ATLANTA – Local government officials and employees who violate a state law requiring them to cooperate with federal immigration authorities could face new financial consequences under legislation adopted by the Georgia Senate Thursday.
Senate Bill 21 passed 33-18 in a near party-line vote in the Republican-dominated chamber.
The legislation would strip local governing bodies and law enforcement agencies that violate the state law of the “sovereign immunity” that shields them from lawsuits. It would also remove what’s called “governmental immunity” from individual local officials, employees and law enforcement officers, likewise exposing them to the risk of lawsuits.
The measure “just adds teeth to Georgia law,” said Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, the bill’s sponsor.
It is a crime in Georgia to “knowingly and willfully” refuse to comply with a federal request to hold a non-citizen for potential deportation or federal custody.
It’s also illegal to enact, adopt, implement, or enforce any “sanctuary” policy prohibiting cooperation or the sharing of immigration status information with federal immigration authorities.
SB 21 is a backlash against a “sanctuary city” movement nationally that aims to withhold information about immigrants from federal agents.
Democrats and Republicans agreed Thursday that no local government has violated the existing state law. This led Democrats to question why Republicans were introducing the threat of lawsuits and the potential resulting costs for taxpayers.
Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes, D-Duluth, said opening the way for more lawsuits contradicts Gov. Brian Kemp and Republican lawmakers’ push for “tort reform” legislation that would reduce payouts in lawsuits.
The bill could expose rank and file employees, such as teachers, to lawsuits by zealous immigration opponents, she said.
“The right to sue teachers act, that’s what this bill is,” Parkes said. “There is no sanctuary city in Georgia, not a single one, but SB 21 pretends there is a problem.”
Democrats also said the measure would impose additional costs on local law enforcement to house and staff their jails.
Tillery dismissed these criticisms. Local jails are already obliged to detain suspects sought by immigration authorities, so there should be no added cost from SB 21, he said. And teachers would only become exposed to a lawsuit “if we had third graders committing rapes and murders,” he said.
The debate about teachers stemmed from a hearing last week, when Megan Gordon, policy director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, warned that SB 21 could expose teachers to lawsuits if they follow federal court precedent prohibiting the collection and reporting of students’ immigration status.
The legislation now moves to the Georgia House of Representatives.