Insider Advantage Georgia
February 17, 2020

Anti-Sanctuary immigration legislation introduced in the state House

Rep Philip Singleton

Rep Philip Singleton
Photo: Georgia General Assembly

On Jan, 6, 2020, 92-year-old Maria Fuentes, who had immigrated to the U.S. lawfully in the 1960’s, was allegedly raped and murdered by Reeaz Khan, a 21-year-old illegal alien in New York City. This unbearable tragedy was entirely preventable.

“In fact, Khan should have been in custody at the time because six weeks earlier Khan was jailed and arrested for domestic violence charges. Because he was in the country illegally, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filed a detainer that requested that the jail give ICE prior notice and the opportunity to detain Khan before the jail released him. Rather than honoring this request, New York officials released Khan. Had they honored the detainer, Ms. Fuentes might still be alive today” Scott Brady, a U.S. Attorney in Pennsylvania, writes in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Khan has been indicted for the murder.

Ms. Fuentes’ son, Hugo Fuentes, said of Khan, “he was a criminal and they did not pay attention to this. They left him in the streets and he continued to do his misdeeds — because of that my mother is dead.”

To quote President Trump in his February 4th State of the Union address, “the United States of America should be a sanctuary for law abiding Americans, not criminal aliens.” Like most commonsense Georgians, I entirely agree.

I recently introduced legislation in the Georgia House to fight the undeniable public safety threat that local government protection of criminal illegal aliens creates. Illegal sanctuary policies in Georgia do exist and that fact should be a concern to all Georgians.

I was recently astounded to learn that respected sources estimate that Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than green card holders. Stories similar to the completely avoidable horror cited above are repeated far too often here in Georgia

My ‘Georgia Anti-Sanctuary Act’ would require the state to support federal immigration enforcement efforts and ensure these efforts are not impeded by any state or local laws or practices.

State entities and agencies would be required to comply with federal immigration detainers and would be prohibited from withholding information or records from federal immigration enforcement efforts regarding an immigrant’s status.

Additionally, the bill would encourage a seamless transfer process regarding illegal aliens who are held in a state’s correctional facility to be transferred into federal custody. Under this bill, it would also be illegal for state or local law enforcement officers who have custody of an illegal to deny or knowingly fail to comply with an alien’s detainer’s requests.

My bill is carefully modeled from the 2017 Texas SB-4 and 2019 Florida SB-168 bills. They have both been signed into law in their respective states and have both been upheld in federal court rulings. We are proud to point to a growing number of co-signers that to date includes nineteen House members. We hope that readers will ask their own Representative to sign on and support our effort to increase public safety in Georgia.

Read the rest here.