Historic Change in Georgia: Two newly elected Black sheriffs pledge to pull out of immigration enforcement program that leads to racial profiling

Voters in Georgia’s Cobb and Gwinnett counties made history last month by electing their first Black sheriffs – both of whom have pledged to pull their counties out of controversial and harmful federal immigration enforcement programs that funnel our family members and neighbors into the deportation pipeline, waste local tax dollars and too often result in racial profiling.

During their campaigns, Sheriff-elects Craig Owens in Cobb and Keybo Taylor in Gwinnett both committed to end their county’s participation in the federal 287(g) program. Under this program, local police officers are deputized to interrogate people whose citizenship status has been called into question. Such programs blur the lines of responsibility for immigration enforcement and create intense distrust between local law enforcement agencies and immigrant communities. The incoming sheriffs have also pledged not to hold people in jail for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without a judicial warrant.

Historic change is also coming to Athens-Clarke County. There, voters in a Dec. 1 runoff elected Georgia’s first Latinx district attorney and the first woman to be elected to the position in her district. Deborah Gonzalez, a former state representative, campaigned on eliminating racial inequities in the criminal justice system, pledging to end cash bail and not use the death penalty. She will also continue working with immigration advocates who have fought for years to prevent the county from collaborating with ICE on immigration enforcement.

The 287(g) program, in particular, encourages racial profiling by local police officers and sheriff’s deputies, a serious constitutional violation and a betrayal of the values we should all hold dear.

When the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona participated in the 287(g) program, deputies and staff at all levels engaged “in racial profiling of Latinos” and would unlawfully stop, detain and arrest Latinos and retaliate against “individuals who complain[ed] about or criticized[d]” the sheriff’s office, according to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.   

Finding a similar pattern in Alamance County in North Carolina, the DOJ wrote, “We find reasonable cause to believe [the sheriff’s office] engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. Specifically, we find that ACSO [Alamance County Sheriff’s Office] – through the actions of its deputies, supervisors, and command staff – unlawfully targets, stops, detains, and arrests Latinos.”  

As a candidate, Owens echoed these concerns, saying the 287(g) program “often turns into profiling, looking at Africans, Latinos, Muslims and other immigrants.” He added, “It causes all types of problems, is expensive to maintain and I don’t see why the county should be involved in it.”

Taylor also believes that the programs waste money in Gwinnett County and do nothing to help keep residents safe.

Multiracial grassroots coalitions have worked for years to secure these reforms. Our partners at Project South, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, Southerners on New Ground, Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta, Mijente, Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, Georgia Detention Watch and Asian American Advocacy Fund have worked tirelessly and in concert to educate the public, engage state and local elected officials and conduct direct advocacy with the outgoing sheriffs to reduce harms. At the same time, they have ensured that our communities were empowered and ready to get out and vote this year.

Through its Vote Your Voice initiative, the SPLC distributed $2,460,000 to grassroots organizations in Georgia this year to help them engage voters to exercise their right to vote and ensure that they are able to elect, and hold accountable, candidates who represent their values. The SPLC also operated phone banks through which supporters contacted thousands of voters during the runup to the election.

It is so important that the work of these advocates not be erased or diminished. The regular playbook for elections has not worked for the communities of color that these organizations represent, so they organized and built long-lasting relationships with them. They won a huge victory that will interrupt the deportation pipeline for two of the metro-Atlanta counties that provided ICE with some of the nation’s highest rates of arrests and transfers.

Georgia is a microcosm of what we are seeing across the country, as voters reject anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric. A recent poll, for example, found that 71% of voters across the political spectrum believe there should be a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Sixty-four percent of voters think family separation polices should be halted and 65% support passing the DREAM Act, which would create a path to citizenship for immigrants who entered the country as children.

One of the great lessons of this year’s elections is that grassroots organizing empowers the communities most affected by local elections to act and to win. The SPLC acknowledges and thanks all the grassroots groups who helped secure these historic victories – changing Georgia for the better.

Photo illustration by SPLC. From left: Command Sgt. Maj. Craig Owens; Deborah Gonzalez, Georgia House of Representatives, District 117; and Keybo Taylor

The Southern Poverty Law Center is the 501(c)3 affiliate organization to the SPLC Action Fund.