The vote came during a marathon day at the Capitol on "crossover day," when a bill has to pass at least one chamber -- the House or Senate -- in order to have a chance to become law by adjournment. The immigration bill is now one piece of legislation that gets to move forward.
"This bill will send a clear message that adherence to the law is not optional," said state Rep. J Collins (R-Villa Rica).
In general, the bill would require sheriff’s offices across Georgia to adopt a policy known as 287G, in which local authorities routinely notify federal authorities about arrested immigrants. Republican sheriffs in Gwinnett, Cobb and other counties voluntarily used the program until Democrats replaced them in 2020.
Democrats criticized it then and did again tonight on the House floor.
"US-born citizens are over two times as likely to be arrested for violent crimes than undocumented citizens," state Rep. Sam Park (D-Lawrenceville), the House Democratic whip. "And it perpetuates a false narrative that immigrants non-citizens or immigrants are more dangerous than US citizens."
But Republicans invoked the killing of college student Laken Riley last week in Athens. The young nursing student, enrolled at Augusta University, was found dead on the University of Georgia's campus last week and immigrated without proper documentation from Venezuela.
Backers said their constituents are telling them they want the measure.
"I will tell you that every single crime committed by someone illegally in this country was an avoidable crime," said state Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah), the bill's sponsor.
The bill passed the House on a mostly party-line vote. It heads to the Senate, where it will likely get an enthusiastic audience from the Senate’s Republican majority.