Georgia Sheriffs Aiding ICE

Mary Lou Pickel writes in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Sheriffs in Gainesville and Dalton, centers of the state’s poultry and carpet industries, will train jailers to start deportation proceedings against illegal immigrants booked into their jails.

A training program with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began Monday to teach nine Hall County sheriff’s deputies and six Whitfield County sheriff’s deputies to use federal databases to determine a prisoner’s immigration status. Deputies can then place immigration holds on those here illegally.

In Dalton, where the state’s carpet mills employ many Hispanic immigrants, the community has changed in the past five to 10 years, Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood said.

“We’ve brought a lot of people into the community who are from out of town and out of the country. It’s causing concern in the community. Are these people here legally, or illegally?” he said.

Chitwood emphasized that only immigrants who are arrested on other charges will be questioned about their legal status.

“I just can’t come up to you at Wendy’s and ask you if you’re legal or illegal,” he said.

Cobb County Sheriff’s Office was the first in the state to implement the program in July. Since then, federal agents have picked up 748 immigrants from Cobb’s jail, office spokeswoman Nancy Bodiford said.

This week some Cobb residents told county commissioners they believe Cobb County police profile Hispanics, arresting them on minor charges, thus subjecting them to possible deportation. Click here for the full story.

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