Georgia sheriffs sign up for ICE program to crack down on illegal immigration

With the new presidential administration of Donald Trump aiming to massively scale up immigration enforcement, it will likely need to rely on assistance from local authorities to bolster its staff numbers and approach its deportation targets, immigration advocacy officials say.

The expansion of the partnerships in Georgia will “undermine the trust (that) immigrant families, workers and students have in their local law enforcement, who are sworn to protect neighbors and communities,” Gigi Pedraza, the executive director of the Latino Community Fund Georgia, said in a statement. “When people are afraid of going out and reporting crimes, it makes society weaker.”

The state corrections department and sheriff’s offices in Floyd, Hall, Oconee, Polk and Whitfield counties all have current 287(g) agreements, dating to the first Trump administration. Georgia sheriff’s offices with pending 287(g) applications told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they sought closer ties with ICE to comply with state regulation.

“State law requires all law enforcement agencies to do this,” said Anna Watkins, public information officer with the sheriff’s office in Monroe County, between Atlanta and Macon.

The Georgia legislature passed an immigration law, House Bill 1105, last summer that requires Georgia sheriffs to help enforce federal immigration law. Among the law’s mandates is that sheriffs apply for 287(g) or unspecified similar federal immigration enforcement partnerships. Sheriffs who fail to comply with HB 1105 face misdemeanor criminal penalties and the loss of state-administered grant funding.

Georgia leadership said HB 1105, which passed in the tumultuous wake of nursing student Laken Riley’s killing at the hands of an unauthorized immigrant, would help keep communities safe.

“If you enter our country illegally and proceed to commit further crimes in our communities, we will not allow your crimes to go unanswered,” Gov. Brian Kemp said ahead of signing the bill.

Although it may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, 287(g) chiefly comes into play in local jails and detention centers. After a suspect is arrested, a trained officer can view an ICE database to find more information about the arrestee’s immigration status, and then may detain that individual for up to 48 hours at ICE’s request to give agents time to pick up the suspect for deportation.

Monroe County Sheriff’s Office applied to join 287(g) in August. Walker County applied in December, and Murray County in July. None of the sheriffs have yet to hear back from ICE about the status of their applications, officials said. Joe Biden’s administration did not sign any new 287(g) agreements.

To begin collaborating with ICE through 287(g), local officers must undergo a monthlong training that includes coursework in immigration law, use of the ICE database and training in the avoidance of racial profiling. ICE officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Like Georgia, Florida has also passed legislation mandating that local governments formalize ties with ICE. Together, local Georgia and Florida law enforcement bodies account for over half of the 27 applications currently pending for the 287(g) program.

Until recently, 287(g) had been in retreat in the Peach State. In a momentous decision roughly four years ago, newly elected Democratic sheriffs in Cobb and Gwinnett scrapped their counties’ participation in the program. Before that, both sheriff’s offices led the nation in referrals to ICE through 287(g).