Some Georgia senators want to punish cities and counties they believe are harboring illegal immigrants who are in the country without permission by cutting off most federal support to local governments and removing elected officials from office.
The Senate Public Safety Committee voted 4-1 on Wednesday to revise House Bill 301. Its supporters say the move is necessary to enforce a 2009 state law that bans so-called sanctuary cities and counties.
It is the latest measure proposed by Republicans after police accused a Venezuelan man of beating a nursing student to death on the University of Georgia campus.
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Jose Ibarra was arrested last month on murder and assault charges in connection with the death of 22-year-old Laken Riley. Immigration authorities say Ibarra, 26, entered the United States illegally in 2022. It is unclear whether he has applied for asylum.
Riley was studying nursing at Augusta University'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.
The Senate committee completely revised a bill that previously regulated speeding fines issued by automatic cameras. Democratic Sen. Kim Jackson of Stone Mountain complained that she had not had time to read the new language before the session and called it “frustrating and disappointing.”
Georgia State Senator Randy Robertson speaks about a bill that would penalize cities and counties that violate the state's immigration law during a Senate Public Safety Committee meeting at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta on March 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)
Under the new law, any Georgia resident could sue and ask a judge to determine whether a city or county violated the 2009 law. If the judge agrees, the state would cut off state and federal aid to all but a short list of emergency and health services. A county or city would not receive state money for building and maintaining roads, for example.
Judges could restore funding if a local government repeals the offending policy. A judge would then have to issue a permanent injunction prohibiting the government from ever implementing a sanctuary policy again.
The bill also allows for the removal of local elected officials if cities or counties adopt sanctuary policies. The bill allows any Georgia resident to complain to the Board of Community Affairs. The board would hold a hearing on whether an official is violating state law and recommend to the governor whether the official should be suspended. The governor could then remove the official and appoint a replacement.
Officials can apply for reinstatement, but this would only happen if they can demonstrate that their work is “substantially likely to improve the ability” of the government to comply with the anti-sanctuary law.
Republican Sen. Randy Robertson of Cataula told the committee that the measure would ensure sheriff's offices work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to avoid evading the 2009 law.
“We have given this law teeth because there has been none in the past,” Robertson said.
Critics of the measure say it is yet another attempt by Republican lawmakers to impose their will on cities and counties. Activists could obstruct cities and counties through legal and administrative proceedings.
“We have built-in accountability measures in case communities are not happy with the behavior of their local government or their local sheriffs, and that is elections. We should not use the legislature to dictate to communities,” said Isabel Otero, policy director of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Georgia.
Otero compared the measure to Georgia's former Immigration Enforcement Review Board, which investigated complaints about local immigration policies. For example, in 2017, when Cagle was running for governor, then-Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle filed a complaint that the Atlanta suburb of Decatur was violating state law. The board dismissed the complaint against Decatur and quietly dissolved the board by law in 2019.
It is the second bill this year to take a tougher stance on immigration policy. Last week, the Georgia House of Representatives voted 97-74 to pass House Bill 1105, which would require local law enforcement to identify immigrants living in the country illegally and detain them for possible deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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Several Republicans, including Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, said Wednesday that Athens-Clarke County would be a target of the new proposal.
“As part of our ongoing commitment to protect the citizens of Georgia, we are taking action against those who seek to implement asylum policies that violate the law and harbor criminals,” Jones said in a statement.
Athens-Clarke Mayor Kelly Girtz has denied that the consolidated city and county are violating state law, pointing out that they file a certificate of compliance annually. Critics point to a 2019 Athens-Clarke County Commission resolution that says the local government “strives to foster a community where people of all statuses feel safe.” But Girtz points out that resolution does not have the force of law.
