We’re taken to a small rural town in Georgia known as Lumpkin, as the title obviously suggests, in Lumpkin, GA. Why should anyone be concerned with a small Georgia town no one’s ever heard of? Lumpkin is home to an ICE detention facility known as Stewart Detention Center. Many undocumented persons are processed there, and Stewart is owned by private company CoreCivic.
The film not only focuses on the immigration debate but also other factors (especially economic ones) about the facility itself. Lumpkin is an impoverished county, one of the worst in the U.S., yet the facility drives most of its property tax revenue. However, Stewart relies primarily on inmate labor, instead of offering jobs to those in the community who need work. The film cuts from potential deportees to long-time Lumpkin residents to county officials and much more, and they all have some stake in the facility and what it provides (and what it doesn’t) to the county of Lumpkin.
The one downside to this documentary is it clocks in at a mere thirty-nine minutes, and you barely have time to connect with these people and what is happening. Disillusionment is a big theme throughout, as those about to be deported as well as Lumpkin citizens feel disillusioned about the American dream, economic stability, and their overall place in the world. Lumpkin, GA is a sobering documentary and one that remains relevant.