ICE detention center in South Georgia could become largest immigrant jail

South Georgia could soon be home to the country’s largest immigrant jail.

Local officials approved a plan this week to markedly increase capacity at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility located in Charlton County, called the Folkston ICE Processing Center.

Sitting fewer than 10 miles from the Florida border, the detention center can currently hold up to 1,100 detainees. That number would balloon to nearly 3,000 under the county’s revised agreement with ICE, which would incorporate an idle former federal prison located on adjacent property, County Administrator Glenn Hull said in an interview.

Combined with the Stewart Detention Center, currently the country’s second busiest ICE jail which is also located in South Georgia, Folkston’s expansion could cement the region’s role a