Georgia town’s novel strategy to fight ICE jail plan impresses legal experts

Town of Social Circle's complaint invokes public nuisance' law that scholars say could have impact for other localities

A small Georgia town's federal lawsuit opposing the Trump administration's plans to turn a warehouse into one of the largest immigration detention centers in the US has the potential to create a wide impact as it uses novel legal arguments, experts said.

The town of Social Circle's complaint goes further than other recently filed lawsuits around the same issues, which assert that the US federal government has not carried out environmental impact assessments for proposed detention centers, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa).