By Jeremy Redmon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — Federal immigration authorities are targeting 1,256 state prisoners — some of whom are illegal immigrants — convicted of murder, rape and other offenses for possible deportation, documents obtained under Georgia’s Open Records Act show.
The strain illegal immigrants are placing on Georgia’s prisons and other taxpayer-funded resources is at the center of the debate over the state’s tough new immigration law. Housing the inmates facing deportation costs Georgia’s already crowded prisons roughly $22.9 million a year.
How much the state pays to lock up illegal immigrants is unknown.
Georgia doesn’t track the immigration status of current inmates — but it does track the status of those who could who could face deportation once they are released from prison, shedding some light on the number of noncitizens in Georgia prisons.
By issuing detainers, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is asking Georgia to notify the agency before the 1,256 identified inmates are released so it will have the chance to detain and deport them.
Republican state Rep. Matt Ramsey of Peachtree City, who authored Georgia’s immigration enforcement bill, said the detainers reflect only part of the problem targeted by the law.
“You have more illegal aliens who are committing crimes and who are cycling in and out of our prisons that don’t have detainers and deportation orders issued on them by the federal government,” he said.
The 1,256 inmates who are the target of immigration detainers in Georgia represent 2 percent of the state’s 55,092 prisoners. By contrast, foreign-born residents make up 9 percent of Georgia’s population, census records show.
Charles Kuck, a local immigration attorney who is fighting in federal court to block parts of HB 87, said those statistics are consistent with studies showing crimes by immigrants “are far below their percentage in the community.”
For years, Georgia has paroled inmates facing deportation.
The state saved more than $101 million by participating in a federal program that allows states to parole inmates who have been convicted of nonviolent offenses and who agree to voluntarily return to their home countries.
There is no guarantee that all of the inmates targeted for deportation will be expelled.
Citing limited resources, ICE officials say they are focusing on deporting violent criminals and those who pose national security threats, or what they call the “worst of the worst.”
So it is possible ICE may decide not to pursue some of these inmates after they are released from state prisons.
“It’s a world of limited resources,” ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett said. “We look at who is in the jails at the time and what is the money, the bed space, the resources that we have and where can we make the greatest impact.”
Most were born in or are citizens of Mexico, figures show.
Bautista Ramirez is one of them.
An illegal immigrant, he was convicted of murdering a Doraville police officer in 2000. During his trial, Ramirez admitted shooting Officer Hugo Arango in a nightclub parking lot, though he maintained he was acting in self-defense.
Now 33, Ramirez is serving a life prison term, though he is eligible for parole starting in 2014.
ICE has sent the state Corrections Department a detainer, seeking to be notified in advance in case Ramirez is to be released, state records show.
An ICE spokeswoman said her agency would seek to deport Ramirez if he is ever released from prison, calling him a “high priority removal.”
Thomas M. West, who served as Ramirez’ criminal defense attorney, predicted Ramirez would agree to be deported in exchange for parole.
“I would think that if he had a choice between living in his home country free or being in prison here in Georgia,” West said, “he would choose being in Mexico.”
Where inmates are from
Federal immigration authorities have issued detainers for 1,256 Georgia inmates who might be deported. These inmates are among more than 2,500 state prisoners who say they were born in or are citizens of other countries. Here’s a breakdown of where they are from:
Mexico 1,319
Germany 184
Jamaica 113
Guatemala 93
El Salvador 91
Honduras 89
Source: Georgia Department of Corrections
Copyright 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution