Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a bill into law that requires jailers in the state to check the immigration status of inmates and apply to help enforce federal immigration law. This bill gained traction following the arrest of a Venezuelan man accused of beating a nursing student to death on the University of Georgia campus. The law also mandates cash bail for 30 additional crimes and restricts the ability of people and charitable bail funds to post cash bonds for more than three people a year unless they meet the requirements to become a bail bond company. Governor Kemp emphasized the importance of enforcing immigration laws in the wake of Laken Riley’s tragic death.
Opponents of the new law argue that it will turn local law enforcement into immigration police, potentially making immigrants less willing to report crimes and work with officers. They also point to studies showing that immigrants are less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes. The law outlines specific requirements for jail officials to check with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to determine whether prisoners are in the country illegally. Failure to do so is now considered a misdemeanor, and local governments that do not cooperate risk losing state funding. Additionally, local jails must apply for a 287(g) agreement with ICE to help enforce immigration law.
The 287(g) program allows local jailers to assist in enforcing immigration law, but it is uncertain how many jails will be accepted into the program as the Biden administration has de-emphasized it. Meanwhile, the new law requiring cash bail for certain crimes is intended to keep criminals locked up, even though it undermines previous reforms that allowed judges to release most misdemeanor suspects without bail. A concern raised by critics is that this could lead to poor defendants being stuck in jail for crimes they are unlikely to be imprisoned for, exacerbating overcrowding in Georgia’s county lockups.
This shift towards increased reliance on cash bail aligns with a broader Republican effort nationally, as some Democratic-led jurisdictions move to abolish cash bail entirely or significantly limit its use. Last year, an Illinois court upheld a plan to eliminate cash bail, while Wisconsin voters approved an amendment to the constitution allowing judges to consider a suspect’s past violent crime convictions when setting bail. The debate over bail practices reflects a larger ideological divide on criminal justice reform, with Republicans advocating for tougher measures to combat crime while Democrats push for alternatives to the cash bail system.
