Why this rural town wants an ICE facility

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Why this rural town wants an ICE facility"

The Indicator from Planet Money
Date: February 19, 2026
Host: Waylon Wong
Guest: Sergio Martinez Beltran (NPR immigration reporter)
Featured Voices: Glenn Hall (former Charlton County administrator), Savannah Public (Folkestone resident)

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Overview

This episode explores the economic and ethical tensions in rural Folkestone, Georgia, where a large ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention center has become a key economic driver. Amid escalating federal immigration enforcement, the Trump administration is expanding detention capacity, making ICE facilities a rare source of jobs for struggling communities. The episode examines both the perceived economic lifeline such facilities offer and the moral complexities faced by local residents.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Expansion of ICE Detention Centers

• Record High Detention Rate: Over 71,000 people are currently in ICE detention—a U.S. record.
  [00:11] Waylon Wong
• Policy Shift: The Trump administration shifted enforcement focus from primarily border removals to targeting undocumented immigrants in U.S. cities. [02:43] Waylon Wong
• Ambitious Goals: Plans aim to increase capacity to detain up to 93,000 immigrants simultaneously.
  • Quote:
    "The goal, Waylon, is to be able to detain about 93,000 immigrants all at the same time."
    —Sergio Martinez Beltran [03:04]
• Funding: Significant federal funding (over $38 billion) is allocated for new or expanded detention facilities, often in economically struggling small towns. [03:16-03:38]

Folkestone, Georgia: A Case Study

• Community Profile:
  • Rural town of ~5,000, mostly Black, with ~33% living below poverty line. [03:41]
• ICE Facility Background:
  • The facility, managed by private prison operator GEO Group, occupies a former state prison site. Expansion is ongoing. [04:20-04:46]
• Economic Impact:
  • Facility grew from 1,100 to 3,000 beds over the past year.
  • Created about 200 jobs (wages: $18–$50/hr, higher for medical roles).
  • County/city receive about $1 million, though GEO Group’s federal contract is $96 million.
  • Quote:
    "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."
    —Glenn Hall [05:07]
• Community Viewpoint:
  • Folkestone's lack of alternative industry makes the facility a crucial employer.
  • Quote:
    "When you're in a rural community that relies on those jobs, this is truly our only option as economic development."
    —Glenn Hall [01:07]

Moral Dilemmas and Local Debate

• Personal Conflicts:
  • Residents and leaders are deeply conflicted about the facility—balancing economics with ethics and empathy for detainees.
  • Quote:
    "These are people's lives and families and. But that's the reality of it."
    —Glenn Hall [05:51]
• Detainee Outcries:
  • During a visit, detainees shouted to the reporters for help, alleging mistreatment.
  • Reactions:
    "If I was detained behind barbed wire like that, I would be only help, too, to somebody coming down a dirt road, no doubt."
    —Glenn Hall [06:41]
• Resident Perspective:
  • For many locals, the facility is simply a job prospect—especially in the absence of alternatives.
    • Quote:
      "For several of us, we just see it as just like a place that you could always get a job..."
      —Savannah Public [07:08]
  • Health benefits and decent wages from jobs at the detention center are highly valued in the economically depressed region.
    • Quote:
      "Sometimes benefits are better than making money. Sometimes, you know, knowing that you have insurance and knowing that your kids have insurance at your house."
      —Savannah Public [07:35]

Moral Opposition and Long-term Uncertainty

• Activism from Within:
  • Some, like Savannah Public, oppose the detention center despite its economic benefits, citing moral concerns about the criminalization of immigrants.
    • Quote:
      "Morally, I don't think we should ever be tied to a system that hurts black and brown bodies...These individuals haven't committed a crime."
      —Savannah Public [08:13]
  • She stresses that for the poor, "having the time to think about the morality of it all is a luxury," pressing the point that dire economic need often trumps ethical debates.
    • Quote:
      "We're just thinking about how can I get money in my pocket?...this is just something you don't want to build your future upon, something that changes every four years."
      —Savannah Public [08:42]
• Policy Change Risks:
  • Folkestone's economy is vulnerable to changes in federal immigration policy; even those who support the jobs hope for more stable and less morally fraught economic development.
    • Quote:
      "I'm hopeful that the prison will work itself out of a job..."
      —Glenn Hall [09:18]
    • When asked if that would eliminate jobs for the county:
      "Absolutely would be."
      —Glenn Hall [09:31]

Nationwide Expansion

• Larger Trend:
  • Up to 24 new ICE facilities are being planned across the country, making Folkestone one of many towns balancing economic survival against ethical questions. [09:33]

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• "When you're in a rural community that relies on those jobs, this is truly our only option as economic development."
  —Glenn Hall [01:07]

• "The goal, Waylon, is to be able to detain about 93,000 immigrants all at the same time."
  —Sergio Martinez Beltran [03:04]

• "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."
  —Glenn Hall [05:07]

• "Morally, I don't think we should ever be tied to a system that hurts black and brown bodies...These individuals haven't committed a crime."
  —Savannah Public [08:13]

• "We're just thinking about how can I get money in my pocket?...this is just something you don't want to build your future upon, something that changes every four years."
  —Savannah Public [08:42]

• "I'm hopeful that the prison will work itself out of a job if this is, if this is the truth, that we close our borders and deport all the illegal immigrants."
  —Glenn Hall [09:18]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• ICE hiring boom and national context: [00:11–01:07]
• Federal expansion, funding, and Folkestone introduction: [02:43–03:41]
• Facility’s local economic impact: [04:20–05:34]
• Ethical/moral tensions in the community: [06:12–08:42]
• Long-term instability and opposition voices: [08:42–09:31]
• Larger national trend: [09:31–09:46]

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Tone

The episode maintains a reflective, empathetic, and matter-of-fact tone, highlighting both the very real economic hardships of rural America and the ethical complexities facing communities that become sites for controversial federal immigration initiatives. Guests express genuine conflict between what is good for their community’s immediate survival and their broader moral values, inviting listeners to consider the true costs of such economic lifelines.

Transcript

[Sponsor/Advertiser]

Npr.

[Waylon Wong]

This 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. He covers immigration. Welcome to the Indicator, Sergio.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

Hey, Waylon, thanks so much for the invite. And you know, the short answer to that question you posed is that the administration is building and expanding huge detention centers across the country, many in small, economically depressed towns.

[Glenn Hall]

When you're in a rural community that relies on those jobs, this is truly our only option as economic development.

[Waylon Wong]

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.

[Sponsor/Advertiser]

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[Waylon Wong]

The 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.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

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.

[Waylon Wong]

And DHS has a lot of money right now to follow through on these big ambitions. Despite the shutdown over the agency's funding, it got a big chunk of change from the so called called big beautiful bill.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

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.

[Waylon Wong]

And you reported on one of them in Georgia. Can you tell us about what you found?

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

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. glenn 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.

[Glenn Hall]

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.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

He told me that as a county administrator, one of his jobs was to focus on jobs, you know, and creating, 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. That's the private prison corporation also in charge of the expansion of the facility that's happening now with the new dollars.

[Waylon Wong]

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.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

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.

[Glenn Hall]

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.

[Waylon Wong]

Up until last year, the facility used to have 1100 beds, but it's been expanded to hold up to 3000 people. So far, this has brought about 200 new jobs with an hourly, hourly rate ranging from around $18 to about $50, with higher rates for physicians and dentists.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

The expansion of the facility is also giving the local county and the city of Folkestone about a million dollars.

[Waylon Wong]

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.

[Glenn Hall]

I hate to say it, but if it's not here, it's somewhere else. And, 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 and. But that's the reality of it.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

When I visited Folkestone late last year, Glenn actually drove me and a producer around the ICE facility. And as we were down a side Road by 8, a group of detainees were outside in our 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.

[Glenn Hall]

If I was. If I was detained behind barbed wire like that, I would be only help, too, to somebody coming down a dirt road, no doubt. I mean, that's. That's. That's the humanity side of this. Right?

[Waylon Wong]

He is clearly conflicted. And many residents in the community are conflicted, too.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

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 Folkestone native Savannah public told me.

[Savannah Public]

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.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

Of course, my prison, she's talking about the detention center, and she says there's one big thing that attracts people to apply to work there.

[Savannah Public]

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 at 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, they got them enough in their pocket to go somewhere else.

[Waylon Wong]

Still, Savannah is very much against this detention center. In fact, she's been advocating for it to shut down.

[Savannah Public]

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, fake aid of criminality. These individuals haven't committed a crime.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

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, she says having the time to think about the morality of it all is a.

[Savannah Public]

Luxury when 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.

[Waylon Wong]

She's talking about how immigration policy changes with each new president, so the center might shut down with the new administration.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

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.

[Glenn Hall]

I'm hopeful that the prison will work itself out of a job if this is, if this is the truth, that we close our borders and deport all the illegal immigrants.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

But that would be less jobs for the county.

[Glenn Hall]

Absolutely would be.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

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.

[Waylon Wong]

Sergio, thank you so much for bringing us the story today.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

You're welcome. Thanks for inviting me.

[Waylon Wong]

If you learned something from this episode, please send it to a friend who would get something out of it, too. Word 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. Kit Concannon edits the show and the indicator is a production of npr.

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