Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) recently visited the Stewart Detention Center to push for answers about the alleged lack of medical care at the facility and to speak with several detainees who provided troubling accounts of the care available.
The Senator also spoke with immigration officials and demanded answers on reports of overcrowding and the increase in 911 calls from the facility.
What else is this detention center known for? The Stewart Detention Center is a large, private immigration facility located in Lumpkin, Georgia. It normally holds around 2,000 detainees on any given day under a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Since January 2025, multiple individuals have died inside the detention center, during transport, or shortly after being medically released from the facility. According to reporting, 15 detainees have died since the facility opened in 2006.
What Sen. Raphael Warnock had to say:
- “Regardless of your politics, we should all be able to agree on this: everyone deserves to be treated with basic human dignity and respect. There are serious concerns in these facilities, particularly around the delivery of basic medical care, and so as a member of Congress, I thought it was important for me, as a voice for Georgia, to spend time speaking directly to those in the facility. I’m going to keep asking questions. I’m going to keep holding people accountable.”
Further Context: The Senator also visited El Refugio, a nonprofit organization that supports immigrant families.
He met with staff and the family of current detainee Juan Suárez, a father whose family says he has no criminal record and has lived in the United States for over 25 years.
Suárez was detained on his way to work and is apparently not receiving adequate medical care. The Senator spoke to his family about their fears and prayed with them.
Sen. Warnock has made confronting detention centers a part of his activity, and the most notable example of this was his opposition to the establishment of a new one in Social Circle, Georgia. In that case, the Senator successfully elevated the issue, and the Department of Homeland Security relented in its pursuit.
