287(G) FAILURES IN GEORGIA

As an example to the Immigration Policy Report demonstrating 287(g) program failures (difficult on ICE's resources and undermines ICE's own declared enforcement priorities), in Cobb County, Georgia, about 60 percent of the 3,159 inmates identified as being in the country illegally between January 2009 and March 2010 were there for traffic offenses (mostly for driving without a license, which one cannot get if they are in the country illegally). In Gwinnett, another 287(g) county, 42 percent of the 2,602 inmates that were transferred to ICE this year were jailed for traffic-related offenses. ICE's own stated policies are to apprehend the serious criminals first, not every person who is undocumented, however the facts prove otherwise -- that large numbers of people turned over to ICE by local police are just undocumented immigrants who have not broken the law or have very small traffic infractions.