HB1053: HB1053 Law enforcement officers and agencies; local law enforcement involvement with immigration and cooperation with federal authorities; repeal provisions

Georgia law currently directs state and local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, arrest and transport people believed to be in the country illegally, verify immigration status during criminal investigations and jail bookings, and bans local 'sanctuary' policies with criminal penalties and funding cutoffs for violations. HB 1053 repeals the core cooperation and enforcement law (O.C.G.A. § 35-1-17) and replaces it entirely with a new system requiring law enforcement agencies to designate officials who process 'certification forms' for immigrant crime victims seeking U or T visas, with strict response deadlines, appeal rights, immunity for officials acting in good faith, and Attorney General enforcement power including subpoenas and civil suits. The bill also removes several related mandates elsewhere in the code: it strips out the requirement that jails provide interpreters and keep records when verifying immigration status (O.C.G.A. § 42-4-14), removes criminal penalties tied to violating the sanctuary policy ban (O.C.G.A. § 36-80-23) and to false statements in inmate reports (O.C.G.A. § 42-4-16), and narrows the Attorney General's authority to investigate and prosecute compliance failures under several of these code sections (O.C.G.A. § 45-15-10). It also drops the sanctuary-policy compliance certificate from the state's annual immigration compliance reporting system (O.C.G.A. § 50-36-4). The bill does not list a delayed effective date, so it would take effect under Georgia's standard rule once signed.

• Repeals the existing state law (O.C.G.A. § 35-1-17) that directs police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, authorizes arrest and transport of suspected illegal aliens, and penalizes local sanctuary policies.
• Enacts a new O.C.G.A. § 35-1-17 requiring law enforcement agencies to designate 'certifying officials' who complete federal U and T visa certification forms for crime victims within set deadlines.
• Removes the requirement that county jails provide interpreters and keep records of immigration-status communications when booking inmates (O.C.G.A. § 42-4-14).
• Eliminates the criminal misdemeanor penalties tied to violating the sanctuary policy ban and to false statements in county jail inmate reports (O.C.G.A. §§ 36-80-23, 42-4-16).
• Narrows the Attorney General's authority to investigate and prosecute violations of several immigration-related reporting and compliance laws (O.C.G.A. § 45-15-10).
• Removes the sanctuary-policy compliance certificate from the state's annual immigration compliance reporting requirements (O.C.G.A. § 50-36-4).

State and local law enforcement agencies, sheriffs, and jailers; county and municipal governments subject to the sanctuary policy rules; immigrant crime victims seeking U or T visa certification and their attorneys or advocates; and the Attorney General's office, which gains new enforcement duties under the certification process but loses some existing investigative authority.

Local police would no longer be directed to arrest people based on immigration status or automatically verify immigration status during bookings and investigations, and local governments would face fewer criminal penalties tied to immigration cooperation rules. Immigrant crime victims would gain a defined, deadline-driven state process for getting the paperwork needed to apply for federal U or T visas.

• Section 1-1 repeals and rewrites O.C.G.A. § 35-1-17, replacing state-federal immigration cooperation and arrest authority with a victim certification system, including 90-business-day (or expedited 21- or 5-day) deadlines for completing certification forms.
• The new § 35-1-17 gives certifying officials immunity for good-faith actions, requires annual reports to the Attorney General on certification requests, and lets the Attorney General investigate violations, subpoena records, and sue for equitable relief.
• Section 2-2 revises O.C.G.A. § 17-5-100 on verifying immigration status during criminal investigations, removing an unspecified enforcement provision and marking it 'Reserved.'
• Section 2-3 revises O.C.G.A. § 36-80-23 to drop the criminal misdemeanor penalty for violating the local sanctuary policy ban, while keeping the funding-withholding provision.
• Section 2-6 revises O.C.G.A. § 42-4-14 to remove the requirement that jails provide an interpreter and keep records of immigration-status communications for confined persons.
• Section 2-7 revises O.C.G.A. § 42-4-16 to remove the criminal penalty for false statements in county jail inmate immigration reports.
• Section 2-8 revises O.C.G.A. § 45-15-10 to remove the Attorney General's authority to investigate and prosecute violations of the sanctuary policy, jail verification, and inmate reporting laws.
• Section 2-9 revises O.C.G.A. § 50-36-4 to drop the sanctuary-policy compliance certificate from the annual state immigration compliance report.

1. 2026-01-29House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-01-28House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-01-27House Hopper (House)

• Marvin Lim (D, HD-098)Primary sponsor
• Ruwa Romman (D, HD-097)
• Gabriel Sanchez (D, HD-042)
• David Wilkerson (D, HD-038)
• Karen Lupton (D, HD-083)
• Tanya Miller (D, HD-062)

• immigration enforcement
• sanctuary policies
• law enforcement
• crime victim visas
• jail booking procedures