A group of members of Congress, including two from North Carolina, are criticizing conditions at a Georgia immigration detention center where immigrants detained in the Charlotte area are frequently sent.
Democratic U.S. Reps. Valerie Foushee and Deborah Ross of North Carolina toured the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, on Tuesday alongside Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Hank Johnson and Nikema Williams of Georgia.
The lawmakers met with detained immigrants, including two detained in North Carolina. They said detainees described problems with medical care, food and drinking water.
Foushee said she also saw concerning conditions firsthand.
“We didn’t get a whole lot of answers, but we saw a lot of things,” Foushee said. “One of the things I saw that I cannot unsee was what appeared to be mold on the ceiling in one of the detention areas.”
Jayapal said detainees told lawmakers that water coming from the taps sometimes appeared black.
“Officials said that there was no problem with the water. That is not what we heard,” Jayapal said. “Several of them told us that they don't drink the water; they go to the commissary and buy bottled water.”
The Stewart Detention Center is a frequent destination for immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol in the Charlotte area. Ross said the delegation traveled from North Carolina because the state does not have an ICE detention center.
“We're here from North Carolina because we don't have a detention facility, but this is where they send our people,” Ross said. “Two of the people who we met were from North Carolina.”
In a statement on social media, ICE accused the lawmakers of disrupting operations and resisting requests to leave the facility. The agency said it has facilitated more than 330 congressional visits to its facilities during fiscal year 2026, compared with approximately 50 in fiscal year 2024.
