本计划用作商业地产的50万平方英尺仓库空间，如今将被改造成ICE的“区域处理设施”。被拘留者可能在此停留长达一周，之后再被转移至其他地点。
“这绝对不是你希望在舞蹈和课后托管设施对面出现的景象，”伍德伯里说，“我甚至感到不安。”
这一处理设施是国土安全部（DHS）在全国范围内迅速扩大移民拘留所的一部分。但这一举措却让地方官员措手不及，他们和社区都在仓促应对，寻求解决方案。
概念很简单： 将现有仓库改造成拘留中心，关押无证移民，等待其可能被驱逐。但地方官员表示，反对这一计划的斗争远比想象中复杂。
在密西西比州，共和党参议员罗杰·威克反对国土安全部购买仓库用于拘留的计划，理由是这会给当地基础设施和经济机会带来压力。据威克称，国土安全部部长克里斯蒂·诺姆同意另寻他处。马里兰州也针对类似计划提起诉讼。亚利桑那州的地方官员则担忧，这些仓库改造的拘留中心可能会拖累当地经济和资源。
诺姆（将于3月底卸任）计划推进四项价值数百万美元的合同，将现有仓库改造为移民拘留中心。其中两份合同已公开列出。据知情人士透露，这些合同将使选定的承包商能够在亚利桑那州苏普雷斯、宾夕法尼亚州汉堡、宾夕法尼亚州特伦顿和马里兰州威廉斯波特开始建设。宾夕法尼亚州的仓库是否会推进尚不清楚。
国土安全部发言人劳伦·比斯在声明中表示：“ICE现在不再依赖第三方拥有的设施，而是在全国范围内收购物业。”她补充说，ICE目前已就亚利桑那州和马里兰州的设施签订合同。
“这些设施将被设计为全方位服务的园区，包括移民听证室、入所筛查、医疗服务、法律咨询、宗教服务、娱乐区、与家人虚拟通讯的技术、食品、卫生用品以及完整的案件处理能力，”她解释道。
在奥克伍德市，这场关于新拘留中心的争议暴露出移民执法收紧所引发的复杂政治矛盾。霍尔县位于亚特兰大郊区日益“蓝化”的政治版图边缘，2024年总统选举中71.4%的选票投向了特朗普。
然而，除了共和党根基，霍尔县还是该州拉丁裔人口比例最高的地区之一，据美国人口普查局数据，约30%的居民自称为拉丁裔或西班牙裔。
奥克伍德拘留中心对面街道的商户表示，他们完全没有预料到这一情况。
“说实话，我们感到很沮丧，因为这是我们生意的一部分，”Iconic理发店老板不愿透露姓名，称自己尽量不参与政治，“人们来这里放松和理发。”
Iconic理发店和舞蹈工作室的大部分顾客都是拉丁裔。
“我不清楚我的顾客的法律身份，这不是我的事，”伍德伯里说。
她工作室的前门现在贴有告示，警告ICE特工不得入内。这种告示在多个被特朗普政府针对移民潮的城市已屡见不鲜。
伍德伯里表示，随着ICE进驻社区，她已在计划寻找新址。
“如果不搬走，我可能会失去一半以上的客户，”伍德伯里说，“所以我觉得必须搬家。”
隔壁两家的Southern Magnolia纹身工作室店主也在考虑离开这个“阴影”，她说这将花费她8万美元。
“现在驶入停车场，感觉就像末日降临，充满沮丧和无助，仿佛我的生意正在离我而去，”阿普丽尔·拉米雷斯说。
就在两年前，舞蹈工作室对面的土地还是一片绿草和几座小 ranch 房屋。过去一年，两座巨大的仓库拔地而起，比两侧的小车行和宠物美容店都要高大。
原本计划作为商业开发——预计为社区带来数十万的年度房产税收入——现在却成了国土安全部拘留计划的关键组成部分。
被拆除以建造仓库的小房子中，有一栋是贝琪·罗宾逊祖父母近50年的家。
“虽然我为它们的离去感到难过，但当我听说联邦政府计划在那里关押人员时，我还是感到一阵彻骨的寒意，”罗宾逊说。
随着逮捕行动的持续增加，国土安全部试图加速拘留中心建设，据估计这项工作将耗资约380亿美元。
“这项工作旨在满足日益增长的床位需求，并简化拘留和遣返流程，重点关注专门为支持ICE需求而建造的非传统设施，”ICE提供给新罕布什尔州的文件中提到。该州曾反对在当地新建拘留中心，最终该计划被取消。
计划包括收购和翻新八个大型拘留中心、16个处理点以及现有的“交钥匙”设施。根据设施不同，平均停留时间从3至7天到60天不等。
ICE表示计划在11月底前激活所有设施。
这一仓促的进程意味着一些小镇在仓库被收购后才得知ICE的突袭式进驻。
根据提交给霍尔县的契约，奥克伍德的仓库设施于2月18日被国土安全部以6800万美元收购，而就在两周前，该市才首次得知该机构的意图。
市官员表示，这座原本不是为关押人员设计的仓库，其水和下水道系统是否能满足24小时关押如此多被拘留者的需求还不确定。
由于时间紧迫，当地活动人士开始建立不寻常的联盟。
“雇佣霍尔县大多数劳动力的企业领导者，甚至地方政府官员，都不希望这个东西存在，”彩虹联盟创始人马泰奥·佩纳多说，该联盟是反对拘留设施的团体之一。
“我们的劳动力、上学的孩子——他们听到了这些传言，某种程度上，这种看法已经成为现实，”当地久保田制造工厂副总裁瑞安·欧文在最近的商会活动中表示（《盖恩斯维尔时报》报道），“他们生活在焦虑和恐惧中。”
这种担忧在邻近的“世界家禽之都”盖恩斯维尔尤为突出，那里的食品加工厂工人平均每周收入不到1000美元。
“如果所有人都生活在被抓捕的恐惧中，‘世界家禽之都’就无法运转，”佩纳多强调。
奥克伍德并非佐治亚州唯一将成为ICE拘留中心的仓库，甚至不是最大的一个。45英里外的索西厄尔镇也将在10月前建成一个大型设施，增加100万平方英尺的拘留空间。
“索西厄尔的设施预计可容纳7500至10000名被拘留者，”该市上月表示。
这个“超级中心”的容量——全国八个之一——将是该镇现有人口的两倍左右。
尽管国土安全部向索西厄尔提供了计划文件，但市经理埃里克·泰勒告诉CNN，该部门没有人直接与当地领导人沟通。
“我们仍100%决心尽一切可能阻止此事，”泰勒说。
与奥克伍德不同，索西厄尔的巨型仓库位于远离当地企业的工业区。但泰勒表示，他们的公用设施无法满足容纳多达10000人的用水和下水道需求。
“这将是一个结构完善的拘留设施，符合我们的常规拘留标准，”国土安全部在给CNN的声明中说。
在佐治亚州为被拘留者提供法律援助的活动人士表示，这反映了政府仓促扩大拘留能力的做法。
“这些建筑不是为关押人设计的，它们原本是亚马逊配送中心之类的，”亚特兰大推进正义组织的律师萨曼莎·汉密尔顿说，“看起来根本无法关押这么多人。”
在最近的财报电话会议上，GEO集团执行董事长乔治·佐利承认将仓库改造成拘留中心面临挑战，公司“正在谨慎参与”，同时意识到可能出现的后勤问题和当地阻力。
GEO集团是最大的私营监狱公司之一，历史上是ICE的主要合作伙伴之一。目前尚不清楚他们是否会参与改造仓库。
“将仓库改造成可运营的物理设施比你想象的要复杂得多，”佐利说。
奥克伍德市议会成员表示，他们对该设施的未来发展前景感到不满，官方没有得到明确答复。
在上周的一次挤满人的市政会议上，市议会一致投票要求联邦政府在回答问题前停止奥克伍德设施的所有建设，赢得了全场起立鼓掌。
“市方要求国土安全部和ICE提供所有环境、基础设施、公共安全和运营分析，以及所有承包商准备的材料，以便市方评估联邦政府是否符合适用法律，”决议中写道，暗示可能在未来提起诉讼以阻止建设。
尽管议会的决定全票通过，但社区的反应并不一致。会议上有一小群举着“支持ICE”标语的人认为，拘留中心将使该地区更安全。
“我们只是想清理街道，”支持者布莱恩·斯特普托说，“难道每个人不都希望自己的家庭生活在更安全的社区吗？”
投票结束后，国土安全部告诉CNN，他们不为奥克伍德市的要求所动。
“老实说，这不是环境问题，”一位部门发言人周二表示，“这是试图阻止特朗普总统让美国再次安全的努力。”
“国土安全部旨在与两党官员合作扩大拘留空间，以帮助ICE执法开展美国历史上最大规模的驱逐行动，”发言人补充道。
目前，唯一公开支持奥克伍德设施的民选官员是共和党众议员安德鲁·克莱德，其选区包括霍尔县。
“我完全支持特朗普总统通过拘留和驱逐罪犯非法移民来保护美国公民，”克莱德在声明中说，“新的奥克伍德ICE设施将在这场斗争中发挥重要作用。”
克莱德表示，该设施将“为佐治亚州地区创造总计429个就业岗位”，带来3430万美元的收入和销售税。
但市经理B.R.怀特反驳称，联邦政府无需缴税，这使城市、县和学区损失了原本预期的77万美元房产税收入（当他们以为仓库将被私人企业使用时）。
霍尔县官员表示，他们对奥克伍德计划的了解大多是通过克莱德办公室间接获得的，他们对国土安全部不直接与他们沟通感到不满。
“这是我们的县，我们应该知道所有即将发生的事情，”县专员格雷格·普尔说。
随着奥克伍德拘留中心附近仅一英里处更多已完工的仓库不断涌现，当地居民担心这可能不是终点。
“我们知道，当ICE进入我们国家，危险就会随之而来，”当地儿童福利律师阿里·马泰奥说，她一直积极反对新设施。
对马泰奥而言，这一事业也关乎个人：她的女儿从2岁起就在街对面的ALICATS舞蹈工作室学习。
上个月，在霍尔县委员会会议上，超过百人出席，佩纳多和马泰奥呼吁暂停新建拘留中心。他们承认这是一个“希望与祈祷”的尝试，以减缓他们几乎无力阻止的联邦政府扩张。
“向国土安全部明确表示，这个拘留设施不受欢迎，”马泰奥在向委员会的演讲中说，演讲中掌声不断。
在公众评论尚未结束时，专员杰夫·斯托意外地给所有支持暂停的人带来惊喜。
“我们会这么做，而且我们四个人都支持，”斯托说，赢得了大部分人群的起立鼓掌，也让许多积极推动此事的人感到意外。
“我的天，”马泰奥微笑着低声说。
新的暂停令无法阻止奥克伍德设施的建设，但反对者希望这能促使更多社区效仿。
“混乱是他们的目的，试图胁迫这些他们认为不会反抗的小镇，”马泰奥说，“但他们错了。”
CNN记者拉斐尔·罗莫对此报道有贡献。
How ICE plans for a detention warehouse pushed a Georgia town to fight back
2026-03-16T09:00:34.743Z / CNN
Oakwood, Georgia—
Every weekday afternoon, dozens of kids pour out of small buses for the after-school program at a dance studio here, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. In a few months, more than a thousand people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement could be just a few hundred feet away from them.
“Are there going to be agents with guns outside?” asked Alison Woodbury, who has operated the ALICATS dance studio for 24 years.
With little notice and no public hearings, a half-million square feet of warehouse space initially intended to be commercial property is now set to become an ICE “regional processing facility,” where detainees could stay for up to a week before being transferred to another location.
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“That’s just not something that you want across the street from a dance and after-school care facility,” Woodbury said. “I don’t even feel comfortable.”
The processing facility is part of a broader effort by the Department of Homeland Security to rapidly expand immigrant detention in towns nationwide. But the move is catching local officials by surprise, leaving them and their communities scrambling for answers.
The concept is straightforward: turn already existing warehouses into detention centers to hold undocumented immigrants before their potential deportation. But the push against it is far more complicated, local officials say.
In Mississippi, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker pushed back against a proposed DHS plan to purchase a warehouse for detention, citing strain on local infrastructure and economic opportunities. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem agreed to look elsewhere, according to Wicker. Maryland filed a lawsuit over similar plans. And in Arizona, local officials are concerned the warehouse-turned-center risks being a drain on the economy and local resources.
Noem — who will leave her post at the end of March — planned to proceed with four multimillion-dollar contracts to retrofit existing warehouses to detain immigrants, according to two sources familiar with the contracts. Two of those contracts have been publicly listed. The awards were expected to allow selected contractors to begin work in Surprise, Arizona; Hamburg, Pennsylvania; Tremont, Pennsylvania; and Williamsport, Maryland, according to one of the sources. It’s unclear if or when the Pennsylvania warehouses will move forward.
In a statement, DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis said that “instead of relying on third party owned facilities, ICE is now purchasing properties across the country,” adding that ICE had so far signed contracts for the facilities in Arizona and Maryland.
“These facilities will be designed as full-service campuses, to include immigration hearing rooms, intake and screening, medical services, access to counsel, religious services, recreational areas, technology for virtual communication with family, food, hygiene products and full-case processing capability,” she said.
In Oakwood, the dispute over the new center is exposing the complicated political crosscurrents spurred by aggressive immigration enforcement. Hall County is part of a bright red ring around the increasingly blue political map of Atlanta’s suburbs, with 71.4% of votes in the 2024 presidential election going for Trump.
But in addition to its Republican roots, Hall County also has one of the highest Latino populations in the state, with about 30% of residents identifying as Latino or Hispanic, according to the US Census Bureau.
Business owners across the street from the Oakwood center — where unmarked vehicles now are seen entering and exiting without explanation — say they never saw it coming.
“There’s a little bit of devastation, to be honest, just because of the nature of our business,” said the owner of Iconic Barbershop, who asked that his name not be used, saying he tries to stay out of politics. “People come here to relax and get a haircut.”
At both Iconic and the dance studio, a large segment of the customers are Latino.
“I don’t know the legal status of any of my people,” Woodbury said. “That’s not my business.”
The front door of her studio now has a sign advising ICE agents are not welcome inside, an advisory that has become familiar in multiple cities that have been targeted for immigration surges by the Trump administration.
Woodbury says with ICE moving into the neighborhood, she is already making plans to find a new location.
“I think if I don’t move, I would lose over half of my clientele,” said Woodbury, “so I feel like I have to move.”
The owner of the Southern Magnolia Body Art Studio two doors down is also looking into leaving the shadow of the ICE facility, a move she says would cost her $80,000.
“Now pulling into the parking lot has a feeling of doom, frustration, and a feeling of helplessness, like my business is slipping away from me,” April Ramirez said.
Barely two years ago, the land across Atlanta Highway from the dance studio was mostly green grass with a couple of small ranch houses. Over the past year, the two massive warehouses grew up on the property, dwarfing the small car lot and pet grooming business that sit on either side.
What was billed as a commercial development — expected to bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual property tax revenue for the community — is instead a key part of the DHS detention plan.
One of the small homes that was torn down to make way for the warehouses was where Betsy Robinson’s grandparents lived for almost 50 years.
“While I was sad to see them go, nothing prepared me for the gut punch I felt when I heard the news that the federal government plans to imprison people there,” Robinson said.
With plans to continue increasing arrests, DHS has sought to accelerate the construction of detention centers — an effort estimated to cost around $38 billion.
“This effort aims to meet the growing demand for bedspace and streamline the detention and removal process, focusing on non-traditional facilities built specifically to support ICE’s needs,” according to an ICE document provided to New Hampshire, which pushed back against a new detention center in the state. That planned facility was eventually scrapped.
The plan includes acquiring and renovating eight large-scale detention centers and 16 processing sites, as well as existing “turnkey” facilities. The average length of stay, depending on the facility, ranges between an average of three to seven days to 60 days.
ICE said it plans to activate all facilities by the end of November.
The expedited process means that some towns have learned about ICE parachuting in only upon the sale of a nearby building.
The Oakwood warehouse facility was purchased by DHS for $68 million on February 18, according to a deed filed with Hall County, only two weeks after the city first got word of the agency’s intentions.
City officials say they aren’t sure the warehouse — which wasn’t designed to house people — has enough water and sewer service to handle 24/7 accommodations for so many detainees.
With so little time to absorb the reality of what’s planned, local activists are finding unusual alliances.
“Business leaders who hire the majority of the people in Hall County and even local government officials do not want this thing,” said Matéo Penado, founder of the Rainbow Collective and child of Latino immigrants, who is part of a coalition fighting the detention facility.
“Our workforce, our kids that go to our schools — they hear the rumors and at some point, perception becomes reality,” said Ryan Owen, vice president of the local Kubota Manufacturing plants, at a recent Chamber of Commerce event, the Gainesville Times reported. “There’s an anxiety and fear they live with.”
That concern is particularly acute for the local chicken processing industry in the neighboring city of Gainesville — which proudly calls itself the Poultry Capital of the World — where food-processing workers earn less than a thousand dollars a week on average.
“The Poultry Capital of the World cannot run if everyone is living in fear of being snatched up,” Penado said.
The Oakwood facility is not the only Georgia warehouse set to become a detention center for ICE. It’s not even the largest. A sprawling building 45 miles away in the town of Social Circle is set to go online by October, adding a million square feet of floor space to the Trump administration’s capacity to hold detainees.
“The facility in Social Circle is expected to house anywhere from 7,500 to 10,000 detainees,” the city government said last month.
The capacity of the Social Circle “mega center” — one of eight across the nation — would be about twice the town’s existing population.
Although DHS has provided documents about its plans to Social Circle, City Manager Eric Taylor told CNN no one from the agency has spoken directly to local leaders.
“We are still 100% motivated to try to stop this any way we can,” Taylor said.
Unlike the Oakwood facility, the massive warehouse in Social Circle is in an industrial area far removed from local businesses. But Taylor says their utilities can’t handle the water and sewer demands that would come from housing up to 10,000 people.
“This will be a very well-structured detention facility meeting our regular detention standards,” DHS said in a statement to CNN.
Activists who have been providing legal representation to detainees in Georgia say it’s an example of the slapdash way the administration has been attempting to hold greater numbers of immigrants.
“These buildings were not constructed for the purpose of holding human beings. They were constructed to be, like, Amazon distribution centers,” said Samantha Hamilton, staff attorney with Advancing Justice Atlanta. “It doesn’t look like anything that could remotely detain that many people.”
In a recent earnings call, GEO Group Executive Chairman George Zoley acknowledged the challenges with flipping warehouses into detention centers, saying the company was “cautiously participating” while aware of the logistical issues that could arise and the resistance on the ground.
GEO Group is one of the largest private prison companies and historically one of the go-to partners for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It’s unclear what, if any, warehouses they will be involved in converting.
“It is more complicated than you may think as far as the physical plant renovations of a warehouse to get it operational. It is complicated,” Zoley said.
Oakwood City Council members say they are frustrated that answers about the future of the facility aren’t forthcoming.
At a packed town meeting last week, the City Council received a standing ovation after unanimously voting to request that the federal government stop all construction at the Oakwood facility until their questions are answered.
“The City requests that DHS and ICE provide all … environmental, infrastructural, public-safety, and operational analyses, and all contractor-prepared materials, so that the City may evaluate the federal government’s compliance with applicable law,” the resolution says, suggesting a lawsuit to stop construction could still be in the future.
While the council’s decision was unanimous, the community’s response was not. A small group at the meeting holding “Stand With ICE” signs said they believe the detention center would make the area safer.
“We just want to clean up the streets,” supporter Brian Steptoe said. “I mean, shouldn’t everybody want safer communities for their families?”
Following the vote, DHS told CNN it was unmoved by Oakwood’s demand for details.
“Let’s be honest about this. This isn’t about the environment,” a department spokesperson said Tuesday. “It’s about trying to stop President Trump from making America safe again.”
“DHS aims to work with officials on both sides of the aisle to expand detention space to help ICE law enforcement carry out the largest deportation effort in American history,” the spokesperson said.
So far, the only elected official in the community who has spoken out publicly in support of the Oakwood facility is Republican US Rep. Andrew Clyde, whose district includes Hall County.
“I fully support President Trump in protecting American citizens by detaining and deporting criminal illegals from our communities,” Clyde said in a statement. “The new Oakwood ICE facility will play an important role in this fight by serving as a regional processing center.”
Clyde said the Oakwood center will “support a total of 429 jobs across the Georgia region,” bringing in $34.3 million in income and sales taxes.
But City Manager B.R. White said the federal government does not have to pay taxes, denying the city, county and school district more than $770,000 in property tax revenue they were expecting when they thought the warehouse was going to be used by a private business.
Hall County officials say what little they have heard about the plans for Oakwood have come indirectly through Clyde’s office, and they are frustrated DHS is not communicating directly with them.
“It’s our county. We should know everything that’s going to happen,” County Commissioner Gregg Poole said.
With even more recently completed warehouses dotting Atlanta Highway just a mile away from the Oakwood holding facility, local residents are concerned this may not be the end.
“We know that where ICE goes in our country, danger follows,” said Ari Mathé, a local child welfare attorney who has taken a leading role in opposing the new facility.
It’s a cause that is also personal for Mathé. Her daughter has been a student at the ALICATS dance studio across the street since she was 2 years old.
More than a hundred people came to a Hall County Board of Commissioners meeting last month where Penado and Mathé asked for a moratorium on new detention centers, an idea they acknowledged was a “hope and a prayer” attempt to slow a federal government expansion they have little legal power to stop.
“Make clear to DHS that this detention facility is not welcome here,” Mathé said in a speech to commissioners that was frequently interrupted by applause.
Before the public comment was even over, Commissioner Jeff Stowe surprised even the most hopeful backers of the moratorium.
“We are going to do that, and we’re all four in favor,” said Stowe, drawing a standing ovation from most of the crowd, along with pleasant surprise from those who had been pushing hard for it.
“Holy sh*t,” Mathé whispered with a smile.
The new moratorium cannot stop the Oakwood facility from being built, but opponents hope it will cause more local communities to follow suit.
“Chaos was the point and bullying these small towns they didn’t think would stand up to them,” Mathé said. “They were wrong.”
CNN’s Rafael Romo contributed to this report.