Gilmer law enforcement officers comply with all requirements
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is in the midst of a record-breaking spree of deportations, according to its press release.
But this action doesn’t much impact local law enforcement, the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO), East Ellijay Public Safety Division and Ellijay Police Department say.
“We always fingerprint every person that comes through. That process checks with ICE to see if that person is here legally or not, or if there’s a warrant,” Captain Frank Copeland of the GCSO said.
In the last 100 days, ICE has arrested 66,463 illegal aliens and removed 65,682 aliens, according to an ICE press release. Three in four of these arrests were of criminals, the press release said.
In Gilmer, local law enforcement doesn’t arrest illegal immigrants for entering the country illegally, Copeland said.
“We don’t pick them up because we think they’re illegal,” he said. “The reason they’re at the jail is because they’ve violated a state law of some kind.”
If an illegal immigrant is arrested for another crime in Gilmer County, the GCSO sends their information and fingerprints on to ICE.
If ICE asks for them to be detained, the GCSO will do so, Copeland said.
“If ICE doesn’t come within 48 hours to pick them up, we just release them,” Copeland said.
It’s only under these circumstances or after getting special federal permissions that GCSO would arrest someone for illegal immigration.
Under House Bill 1105, Georgia law enforcement must verify the immigration status of suspects, send immigration status information to federal authorities and work with the federal government to enforce federal immigration laws.
When authorized by federal law, Georgia law enforcement officers are allowed to arrest illegal aliens, the law states. But this authorization is a complex process GCSO hasn’t pursued, Copeland said.
So far this year, records with the GCSO show that out of 618 arrests, 32 were suspected illegal immigrants or foreigners with prior arrests.
Of these people, ICE asked for GCSO to hold these people only 18 times.
“We are not authorized to enforce federal statutes of any kind,” Copeland said.
When it comes to illegal immigration, law enforcement has other jobs, Ellijay Police Chief Edward Lacey said.
“We’ve got enough to do without that,” he said.
Often, human traffickers and thieves prey on illegal immigrants because they hesitate to go to police, Lacey said. Atlanta is a major human trafficking hub.
“I have experienced a reluctance from communities to come forward with victimization because of their status as an immigrant. This contributes to several problems in America,” he said.
America has strong laws against both sexual trafficking and labor trafficking, Lacey said. And when illegal immigrants tell police about crimes, they can get help. Lacey has dealt with a gang of thieves who targeted illegal immigrants in the past.
Illegal immigration and child trafficking are deeply connected, Lacey said.
“We don’t want those children to be scared of police. We want to rescue those children,” he said.