An estimated 75 Georgia National Guard troops are expected to start an intensive partnership next month with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in support of the federal agency’s enhanced mandate to find, detain and deport illegal immigrants in the state, according to Gov. Brian Kemp’s office.

The partnership, which has been weeks in the making, supplements the somewhat haphazard ways in which ICE patrols and agents have asked for help with local county and municipal law enforcement agencies, including the Glynn County Police Department and Chatham County Police Departments in search of foreigners who may be in the area without valid immigration documents.

Georgia National Guard troops would not be involved in arrest operations, the statement said, and would instead provide logistical and administrative help to ICE officers such as appointment scheduling, biometric collection, data entry and vehicle maintenance at ICE installations around the state. “Supporting these types of tasks would enable more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to be in the field focusing on their core law enforcement activities,” the statement from the governor’s office said.  

Local law enforcement agencies are required to cooperate with ICE, but the size and scope of that cooperation has not been standardized across Georgia’s 159 counties. 

In an interview with The Current on Sunday, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley confirmed a news report that his officers supported two ICE operations on June 11, including one involving a person who had a deportation warrant. He also said that was the only time his force had been part of an ICE mission and that Chatham County police have “no specific written policy on cooperation with ICE and Border Patrol agents.”

“We were together for probably less than two hours, and that was the beginning and the end of it. We haven’t done anything since,” he said of the June operation.

Previously, The Current has reported that 123 foreigners had been arrested in Glynn County between January and mid April this year. While the majority were found to have valid immigration status the data suggests that ICE did not rapidly respond to every inquiry made by the sheriff’s office about foreign nationals in detention, including 23 people who had immigration holds.

During the June operation, Hadley said that those taken into custody were not detained or processed in county facilities, and he did not know where they were transferred.

He went on to say that county police If requested, they would, he said, assist the agents in cases of “violent criminal things,” but “what we’re not going to do is go out and look for or check peoples’ immigration status.

“We’re not knocking on doors, ‘Let me see your papers,’ things of that nature.”

State Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook on Monday condemned the joint operations between police and ICE from earlier in the summer, saying, “Chatham County residents should be able to trust that their police department is focused on keeping our communities safe.”

“There are better uses for our public safety tax dollars than helping federal ICE agents carry out the whims of President Trump’s authoritarian agenda,” she said.

Gov. Kemp praised the partnership he was building with ICE as part of his ongoing commitment to keeping Georgians safe.

“I am proud to stand with President Trump’s team in the ongoing efforts to secure our nation’s border and keep Americans safe. With the longest continuous presence at the border of any National Guard, Georgia has led on this front for years and will continue to do so through this latest measure while still meeting all responsibilities and duties the Guard has to the state,” Kemp said. 

There was no immediate reaction locally to the National Guard announcement, which stated that the state troops would “report directly to ICE leadership at their assigned duty locations, but remain under the control and direction of the Governor and Adjutant General of Georgia.”

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Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.