Georgia House passes bill requiring jailers to identify and hold immigrants after student’s killing

By JEFF AMY
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia House Republicans are backing a bill that would require every eligible police and sheriff’s department to help identify undocumented immigrants and detain them for possible deportation. The House voted 97-74 on Thursday after police accused a Venezuelan man of beating a nursing student to death on the University of Georgia campus. The measure moves to the state Senate for more debate. The bill would also set new requirements for how jail officials should check with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to determine whether people are known to be in the country illegally. The law would move Georgia closer to states with more aggressive immigration laws like Texas.