Arrests Made In GA ICE Raids

ATLANTA, GA — Immigrant arrests began Sunday in Georgia during federal raids across the U.S., state authorities said.

Raids targeting illegal immigrants were done in Atlanta, Savannah and Cartersville, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Atlanta office tweeted. The DEA partnered with the Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta.

Social media photos provided by both agencies appear to show officers handcuffing people, including one person at an airport.

Authorities have not said how many people were taken into custody across Georgia.

The arrests came when federal immigration officials tweeted they began scouring Chicago, Illinois "to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities."

Since President Donald Trump took office, similar immigration enforcement operations have been publicized around the country, which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says are ongoing. Social media posts from other DEA and Homeland Security offices noted additional weekend operations in at least Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska and Texas.

ICE reported 956 arrests and 554 people detained on Sunday nationwide.

Immigration was recently a hot topic in Georgia after the killing of 22-year-old Laken Riley, an Augusta University nursing student who died of asphyxiation in February 2024 at the University of Georgia.

A Georgia judge determined Riley was killed at the hands of Jose Ibarra and sentenced Ibarra to life in prison after convicting him on murder charges.

Immigration questions arose after light was shed on Ibarra's checkered past with law enforcement. He and his brother were accused of having a fraudulent U.S. permanent resident card.

The brother, Diego Ibarra, had been arrested multiple times on various charges, including shoplifting and driving under the influence, Gov. Brian Kemp said in a past letter to former President Joe Biden. Kemp said he was released while his asylum papers were being processed.

Kemp demanded Biden explain why the Kemp administration was not made aware of the asylum claims against Ibarra's brother or his subsequent release into the public.

In March 2024, Riley's father pleaded for the detainment and deportation of undocumented immigrants during a previous hearing of the Georgia Senate, according to a past media report.

Congress on Thursday passed the Laken Riley Act, legislation that would require the Department of Homeland Security to detain specific non-U.S. nationals who have been arrested and charged on suspicion of burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.

Anyone in the U.S. without "the necessary documents when applying for admission" would also be detained, according to the bill.

It would also allow states to sue federal officials for "alleged failures related to immigrant enforcement," the act stated.

The Associated Press contributed writing.