A state senator wants to reward law enforcement agencies like the Hall County Sheriff’s Office with financial incentives for helping enforce federal immigration law.
Only four local law enforcement agencies in Georgia — those in Hall, Cobb, Gwinnett and Whitfield counties — participate in the 287(g) program, which is a partnership with the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency that allows sheriffs and police to process for deportation those arrested who are in the country illegally. Only 67 law enforcement agencies nationwide have 287(g) agreements with ICE.
State Sen. John Wiles, R-Kennesaw, said he would like to see more agencies using the program, and this week proposed creating incentives for participation.
“There is a growing concern that many criminal illegal aliens are not being identified because local governments do not participate in these important programs,” Wiles said.
Wiles’ proposal would tie the incentives to the issue of state prisoners in county jails.
Currently, when a person in a county jail is sentenced to state time, the Georgia Department of Corrections has 15 days to pick up the inmate for transfer to the prison system. Starting on the 16th day, the state must pay county jails a per diem for holding the state prisoner in a county facility.
Wiles’ office said that amount per day is $23; Hall County Sheriff Steve Cronic said the per diem is $20.
Wiles’ bill would pay any sheriff’s office that participates in the federal immigration enforcement program an additional 20 percent of the per diem for state inmates, or another $4 per inmate, per day.
In the Hall County Jail Tuesday, there were 61 state-sentenced inmates awaiting transfer to prison. The state was paying Hall County $1,220 a day to hold them. Under Wiles’ proposal, because the Hall County’s Sheriff’s Office is a 287(g) agency, the state would pay the county $1,464 a day for the same number of inmates.
Cronic said the per diem of $20 is less than it costs Hall County to hold state prisoners.
He said he was in favor of anything that could help sheriffs recover the expense of holding state-sentenced inmates.
“We always thought the per diem could be higher,” he said.
But Cronic pointed out that many other law enforcement agencies have wanted to participate in 287(g) but couldn’t because of a lack of funding on the federal end. Training and equipment for the immigration enforcement program is provided by the federal Department of Homeland Security.
“I think there are a large number of sheriff’s offices that have expressed interest, but at this point, funding has been an issue,” Cronic said.
ICE spokesman Ivan Ortiz did not return an e-mail and phone message seeking comment Tuesday.
D.A. King, an illegal immigration activist, called Wiles’ proposed bill “a wonderful idea.”
“It’s simply a carrot; there is no stick,” King said. “If you want to use these federal tools, you will get more money to protect the community.”
King said 287(g) is “proven to reduce crime and get people who are in the community illegally and committing additional crimes reported to immigration enforcement on the federal level. I’m grateful to Sen. Wiles for the initiative he’s taken to see if Georgia can’t be among the leaders in the country in its use.”
Jerry Gonzalez, the executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials and an opponent of 287(g), said Wiles’ proposal was “wrongheaded, fiscally irresponsible as well as morally reprehensible.”
“How does this create jobs and how does this address the serious revenue challenges that the state is facing?” Gonzalez said. “The state doesn’t have the money for this, and the program as implemented has created an anti-immigrant sentiment that makes the environment less friendly to foreign investments.”