Laken Riley’s Murder Spurs Georgia to Take Action on Sanctuary Policies
FAIR Take | March 2024
Tragically, it took Laken Riley’s murder to reignite a firestorm surrounding sanctuary policies, a subject that has garnered increasing national media attention since Kate Steinle’s death in 2015. Laken’s heartbreaking death reveals a nexus between the Biden administration’s open borders agenda and state and local sanctuary policies that endanger communities by shielding criminal aliens from removal.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Riley’s alleged murderer, Jose Ibarra, entered the country illegally in 2022, was encountered by Border Patrol, and released into the U.S. on parole. Ibarra then made his way to the sanctuary city of New York (where he was arrested and charged for child endangerment) and released before he could be detained by ICE. Ibarra then made his way to Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. Despite Georgia being an anti-sanctuary state since 2009, Athens-Clarke County, where the killing occurred, is a sanctuary jurisdiction.
Sanctuary policies provide a safe haven, or “sanctuary,” in which illegal aliens work and live without fear of apprehension by federal immigration authorities. There is not one specific type of sanctuary policy; some are enacted through local laws, while others masquerade as “welcoming” resolutions, and some even appear as internal law enforcement agency policy. Despite these apparent differences, the uniting factor for all of them is that sanctuary policies place a greater emphasis on the welfare of illegal aliens rather than the welfare and safety of citizens and legal residents in their own communities.
Generally speaking, sanctuary policies bar state or local officials, including law enforcement personnel, from asking persons about their immigration status, reporting them to federal immigration authorities, or otherwise cooperating with federal immigration authorities. This practice conflicts with at least two sections in the Immigration and Nationality Act, specifically 8 USC §1373 and 8 USC §1644.
Other sanctuary policies take the form of anti-detainer policies, which restrict or outright bar state and local law enforcement officers from cooperating with federal authorities who seek to remove aliens in their custody for committing other crimes. To remove the alien, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will issue the local law enforcement agency a detainer, as authorized by federal regulations, asking that the alien be held until ICE can take custody of him/her. Anti-detainer policies, however, require local officials to ignore the detainers or only honor them in limited circumstances.
While Athens-Clarke does not officially call itself a “sanctuary city,” it operates as one. In 2019, Mayor Kelly Girtz and the Commission of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia passed a “welcoming resolution” in support of illegal aliens, which describes how the County “cannot be witness to the violation of constitutional rights given to all people.” The resolution also highlighted the need for illegal aliens to “feel welcome and comfortable interacting with law enforcement and their local government.” Further, it stated that the County would work to reverse the damage “that has resulted to black, brown, and all other minority communities.”
This resolution was not surprising, considering that as a candidate, Mayor Girtz signed onto a statement opposing cooperation with ICE and suggesting that voluntary cooperation was breaking up families.
In addition to the welcoming resolution, County Sheriff John Q. Williams implemented an anti-detainer policy honoring his campaign pledge to not help ICE deport Athenians. Pursuant to this policy, Athens-Clarke County would not honor detainer requests unless they are accompanied by a federal warrant or court order signed by a federal magistrate or federal judge. Sheriff Williams’ stance is a de facto sanctuary policy since 8 C.F.R. §287.7(b) provides the authority for immigration officials to issue a detainer request for the purposes of arresting and removing an alien. A warrant signed by a judge is not needed but is demanded by some local officials as an excuse to not cooperate.
Despite Georgia’s anti-sanctuary law, Athens-Clarke County has been able to continue to act as a sanctuary jurisdiction since the state law’s enforcement mechanism was gutted in 2019, when the much-criticized Immigration Enforcement Review Board was eliminated. That board allowed local officials, or even members of the public, to report instances in which local jurisdictions were impeding immigration enforcement. While Representative Philip Singleton (R-Sharpsburg) introduced comprehensive anti-sanctuary legislation (which would have authorized the Attorney General to sue local jurisdictions to block sanctuary policies), the bill did not gain any traction.
Sadly, it took Laken’s death and subsequent national media frenzy to be the impetus to move legislation in Georgia that requires law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration officials as well as honor detainer requests. Under House Bill 1105, introduced by Representative Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah) and now under consideration, if a law enforcement agency is deemed to be in violation of the act, the locality will lose both state and federal (administered by the state) funding. The bill also requires law enforcement officers to apply for and enter into 287(g) agreements when eligible.
The proposal passed the Georgia House on the crossover deadline, the last day for legislation to pass the first chamber and advance to the Georgia Senate for consideration.
Laken’s death was entirely preventable since her killer shouldn’t have been in the United States. State and local governments should not be able to shield illegal aliens in their communities by implementing dangerous sanctuary policies.