STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's find out how some state authorities are trying to enforce federal immigration law. The response is different state by state, and we're going to go to Georgia, where the murder of a student led to a new national immigration law. The state of Georgia has its own law telling sheriffs to cooperate with immigration authorities, and it turns out, that's hard to do. Here's Emily Wu Pearson of WABE in Atlanta.
EMILY WU PEARSON, BYLINE: Laken Riley was murdered last February by a Venezuelan man who crossed the border illegally and had once been caught shoplifting but was let go. Within days, Georgia legislators made immigration enforcement a top priority.
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JESSE PETREA: In Georgia, the people of this state, the people we represent, are expecting us to do something.
PEARSON: That's Jesse Petrea, the Republican state representative who championed the Georgia law. It requires local sheriffs to apply for a 287(g) partnership, a federal program that deputizes local law enforcement to take on some federal immigration responsibilities inside jails, mainly to identify and detain migrants without legal status arrested on criminal charges.
TERRY NORRIS: The law mandates they ask to participate. The law does not mandate they participate.
PEARSON: Terry Norris is the executive director of the Georgia Sheriffs' Association. He says they worked last year with 142 sheriffs across the state to request the 287(g) partnership.
NORRIS: We created a template - a little two-line letter to ICE saying, I'm sheriff so-and-so from county so-and-so. Please know that I'm interested in 287(g) program.
PEARSON: He says no county was approved for the program last year with ICE saying the sheriffs didn't have enough resources. An ICE spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Norris says lack of personnel was one problem.
NORRIS: Georgia sheriffs are like almost every other agency throughout the country. We have a very difficult time hiring deputies and jailers.
PEARSON: And that's one thing they'll need to comply with 287(g). Norris and his association are hoping for more state funding to make that happen.
NORRIS: County taxpayers pay the costs of the sheriff's office, the costs for the jail, or the medical and the mental health costs, the food costs.
PEARSON: Several Republican-led states are now considering similar legislation that would involve local authorities in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Some of the proposals just call for local law enforcement not to hinder federal immigration operations. Others require these federal 287(g) partnerships, which are not cheap, says Emily Davis, who teaches immigration law at Emory University.
EMILY DAVIS: It's very costly for local governments to do that sort of immigration work, and they're not typically familiar enough with immigration status and immigration law to be able to make that determination.
PEARSON: Enforcement of immigration law is a federal responsibility. And the national Laken Riley Act directs authorities to detain and deport people without legal status who've been accused of a wide range of crimes, including shoplifting, burglary, assaulting a police officer, or any crime that results in the death or serious bodily injury to another person. Atlanta Immigration attorney Charles Kuck says that will take a lot more ICE agents.
CHARLES KUCK: ICE warned Congress, as they were considering this bill, that one, they had neither the fund nor the resources to actually carry out this bill. And two, if they wanted that to happen, they would need approximately $23 billion.
PEARSON: Kuck says the law without funding will not have a real effect. Meanwhile, Georgia sheriffs will try again for 287(g) partnerships under a new administration.
For NPR News, I'm Emily Wu Pearson in Atlanta.
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