State leaders in the General Assembly are proposing bills on illegal immigration to align state policies with President Trump’s efforts. State Republican leaders are pushing legislation to crackdown on the Georgia’s illegal residents.
Trump’s election prioritized efforts to deport illegal immigrants, especially those convicted of crimes. In the first two weeks of his presidency there was a nationwide clampdown and arrest of 4,504 people nationwide according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to the Migration Policy Institute, 393,000 illegal immigrants live in Georgia.
ICE officers are conducting arrests across Georgia, resulting in the arrest of 325 immigrants by the end of January. These arrests have led
to conversations about law enforcement entering schools, houses and churches.
Multiple Georgia Republicans in the General Assembly support legislation requiring state law enforcement to cooperate with ICE.
State Sen. Blake Tillery (R) from Vidalia introduced Senate Bill 21, which would remove sanctuary cities as protected locations for
illegal immigrants and require state law enforcement to cooperate with the federal Department of Homeland Security.
“The citizens of our state are demanding that if you’re going to commit a crime while you’re here, we need you to go home,” Tillery
said.
President Trump signed the Laken-Riley Act into law on Wednesday, Jan. 29. It is named after a 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student Laken Hope Riley who was murdered by Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela. Under the law, states can enforce immigration laws in cooperation with the federal government. The law also empowers federal law enforcement to arrest and detain any illegal immigrant arrested for a misdemeanor or violent crime.
Under the Laken-Riley Act, Georgia law enforcement are now empowered to cooperate with Homeland Security to enforce it.
The General Assembly’s Democrats expressed strong opposition to recent ICE raids in metro Atlanta after the arrest of Wilson Rogelio Velásquez Cruz during a church service at Iglesia Fuente de Vida in Tucker. He and his family claim they are political refugees from
Honduras. They have lived in Georgia for two years.
State Rep. Sam Park (D) of Lawrenceville said he supports removing violent criminals, but clarified that most immigrants are not
convicted criminals.
“I support removing violent individuals but at the same time, we have to recognize that the vast majority of immigrants are not committing
crimes,” Park said.
A coalition of Pennsylvania Quakers filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to prevent raids in places of
worship.
The coalition released a statement on the incident, “Everyone’s faith requires being with their faith family. The DHS policy impedes all of these things and invades our sacred space and ability to worship freely.”
State Rep. Gabriel Sanchez (D) from Smyrna, the son of Colombian immigrants said most illegal immigrants are not criminals.
“The food you eat, the new house you move into that was built in the last few decades, that is our community,” Sanchez said.
