Georgia House of Representatives passes bill requiring police to help arrest undocumented immigrants following Laken Riley killing

Immigration law survives Crossover Day

Among the numerous bills that made it past the Crossover Day deadline at the Georgia Capitol were bills on immigration control and religious freedom.

ATLANTA – Republicans in the Georgia House of Representatives are supporting a bill that would require all applicable police and sheriff agencies to assist in identifying, arresting and detaining undocumented immigrants for deportation.

The House of Representatives voted 97-74 on Thursday to pass House Bill 1105 after police accused a Venezuelan man of beating a nursing student to death on the University of Georgia campus. The bill will be sent to the state Senate for further debate.

RELATED: CROSSOVER DAY 2024: HERE ARE THE BILLS PASSED IN GEORGIA'S CAPITOL

Jose Ibarra was arrested Friday on charges of murder and assault in connection with the death of 22-year-old Laken Riley on Thursday. Ibarra, 26, is a Venezuelan national who entered the United States illegally in 2022, according to immigration officials. It is unclear whether he has applied for asylum.

Riley was studying nursing at Augusta University's Athens campus after beginning her undergraduate studies at the University of Georgia's Athens campus. She was found dead on February 22 after a roommate reported that she had not returned from a morning run in a wooded area.

What you didn't know about Laken Riley's murder

More information regarding the details of Laken Riley's murder on the UGA campus and further prosecution in her case will be released.

The bill would also establish new requirements for how jail officials should check with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to determine whether people are proven to be in the country illegally. Republican Rep. Jesse Petrea of ​​Savannah said the provision is necessary to enforce existing state law that requires sheriffs to check with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to determine whether people are not American citizens.

“Changing policy in the face of unspeakable tragedy is not politics,” said Republican Rep. Houston Gaines of Athens. “It means doing the right thing to make sure something like this never happens again.”

Sheriffs deny that they are violating the law when they check with immigration authorities. The bill would make sheriffs who fail to check immigration status guilty of a misdemeanor. The bill would also strip state funds from jails and sheriffs who do not cooperate.

Democrats warned that the law would lead to long prison sentences, that it would separate parents born elsewhere from their U.S.-born children and that it would breed distrust of police in immigrant communities. They said the law was based on the false notion that immigrants bring criminality, pointing to studies showing that immigrants are less likely to be arrested.

“We want justice for what happened to Laken Riley. We don't want violent people who are here legally or illegally to end up on the streets,” said Rep. Esther Panitch, a Democrat from Sandy Springs. “But this bill won't do that. This bill won't close our borders. It won't make us safer and it won't make women safer.”

Georgia Crossover Day: Debate on immigration law

It's crossover day at the state Capitol. Lawmakers must get their bills through the House or Senate to have a chance of passing them this session.

The law would bring Georgia closer to states with stricter immigration laws, such as Texas, where starting in March police will be allowed to arrest migrants who have entered the state illegally and give local judges the power to deport them.

Georgia itself had already passed a tough immigration law in 2011, but later repealed parts of it. Democrat Pedro Marin of Duluth, the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives, said he had already seen people exploit the fear of foreigners.

“I have seen time and again that ambitious representatives and senators use fear as a strategy to obtain and retain elected office,” Marin said.

But Republican Latino Rep. Rey Martinez of Loganville said his party was targeting only criminals.

“We're not after the immigrants. We're not after them,” Martinez said. “What we're interested in are these people who are committing crimes. That's what we're interested in.”

Petrea sharply criticized Ibarra: “He said he was here to get asylum. He was here because of assault.”

To assist ICE, eligible cities and counties would have to apply for what's known as a 287(g) agreement, which allows local officials to enforce immigration law. It's unclear how many would be approved – President Joe Biden's administration has de-emphasized the program.

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center counted six of Georgia's 159 counties as of July with 287(g) agreements with ICE. Five of those are jail-only. Oconee County, a suburb of Athens, executes arrest warrants for immigration violations and deportation orders. State agencies also work with ICE.

At least three counties in Georgia have ended their cooperation with ICE on prisons, according to the center. These include two large counties in the Atlanta suburbs – Gwinnett County and Cobb County – where cooperation was a major issue in the election campaign.

“This program has torn families, children and families apart,” said Sam Park, Democratic Whip in the House of Representatives from Lawrenceville.

But Petrea said local support is needed. “The lack of cooperation with federal immigration authorities endangers public safety and makes a mockery of our country's immigration laws, period,” he said.