With the passage of a bill that gained momentum after police accused a man from Venezuela of fatally beating a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus, jails in Georgia are now required to verify the immigration status of their inmates and apply to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law.
At the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth on Wednesday, Gov. Brian Kemp officially signed the bill into law. The majority of clauses are effective right away.
A different law, approved by the Republican governor, mandates cash bail for thirty more offenses and prohibits individuals and charitable bail funds from posting cash bonds for more than three individuals annually unless they fulfill the criteria to register as a bail bond company. The law is operative as of July 1.
Following Laken Riley’s needless death at the hands of an illegal immigrant who had already been arrested even before crossing the border, Kemp stated on Wednesday that House law 1105, an immigration law, “became one of our top priorities.”
In connection with the death of Laken Riley, 22, Jose Ibarra was taken into custody on murder and assault charges. Ibarra, 26, allegedly entered the country illegally in 2022, according to immigration authorities.
Whether he has submitted an asylum application is unknown. Conservatives exploited Riley’s death to attack President Joe Biden for immigration policy mistakes, igniting a political firestorm.
“If you enter our country illegally and proceed to commit further crimes in our communities, we will not allow your crimes to go unanswered,” Kemp stated.
The law’s opponents claim that it will make immigration police out of local law enforcement, reducing the willingness of immigrants to cooperate with officers and report crimes. Studies demonstrating that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans are another argument used by opponents.
The statute specifies the procedures that jail administrators must follow in order to verify with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if inmates are known to be in the nation unlawfully.
The new law in Georgia makes it a criminal to “knowingly and willfully” refuse to check immigration status. The previous statute just encouraged jailers to do so. Additionally, the law would stop providing state assistance to noncompliant municipal governments.
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In order to allow local jailers to assist in enforcing immigration law, the law also requires local jails to apply to ICE for what is known as a 287(g) agreement.
Since the program has received less attention under President Joe Biden’s administration, it is unknown how many would be admitted. The initiative does not give local law enforcement the authority to arrest people for immigration violations outside of a jail.
Even though Senate Bill 63 erodes provisions that Republican Gov. Nathan Deal championed in 2018 to allow courts can release most individuals charged of misdemeanors without bond, Republicans claimed the bill is necessary to keep criminals behind bars.
“Too many times we have seen some of our cities or counties, it’s been a revolving door with criminals,” Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones stated.
