Bill filed to tighten Georgia immigration rules – Albany Herald

By Beau Evans
Capitol Beat News Service

ATLANTA – A bill targeting so-called “sanctuary cities” in Georgia was filed Wednesday.

House Bill 915, sponsored by Rep. Philip Singleton, R-Sharpsburg, would force city and county law enforcement to turn over detained undocumented people to federal immigration authorities.

Local authorities would also be required to notify federal officials when a detained person is released on bail.

Singleton cited President Trump's tough stance on immigration as inspiration for the bill.

“Radical efforts to protect criminal illegal immigrants who are burdening our state and federal government and putting our citizens at risk will not go unchecked in our great state,” Singleton said in a statement.

Local Latino advocates criticized the bill Wednesday, calling it a threat to Georgia's large immigrant workforce that powers the state's poultry, carpet and hospitality industries.

Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the nonprofit Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, said the measure would make Georgia less safe.

“Georgia does not need this legislation, and it only serves as an election year distraction and scaremongering,” Gonzalez said.

Singleton's bill would expand a law passed in Georgia in 2016 that allows state officials to withhold funding to cities and counties that have adopted policies restricting the sharing of information between local police departments and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Several local governments in Georgia have adopted such policies in recent years, including Atlanta, Clarkston and DeKalb County.

Beyond tightening coordination, Singleton's bill would allow the Georgia Attorney General's Office to respond to formal complaints filed by anyone – including the federal government – against these policies. The attorney general could file a lawsuit to overturn the policies.

The bill would also require county and city jails and state prisons to sign agreements with the federal government “for the temporary housing of persons” subject to deportation and “for the payment of the costs of housing and incarcerating such persons.”

Singleton has already introduced a handful of controversial bills since winning a special election in October. In December, he filed House Bill 747, which opponents say would ban transgender children from participating in single-sex sporting events on public property.