MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — In 159 counties in Georgia, booking someone into jail pretty much looks the same.
If somebody is arrested for a criminal charge, a traffic charge — they are going to be fingerprinted,” Monroe County Sheriff Brad Freeman said.
He says those prints may get sent to various agencies.
“Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement,” Freeman said.
Right now, law enforcement agencies don't have to send prints to ICE to identify undocumented people who get booked. However, a new bill that passed through the Georgia House would require that.
It comes after an Augusta University nursing student was killed while running on the University of Georgia, Laken Riley.
Police say Riley's alleged killer Jose Ibarra is an undocumented immigrant.
That sparked heated debates over border security and now a bill that would strengthen immigration laws, survived Crossover Day– a critical day for legislation at the state capital.
House Bill 1105 will punish sanctuary cities or law enforcement agencies that do not help identify undocumented immigrants they detain.
That bill would also require them to give monthly reports to federal agencies or face penalties.
“You know, we pretty much saw it coming,” Freeman said.
He says the bill wouldn't affect them much because they already do that.
“Probably within 20 minutes to an hour, we're going to get a hit from ICE saying, ‘Hey, we want this person,’” Freeman said.
Freeman says they hold them for 48 hours.
“Here, it happens monthly. There's been such an influx,” he explained.
If ICE doesn't pick them up in 48 hours, they'll be eligible for release. Freeman says ICE doesn’t show up half the time.
“It’s ICE's decision to take someone into custody, even with this new policy in place,” J. Britt Thames said.
Thames is a Macon immigration lawyer.
He says the bill could affect sanctuary cities that limit cooperation in enforcing federal immigration law.
“Now ICE would have notice of that whereas in the past ICE would not have known they were taken into custody, so ICE would never have the opportunity to take them and start removal procedures,” Thames explained.
Thames says the bill could lump people together and label them as 'criminals'.
“There’s people who are attempting to follow immigration rules and guidelines, there’s also people who come as children who didn’t have a choice in coming. There's a lot of people here who are brought undocumented who work every day here and are good people,” he said.
Thames says the bill is only for those breaking the law.
“If you’re here undocumented and adhere to the rules of this country, then you shouldn’t have any issues. If you commit a felony, then you need to be dealt with," Thames said. "It could be a good bill, the issue is going to be that even if the sheriff's offices report to ICE, what will ICE’s policy be?”
Freeman says the bill would get dangerous people off the street.
“They were arrested for some kind of violation of state law and then they bond out, and then they do something horrific like what happened in Athens- Clark County,” he said.
Freeman says it's up to federal agencies to enforce the law.
He says the bill also requires them to send monthly reports of inmates' legal statuses.
Sheriffs who violate the reporting requirements in the law could face a misdemeanor charge, or possibly lose state funding.
It will still have to pass the Georgia state Senate and be signed by the governor to be turned into a law.
