The Marietta Police Department now has the power to ask people about their immigration status, and make arrests over immigration violations with federal supervision.
According to a document published last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Marietta police formalized its partnership with federal agents in January, through ICE’s 287(g) program — which allows local law enforcement to perform some of the functions of immigration officers.
Participation in the program has grown at a rapid clip in Georgia during President Donald Trump’s second term, but Marietta is the largest local law enforcement agency in metro Atlanta to sign up to date, expanding the program’s reach into the state’s most immigrant-heavy region.
Most of Georgia’s 43 local law enforcement agencies with active 287(g) ICE agreements are county sheriffs. They support federal immigration enforcement by verifying the immigration status of people booked into local jails, and flagging to ICE those who are in the country illegally.
Marietta’s 287(g) agreement falls under a different category. It is a “task force model” partnership, which ICE describes as a force multiplier by allowing police to stop, question and arrest immigrants they suspect of lacking legal status.
ICE says participating officers can “enforce limited immigration authority while performing routine police duties or as an active participant in an ICE-led task force.”
Marietta police spokesperson Chuck McPhilamy said the agency entered into a 287(g) agreement with ICE because it was required to do so under state law.
The legislation in question, House Bill 1105, was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2024 in the wake of a Georgia nursing student’s killing at the hands of an immigrant from Venezuela, who had entered the country illegally. Among other provisions, HB 1105 says local agencies “shall seek” to participate in the 287(g) program or unspecified federal immigration enforcement partnerships.
Because the Marietta Police Department does not operate a jail, it is only able to participate in 287(g) through the task force model, McPhilamy said.
“We have no intention of changing our mission or how we serve the public in any way,” he added, noting that just one officer has been designated to perform immigration enforcement functions. That officer has completed mandatory training from ICE, but Marietta police has not made any immigration arrests to date, according to McPhilamy.
Gigi Pedraza, executive director of the Atlanta-based Latino Community Fund, described the task force model as “the most damaging and dangerous” type of 287(g) partnership.
“In practice, it means that local police operations, including routine speed controls and any other routine engagements within the City of Marietta, will serve as opportunities for the police department to perform federal immigration duties,” she said.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
The task force model had been discontinued for over a decade before being revived under the Trump administration last year.
The Obama administration ended those partnerships in 2012, following a Department of Justice investigation that uncovered widespread racial profiling and other discrimination against Latinos in Arizona by deputies participating in the program.
Other entities with active ICE task force model partnerships in Georgia are the police departments of the cities of Alto, Euharlee, Monroe, Morrow, Morven, Odum, Pearson and Social Circle; sheriff’s offices in Grady, Lanier, Oglethorpe, Turner and Wayne counties; and the Georgia Department of Public Safety.
In a statement, Cobb County Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said that she “cannot speak for the City of Marietta, but I do know that each jurisdiction has a lot to weigh in determining what partnership they may form with ICE. That being said, many Spanish-speaking citizens and businesses have expressed great concern to me about federal immigration enforcement activity in Cobb County and its impact on homes, schools, and businesses.”
According to ICE, police officers nominated by local agencies to take part in the task force model must have at least two years of law enforcement officer experience. They must be U.S. citizens, pass a background check and complete training at ICE’s expense.
To incentivize participation in the task force model, ICE is offering to pay for the annual salary and benefits of each of the local officers designated by police agencies to carry out immigration enforcement tasks, including overtime coverage of up to 25% of officers’ annual salary.
ICE is also offering $7,500 for equipment for each participating officer, and $100,000 for new vehicles for each participating police department.
McPhilamy said that the Marietta Police Department will not be seeking funding from ICE “as there is no added expense to the department.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Berenice Rodriguez, the Georgia state director for the immigration advocacy group CASA, said greater cooperation between ICE and local police makes it more difficult to coach community members about what to expect from law enforcement interactions.
“If you get pulled over, you don’t really know what type of questions you’re going to be asked, which makes it really hard for us as community organizations who are trying to do know-your-rights, trying to prepare our community and guide people through those interactions,” Rodriguez said.
She added that people may think twice before calling the police to report crimes.
“Now you run the risk of: ‘If I call, what if they just ask me about my immigration status?’” Rodriguez said.
Just under one-fifth of Marietta’s population is foreign-born, according to the latest U.S. Census estimates.
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