Charlton County, ICE contract to expand processing center moves forward
Georgia's Charlton County is set to become home to the largest immigrant detention facility in the United States following an agreement between county officials and the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Under a $47 million contract reached Friday by county and federal government officials, the D. Ray James Correctional Facility in Folkston, 45 miles southwest of Brunswick, will be merged with an immigrant processing center in the city that is operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Coastal Georgia Congressman Earl 'Buddy' Carter, who said he helped broker the contract, praised the deal.
The expansion will add 'roughly 400 jobs and economic growth to the First Congressional District,' Carter said in a press release.
Continued Carter, who last month announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Jon Ossoff: 'I'm proud to have worked with Charlton County to get the D. Ray James Correctional Facility expansion over the finish line, which will bring jobs and economic growth to our region, and I will continue to support our brave ICE agents as they seek to restore law and order.'
Folkston, a city of about 4,500 people, will also receive approximately $600,000 a year in revenue from water and sewer services to the facility, the congressman said.
The Folkston processing center currently holds just over 1,100 beds. Its merger with the correctional facility will bring the center's total capacity to nearly 3,000 beds.
In a June 5 press release from the county's Board of Commissioners, County Administrator Glenn Hull said the county does not manage the correctional facility and would not do so following the merger.
'This expansion would increase capacity and enhance federal operations already in place,' Hull wrote in the press release. 'Charlton County's role remains strictly administrative and supportive.'
Both facilities are owned and managed by The Geo Group, a private prison corporation. The Geo Group contributed $7,500 to Carter's campaign in 2024 through PACs, $5,000 of which was donated directly to Buddy PAC — Carter's Leadership PAC.
This story is available through a partnership with The Current.
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