Burning Atlanta

This is too twisted to get into. I'll just put it up because it's local. You can make your own call over what's going on.

Enforce the law and raise salaries.

LAWRENCEVILLE - Chairman Charles Bannister has called for Gwinnett's sheriff to train his deputies to enforce immigration laws. But the sheriff said politics has kept him from hiring the staff needed to even consider the program.

The move on a political hot button issue has placed the sheriff in the center of the upcoming chairman's race, as Bannister's opponent, Commissioner Lorraine Green, plans a change next week to give deputies equal pay to police officers.

"Gwinnett County has got to move the ball forward with the issue of illegal immigration," Bannister said in a press release, where he also called for revision of the county's illegal immigration ordinance, which Green authored last summer.

"It's a simple concept. You break the law by coming into the country illegally. You break it again by committing some crime that then lands you in the county jail. We turn you over to (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to be sent home," Bannister said. "I wish we had a program to make all criminals leave the county. Why wouldn't we take advantage of such a program as this when it becomes available?"

The program, which has been implemented by Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren, would allow deputies to begin paperwork for a deportation process for illegals in the jail.

Two ICE officers are currently assigned to Gwinnett's jail, Sheriff Butch Conway said. This year, 360 inmates were deported and ICE has holds on another 127.