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CBS News
Eye on America: Feds enlist local law enforcement in ICE’s immigration crackdown

June 5, 2018

Six counties in Georgia have joined a federal program known as 287(g) that deputizes local law enforcement to effectively act as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. CBS News went to the Gwinnett County Jail to see how the program is working.

“Under the Trump administration, right now we’re going by all law, immigration laws,” one deputy said. “So you come in for jaywalking, we find out that you’re illegal, we hand you over to ICE. We work for ICE. We do not deport anybody.”

Just north of Atlanta, Gwinnett County accounted for 20 percent of all 287(g) encounters last year, by far the most nationally.

photo: CBS News

Gwinnett County Jail, Georgia CBS NEWS
At the jail, 27-year-old Diaz Lopez said he was driving to his plumbing job when he was pulled over by police because his passenger was not wearing a seat belt. He was arrested for driving without a license. He said he’s been in the U.S. for 11 years, and has never been deported before.

Six counties in Georgia have joined a federal program known as 287(g) that deputizes local law enforcement to effectively act as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. CBS News went to the Gwinnett County Jail to see how the program is working.

“Under the Trump administration, right now we’re going by all law, immigration laws,” one deputy said. “So you come in for jaywalking, we find out that you’re illegal, we hand you over to ICE. We work for ICE. We do not deport anybody.”

Just north of Atlanta, Gwinnett County accounted for 20 percent of all 287(g) encounters last year, by far the most nationally.

At the jail, 27-year-old Diaz Lopez said he was driving to his plumbing job when he was pulled over by police because his passenger was not wearing a seat belt. He was arrested for driving without a license. He said he’s been in the U.S. for 11 years, and has never been deported before… Read more here