DeKalb Board of Commissioners withdraws anti-ICE resolution

“We’re the bluest county in Georgia, and I would argue probably the bluest county in the Southeast,” the District 1 commissioner said. “There is a lot of attention on DeKalb County.”

Other commissioners, along with Chief Operating Officer Zach Williams, said declaring ICE unwelcome in the county could cloak residents in a false sense of security, given that the county has no authority to tell the feds what to do.

“I do not want to mislead the community by voting on something that does not have the teeth,” said District 4 Commissioner Chakira Johnson. The vote was 4-3 in favor of withdrawal.

The resolution also called for rejecting immigration detention facilities in the county, as some local and state lawmakers across the nation have done in efforts to rein in ICE and the plan to build detention facilities in vacant warehouses. Homeland Security has purchased a warehouse in Social Circle and is closing in on the purchase of another in Hall County.

The legislation also would have allocated $250,000 toward assistance for immigrants. And it would have declared support for state Sen. Kim Jackson’s Senate Bill 389, which seeks to require ICE officers to wear visible identification and remain unmasked during operations.

DeKalb Commissioners Patrick, Johnson, Nicole Massiah and Mereda Davis Johnson all voted in favor of withdrawal.

Resolution sponsor Ted Terry, of Super District 6, acknowledged the legislation could not stop ICE from coming to DeKalb. But he emphasized the importance of speaking out against militarized immigration operations like those that led to the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents in Minneapolis.

Terry blamed some of his colleagues for spreading misinformation about his resolution, pointing to comments by Chakira Johnson suggesting it sought to “abolish ICE.”

He also called it a “charade” that Commissioner Davis Johnson introduced an amendment to the legislation to prohibit immigration detention facilities, only to then vote for withdrawal. DeKalb County has no immigrant detention facilities, though ICE can ask the sheriff to hold people at the county jail so federal agents can pick them up.

Terry asked his colleagues what they find so controversial about not wanting “trigger-happy” agents in masks “all throughout our streets, in our neighborhoods, pulling people over ... without any cause.”

“If we withdraw this resolution, we are conceding, and we are becoming complicit in what this federal administration is trying to do,” Terry said shortly before the vote. Several residents also have spoken passionately in favor of the resolution during recent meetings.

In Cobb County, the board’s three Democratic commissioners recently shared similar concerns about federal agents concealing their identities in a letter to federal legislators.

Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid sent a letter Jan. 28 asking U.S. legislators to support measures that would prohibit the use of masks during most arrests and require agents to use clearly marked official vehicles during such operations.

In the letter, Cupid said ICE operations conducted by agents who conceal their identities create panic and confusion in communities, and their actions can be “misconstrued as kidnappings by witnesses and family members.”

“These tactics create opportunities for criminals with malicious intent to impersonate federal officers and exploit vulnerable residents,” Cupid added.

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Her letter also was signed by Cobb Commissioners Monique Sheffield and Erick Allen. It was sent to Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff and to U.S. Reps. Barry Loudermilk and Lucy McBath.

The letter also urged the legislators to support a full and impartial investigation of “any incidents involving the use of lethal force by ICE officers” and to advocate for training requirements, with an emphasis on de-escalation techniques, the appropriate use of force and “cultural competency.”

“Cobb County is home to a diverse population that includes families who have lived here for generations alongside newer residents from around the world,” Cupid wrote.

“All of our residents deserve to feel safe in their communities and to trust that law enforcement officers — at every level of government — will conduct themselves with professionalism, transparency and respect for human dignity and constitutional rights.”

Staff writer Lautaro Grinspan contributed to this article.