Georgia Gov. Kemp signs bill requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE and jails to check immigration status of inmates

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) signed a bill on Wednesday that requires local law enforcement officials to cooperate with federal immigration agents and mandates that jails check inmates’ immigration statuses.

House Bill 1105, sponsored by Georgia State Rep. Jesse Petrea (R), requires the Department of Corrections to honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detainer requests for individuals in custody who are suspected of having entered the country illegally.

Local law enforcement agencies that refuse to cooperate with ICE officials could lose state funding under the new law.

Additionally, the Department of Corrections commissioner must share on the department's public website a “report of aggregate data on the immigration status, offenses, and home countries of inmates who are confined under the authority of the department who are not citizens of the United States and to whom the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division of the Department of Homeland Security has issued immigration detainer notices.”

The bill also prevents local governments within the state from enacting “sanctuary policies,” defined as any regulations prohibiting local officials from “complying with an immigration detainer notice or communicating or cooperating with federal officials or local law enforcement officers with regard to reporting immigration status information.”

Most of the legislation’s provisions are set to take effect immediately.

Kemp signed a separate bill, Senate Bill 63, requiring cash bail for 30 additional offenses. It also restricts individuals and entities from posting cash bonds more than three times per year. The bill will take effect July 1.

On Wednesday, Kemp stated that HB 1105 “became one of our top priorities following the senseless death of Laken Riley at the hands of someone in this country illegally who had already been arrested even after crossing the border,” the Associated Press reported.

Earlier this year, José Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan national in the country illegally, was charged with the abduction and murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia.

“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 added.

Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones (R) stated that the signing of SB 63 “will support law enforcement officers who are doing their jobs to keep our state safe and ensure criminal offenders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent.”

“We will not allow criminals to roam free in our streets. These bills continue our efforts to keep Georgians safe,” he stated.

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