SPLC: Immigration proposal in Georgia county violates federal policies
Proposed agreement would place immigration agents in Fulton County jails.
The SPLC has discovered details of a proposal that would give federal immigration agents virtually unlimited access to Fulton County jails in Georgia – a vast overreach by immigration authorities that violates federal and local policies and potentially endangers public safety.
The proposed agreement between Fulton County and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was discovered as a result of a public records request filed by the SPLC and announced this morning during a news conference by the Georgia Not1More Deportation Coalition, which includes the SPLC.
“This agreement is a shocking overreach by Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” said Eunice Cho, staff attorney with the SPLC’s Immigrant Justice Project. “It would erode trust in local law enforcement by entangling them in immigration enforcement and raise serious concerns about racial profiling.”
The proposal – described as part of ICE’s Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) – would allow ICE agents to join the staff of the Fulton County jail, investigate and track all foreign nationals arrested for any offense, and interview all foreign-born inmates identified by ICE as a priority.
In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, the coalition said the agreement was inconsistent with how the department has represented the PEP program to the public and could result in civil rights violations.
The program, the letter says, “would sweep a broad spectrum of individuals in local police custody, including those who are neither charged with nor convicted of a criminal offense, and who are targets of discriminatory policing practices. The proposed program also fails to provide any basic procedural safeguards, due process protections, or notifications to those targeted by ICE.”
The agreement would extend the power of ICE agents beyond their official limitations. It would also undermine a 2014 county resolution that denied ICE the ability to detain prisoners already held in local jails.
Members of the coalition raised their opposition to the agreement at a meeting of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners today. The SPLC is concerned that the agreement would endanger public safety as immigrant communities become more hesitant to contact the sheriff’s office. The 2014 resolution denying ICE the ability to detain prisoners within local jails was passed to build trust between local law enforcement and the immigrant community.
The Georgia Not1More Coalition consists of local and national immigrant rights organizers working to end deportation and detention.
