Thread: Coweta GA Sheriff, ICE Team Up On Immigration Issues

Coweta Sheriff, ICE Team Up On Immigration Issues

POSTED: 5:51 pm EDT August 29, 2007
UPDATED: 6:18 pm EDT August 29, 2007
http://www.cbs46.com/news/14006790/detail.html

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. -- Coweta County is following in the steps of other Georgia counties like Cobb and Gwinnett by pushing to enforce local restrictions that affect many illegal immigrants.

Coweta Sheriff Mike Yeager said his department is joining forces with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. In the last few weeks, the task force has rounded up 21 "people of interest" from two Coweta homes.

Georgia's new get tough immigration law mandates that the state should pay to train local officers in immigration law. But that blurring of authority lines is what worries civil liberty groups like the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Do you have so many police officers, so many resources that you can afford to divert them from their primary mission, which is local law enforcement?" asked Debbie Seagraves, executive director of the ACLU in Georgia.

Antonio Leary, an immigrant advocate, said immigration enforcement should not be on a local level.

"I think the federal government should have control over it, not the state," Leary said.

Yeager issued the following statement in response to questions about his policies:

"The Coweta County Sheriff's office has a good working relationship with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency … and will continue to strive to maintain this working relationship."

The opening of a third precinct at the Newnan-Coweta airport to house illegal immigrants is also on the Coweta Sheriff's agenda.

Another concern among immigration advocates is that when ICE and local authorities join together, immigrant victims of crime will be less likely to come forward for help.

Yeager said he plans to hold immigration training classes in Atlanta.

The Coweta Board of Commissioners was not available for comment.

Need to stifle that Debbie Seagraves of ACLU Georgia.

If they start focusing on illegals that will prevent much of the future crime, Debbie.