Ga. Bill Would Create Website Of Criminal Undocumented Immigrants

ATLANTA, GA -- A bill introduced in the state House on Wednesday would mandate that Georgia law enforcement officials create an online registry of criminal unauthorized immigrants who have been released from state supervision, according to news reports.

The legislation would require the Georgia Bureau of Investigation "to publicly post certain information from the Law Enforcement Notification System of the Enforcement Integrated Database of the United States Department of Homeland Security to the extent permitted by federal law," according to a summary of the bill on the Georgia General Assembly's website.

The bill would also route administrative duties of the registry through the Georgia Sheriff's Association to the GBI.

"Beginning on August 15, 2017, and on the fifteenth day of each calendar month thereafter, each jail of a county or municipality shall provide to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation a list containing each person who is confined in such jail during the preceding calendar month and who is not a citizen of the United States," the bill reads.

It would also require jails around the state -- by the 15th of each month -- to provide a list of those released from custody who were "the subject of an immigration detainer request by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

The measure, known as House Bill 452 is sponsored by Rep. Jesse Petrea, a Republican from Savannah. He intends the bill to only apply to violent criminals, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The legislation comes on the heels of a tougher approach to immigration from the Trump Administration, who has been roundly criticized for a series of raids conducted earlier this month in a handful of immigrant strongholds across the United States.

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