The Georgia State Senate recently passed SB 452– the Ensuring Necessary Deportations (END) Act— that requires courts sentencing non-citizens to determine whether they are illegal aliens and to report that information to the Department of Homeland Security. The legislation also would require local jails to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before illegal aliens are released from custody.
SB 452 also requires courts, in the process of sentencing non-citizens, to determine whether they are illegal aliens and to report that information to ICE. This will allow ICE to deport illegal aliens who otherwise would remain in Georgia prisons at taxpayer expense.
Naturally, it has drawn opposition. “Make no mistake, if this law passes, we are going to monitor its implementation closely and we are going to challenge it in court,” said Azadeh Shahshahani, legal and advocacy director for Project South, which focuses on illegal immigrants’ rights.
Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, says that threat won’t deter lawmakers. “I feel like it’s well within our constitutional purview to ask the court to do what they’re doing and to ask law enforcement to do what we’re asking them to do in the bill,” he said. “But that certainly won’t stop someone from filing a meritless lawsuit.”
The measure now requires state House of Representatives passage.
