ATLANTA – All 1,100 sworn officers at the Georgia Department of Public Safety (DPS) will receive training from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to help identify and apprehend illegal immigrants considered a public safety risk, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday.
DPS Commissioner Billy Hitchens has submitted a Memorandum of Agreement request to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, to participate in the federal 287(g) program.
“We take the safety of Georgians and travelers to this state very seriously,” Hitchens said Monday. “This training and collaboration between agencies increases our ability to keep our communities safe.”
The 287(g) program, authorized by the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, enables ICE to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to act under the federal agency’s direction and oversight.
Also, an executive order issued by President Donald Trump requires ICE to utilize the program in partnership with state and local law enforcement.
The DPS isn’t the first state agency taking part in the program. The Georgia Department of Corrections has a longstanding agreement with ICE to enforce the 287(g) program inside state prisons.
Last week, ICE asked the corrections agency for two additional correctional officers to assist in the deportation of illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in addition to the sergeant and three correctional officers already taking part in the program.
While the Trump administration maintains the illegal immigrants it is deporting are criminals, lawyers representing some of those being deported say their clients’ only offense is being in the U.S. illegally, which under the law is a civil violation rather than a crime.