A Mexican mother of five who has been in the U.S. at least six years was among those arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Georgia over the weekend, her attorney said.
Giovanna Holden, an immigration lawyer in Gainesville, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that two of her clients, including the mother, were arrested by ICE on Sunday. Both wore location devices monitored by federal immigration authorities and had been complying with reporting requirements, Holden said. She said neither of her clients had pending criminal charges or a criminal record.
“They were the easy people to go get,” Holden said Monday. “They’re very compliant people. It was easy to go after people that already had the GPS monitors on them.”
President Donald Trump has kicked off his second term in office by launching “targeted operations” against undocumented immigrants with criminal records, including in metro Atlanta and other parts of Georgia. As well as ICE, the federal agencies involved include the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives.
“As we have seen in many cases, Mexican drug cartels use illegal immigrants to run day to day operations within the borders of the U.S., where dangerous drugs like methamphetamine and fentanyl are processed and distributed with tragic consequences,” Jae Chung, the acting agent in charge of the DEA’s Atlanta division, said Monday.
Holden said the Mexican mother was arrested by ICE at her home in front of her children. She said the eldest child is 18 and looking after their younger siblings while their mother is detained in South Georgia.
Holden said her other client, a man from Mexico who has been in the U.S. for several years, is also detained in South Georgia after being arrested Sunday by ICE on his way to work. The man had authorization to work in North Georgia while under ICE supervision, she said.
“I haven’t seen anybody with a significant criminal history being picked up,” Holden said.
ICE representatives in Atlanta did not immediately respond to multiple requests to answer questions about the arrests in Georgia. Unofficial reports suggest more than 20 people were arrested by ICE statewide over the weekend. ICE posted on social media that it made 956 arrests Sunday and lodged 554 “detainers” to law enforcement agencies requesting that noncitizens with criminal charges be held in custody.
The White House said Monday that Osman Antonio Abelar Rubio, a Honduran national with convictions for driving while impaired and pending charges including assault and firearm offenses, was arrested by ICE in Atlanta on Saturday. Records of the charges were not immediately available.
Another man from Honduras, 52-year-old Walter Valladares, was arrested at his home in Lilburn, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta, on Sunday morning, his brother Edwin Valladares told the AJC. Walter Valladares entered the U.S. about a year and a half ago, was in the process of seeking asylum and has no criminal record except for a traffic violation, Edwin Valladares said.
Gilda Pedraza of the Latino Community Fund in Georgia said she was aware of at least 10 arrests throughout the state over the weekend, mostly in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties as well as the Savannah area. She said many of those arrested were relatively recent arrivals who were given ankle monitors while their asylum applications were pending.
Mario Guevara, a Spanish language journalist who reports under the brand MGNews, said he’s been contacted by relatives of 20 individuals arrested by ICE in metro Atlanta on Sunday.
Some arrests took place on Buford Highway in Chamblee and Brookhaven, Telemundo reported. Others happened in Lilburn and Tucker, community members told the AJC. And the DEA’s Atlanta division said it supported immigration enforcement efforts in Cartersville.
Police departments in Atlanta, DeKalb County, Cartersville, Forest Park and Clayton County were not involved in the weekend’s ICE arrests, representatives said Monday.
Chamblee Mayor Brian Mock said in a public Facebook post that the city had nothing to do with ICE’s arrests along the Buford Highway corridor.
“I have no other information other than targeted arrests made and lots of folks scared half to death,” Mock wrote Sunday alongside a graphic with advice for people who may be targeted by ICE.
Mock said Chamblee has always taken a “live and let live approach” to its undocumented residents, most of whom are “hard working, taxpaying citizens.”
The AJC contacted sheriff’s offices in more than a dozen counties, including Oconee, Floyd, Whitfield, Cobb, Clayton, Bartow and Burke, which did not immediately comment on the weekend arrests.
Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat said he hadn’t received any requests for assistance with recent immigration enforcement and wasn’t aware of any ICE detainees being brought to the county jail. He said his office will continue to comply with all applicable laws.
Georgia’s Criminal Alien Track and Report Act requires sheriffs to coordinate with federal immigration officials when someone in custody is suspected of being in the country without permission. The law was signed in 2024 in response to the killing of nursing student Laken Riley and the arrest of suspect Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national who entered the U.S. illegally, according to ICE.
A representative of the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office said it was not involved in the weekend arrests, though it “fully complies” with the state law. Gwinnett police referred questions to the Gwinnett sheriff’s office.
A representative of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the ICE arrests. The office is not involved in immigration enforcement beyond accepting and housing arrestees in the DeKalb County jail as requested, the representative said.
Richmond’s sheriff’s office was not involved in ICE’s weekend operations, a representative said Monday.
Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said there was an unconfirmed report that ICE took someone into custody in Macon over the weekend. He said the person, if detained, was not being held in the county jail.
Monroe County Sheriff Brad Freeman said he wasn’t aware of any ongoing ICE operations there, though his deputies arrested five foreign nationals over the weekend. The arrested people, who aren’t U.S. citizens, face state charges, Freeman said.
“If ICE wanted to make cases, here you go,” Freeman said.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said he didn’t know of any ICE operations there.
Several Georgia counties participate in ICE’s immigration enforcement efforts. Floyd, Hall, Polk and Whitfield counties are part of ICE’s “jail enforcement model” to identify and process “removable aliens” with criminal charges who are arrested by state or local law enforcement agencies.
The Georgia Department of Corrections also participates in that program. Representatives for the department did not immediately respond to questions about ICE detainees in its prisons.
Under the program, when a detainee is booked into jail, their fingerprints are taken and uploaded to a statewide system, which then notifies ICE of potential immigration issues, a Polk County Sheriff’s Office representative said. They said ICE can request information about the detainee from the jail authority.
A representative of the Hall County Sheriff’s Office said it agrees to give federal immigration authorities 48 hours to take custody of an undocumented inmate who otherwise would be released on bond. The representative said the sheriff’s office hadn’t been asked by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to participate in an immigration-related enforcement activity in the county.
Oconee County also participates in ICE’s “warrant service officer program” that allows ICE to train, certify and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on foreign nationals in their jails.
Some ICE detainees are housed in Clayton County, where a private prison has a contract with the U.S. Department of Justice. It is unclear if any of those arrested over the weekend are being housed in that facility.
The FBI’s office in Atlanta referred inquiries about the weekend arrests to ICE and Homeland Security Investigations. A representative for HSI did not immediately respond Monday to questions about the arrests.
--Staff writers Jozsef Papp, Rosana Hughes, Taylor Croft, Alia Pharr, Joe Kovac Jr. and Meris Lutz contributed to this report.
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