Georgia’s Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act (also known as House Bill 87) became law on July 1, 2011. One month later little has changed for Georgia Law Enforcement.
The Georgia Public Safety Training Center (G.P.S.T.C) recently conducted training on House Bill 87 at the annual conference of the Georgia Law Enforcement Command College. Various sheriffs, police chiefs, and command staff personnel of agencies were in attendance.
One attendee, Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Jack Lumpkin said, “It seems like a lot of the parts of this law are things that law enforcement currently has the authority to do.”
Dodge County Sheriff Jeff Hinson concurred with chief Lumpkin’s remarks and stated, “The Georgia law covering jails (O.C.G.A. § 42-4-14) already mandates that we notify the Department of Homeland Security when an illegal alien is booked into a county jail. That will not change.” That law pertaining to jails was enacted back originally in 1981 and was amended in 2006, 2008, 2009, and again in 2011 by the Georgia Legislature.
Prior to July 1, county and municipal jails in Georgia were mandated by law to verify the immigration status of all persons incarcerated for felonies, driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs (DUI), driving while unlicensed/suspended, and misdemeanors of a high and aggravated nature. As of July 1, 2011, all persons incarcerated in Georgia jails regardless of their charges are required to have their immigration status verified by jail officials.
This verification is done when incarcerated persons are fingerprinted, which is done electronically on an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), which is linked to databases of the Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the United State Department of Homeland Security. ICE officers contact the Dodge County jail and issue a federal detainer on the suspected illegal alien, which prevents the jail from releasing the alleged illegal immigrant to anyone except an ICE officer or designee. ICE takes the illegal alien into custody after that person has been adjudicated or released by the courts in Dodge County.
Those taken into custody by ICE have many dispositions. Not all are deported from the United States, depending on the circumstances and history; some are allowed to apply and begin the process to legally immigrate to the United States and are later released by ICE. Those individual decisions are made by the federal government alone. The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office is neither authorized, nor allowed, to deport anyone from this country.
According to records of the Dodge County jail, ICE picked up three alleged illegal immigrants from the Dodge County jail in June 2011 and zero in July 2011.
The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office continues to serve all persons in Dodge County regardless of their immigration status. Dodge County Sheriff Chief Investigator Captain Tony Winborn said, “The sheriff’s office has responded to two robberies in the last two months where a Hispanic person was the victim. Both cases have been solved and arrests have been made. The suspects in those cases were local young men who robbed the alleged illegal immigrants of their cash money.”
Sheriff Hinson said, “Law enforcement officials must have probable cause to take someone into custody. If you are not violating laws that our office has jurisdiction to enforce, then you have nothing to fear from Dodge County deputies.”
Hinson went on to say, “There are those who have attempted to frighten and prevent members of the Hispanic community in Dodge County from reporting crimes when they have been the victims. We will enforce the law and that means arresting criminals regardless of their citizenship status or the citizenship status of their victims. We need crime victims to come forward so that lawbreakers can be put where they belong: behind bars. Getting criminals off of the streets protects all Dodge County residents.”
