..concerns include: loss of property tax revenue and insufficient water, sewage, police, ambulance and hospital infrastructure, in a town that could soon triple in population. The city manager said the town’s sewage system dated to 1962, was built to handle 660,000 gallons a day, and was “already maxed out”. Social Circle had taken out a $65m bond to fix the system before ICE’s plans had materialized, he said. With thousands of detainees at the edge of town, “you’ll have poop on the ground over there”.

The town’s water system was also stretched, Taylor added. State permits allowed Social Circle to draw one million gallons a day from nearby Alcovy River, and its residents had come close to that figure last summer.