Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms held a press conference at the Atlanta City Hall after announcing an executive order that prohibits the city’s jail from accepting new detainees from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE.
“There are moments in our world’s history where abnormal behavior can be ignored, and it suddenly becomes the norm,” Mayor Bottoms said. “And as I have watched the policies of our president become normalized, I am ever mindful of the need to act and our responsibility to act swiftly.”
The executive order calls for President Donald Trump and Congress to “put measures in place that are humane and deal in a comprehensive way with the immigration issue.”
After Mayor Bottoms’ announcement, President Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at ending family separation at the Mexico-United States border. The mayor will not rescind her decision until the city receives ‘assurance’ that the separations have ended.
“I think that it is important that we pause on the behalf of the City of Atlanta and take a look at what role we are playing in this whole immigration discussion. I am glad to see that the president has taken some action, I don’t know that it’s meaningful quite frankly because the zero-tolerance policy is still in effect,” Mayor Bottoms said.
The City of Atlanta and the United States Marshals Service had a ‘long-standing agreement’ with housing detainees at the Atlanta City Detention Center. According to Mayor Bottoms, the city receives $78 each day for every ICE detainee held in its jail. Mayor Bottoms also says she is not concerned with any potential penalty from stopping the agreement.
“I am certainly aware that in addition to the risk of whatever penalty may come from our national leaders, that there’s also a budgetary interest that has to be addressed by the City of Atlanta that we need to be aware of. And, we will certainly have those conversations, but that really quite frankly is the least of my concerns.”
Panther Report News has reached out to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Public Affairs for further comment but has not received a response in time for this report. We will keep you updated as soon as possible.
Mayor Bottoms said the Atlanta City Detention Center does not currently hold any detainees who have been separated from their family at the border. Bottoms does say two children were placed into foster care through the Lutheran Services of Georgia in the Metro Atlanta area.
“I understand that there are two children that were placed through Lutheran services as a result of family separation,” Mayor Bottoms said. “But, I do understand that there are at least two children who have been placed with foster families.”
In the press release, Mayor Bottoms says she was ‘concerned’ with detainee’s being placed in for-profit facilities. On June 21, about 200 people detained were held at the Atlanta City Detention Center. Nine other people, the day the executive order was announced, were taken to the Irwin County Detention Center.
“And even as we prepare to come out this morning, and I was speaking with Chief Labat, and he mentioned that nine detainees have been sent to a facility in Irwin, my heart sank. Because what I know about this facility is that these nine detains will not have access to many of the resources that we offer in the City of Atlanta,” Mayor Bottoms said.
Resources include a justice program that the City of Atlanta is expected to announce in the upcoming weeks, according to Mayor Bottoms.
“Our access to justice programming which will come online in just a few weeks once it comes out of City Council that will allow access to a justice program for those facing immigration proceedings so that they will have access to council.”
Another concern is family members having to travel hours to other facilities. In the following weeks, the mayor plans to convene with members organized by Michelle Maziar, Director of Welcoming Atlanta, to discuss the role the city is taking in immigration.
“I think that all things will be on the table. And, I am going to look to Michelle. She has already given thought as to who will be a part of this. But, from our discussion and I’ll let Michelle speak more to that,” Mayor Bottoms said. “It will be experts, community experts, professional experts and certainly with the leadership of Chief Labat, from our corrections department and we will certainly invite our partners at the federal level to have a conversation on where we are and where we go as a city and certainly it’s my hope that as a part of that conversation, there are some recommendations for the other facilities throughout the state ”
Although be Mayor Bottoms says this order will not impact the presence of ICE agents in Atlanta.
“I doubt it because that is something that comes from the federal level, but we can certainly do what we can do inside the City of Atlanta.”
When asked about the Families Belong Together rally scheduled for June 30th at the Atlanta City Detention Center, Mayor Bottoms said that she would have to look into the demonstration.
“I’ll have to have more information, I just generally was told about the protesting that were happening. I don’t have a date and time and that type of information. But, I certainly look forward to it taking a look at it and seeing if it’s something that we can be a part of.”
Note: This story was written for PRN, the student-led news station at Georgia State University.
