U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement records as of Monday show four of seven Northwest Georgia counties have signed up to cooperate with ICE on immigration enforcement. The four are Catoosa, Dade, Walker and Whitfield counties.
Murray County is listed as a pending agency, having applied to cooperate in cases in which unauthorized immigrants are jailed on another offense, according to the records.
Chattooga County and Gordon County are not listed by the federal government as either participating agencies or those with pending agreements. Officials did not respond to inquiries about the status of the program there.
The program under section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act is a part of President Donald Trump’s objective to enact mass deportations, the Chattanooga Times Free Press previously reported. The agency responsible for immigration enforcement revived and expanded an older program that delegates immigration enforcement powers to state and local law enforcement agencies under cooperative agreements.
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