Georgia Senate Democrats announce new bill to stop wrongful deportations

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Georgia Senate Democrats on Wednesday announced plans to introduce new legislation as early as possible to help prevent the wrongful deportation of Americans.

The 2025 legislative session ended only three weeks ago, but Democratic lawmakers said they couldn’t wait to bring forth legislation in light of several citizens being caught up in immigration detentions and deportations.

The new bill they discussed for the first time on Wednesday would require that a person receive a hearing before any formal deportation is carried out. It would bar law enforcement from adhering to federal immigration detainers and deportation orders until that happens.

“The Democratic Senate next year will draft legislation that will say no county or municipal law enforcement may help facilitate the wrongful deportation of a person located in Georgia who is an American citizen,” said State Sen. Harold Jones III, the Democratic minority leader. “What we’re talking about is wrongful deportations, wrongful. That’s going to be the key thing.”

Democrats said they wanted to ensure there’s certainty that a Georgian being deported is in fact in the country illegally. They pointed to the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to an El Salvadorian prison by the White House after being accused of gang hip and violent crime. But despite several court orders — including one from the Supreme Court to return Garcia to the States —the Trump istration has largely ignored them.

“We must draw a line,” said state Sen. Elena Parent (D-Atlanta). “No American should be deported on the whims of one man. No Georgian should fear being torn from their family and sent to a foreign prison, possibly for the rest of their life.”

The bill won’t be formally introduced until this summer, when lawmakers can begin filing new legislation ahead of the next legislative session in 2026.

On Wednesday, Trump officials stood by their accusations about Garcia, noting that he did go before a judge. The judge had ordered Garcia to be held with no bond while his asylum claims were worked through.

“We removed an MS-13 gang member, a public safety threat, wife-beater, designated terrorist from the United States,” said Tom Homan, the White House border czar. “He’s home. He’s a citizen of El Salvador, a native of El Salvador who had due process despite what you’re hearing.”

“I think he got plenty of due process. He got more due process than Laken Riley got,” Homan said, referencing the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was killed last year by a Venezuelan man illegally in the country.

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