Glynn County Sheriff’s ICE data offers inconsistencies

In late spring, Glynn County Sheriff Neal Jump gave residents of the Golden Isles an update on how his office was handling what some of the community believes is an urgent public safety issue: immigration.

From January through April, local law enforcement agencies had arrested 124 foreigners, he said, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had taken custody of all of them, according to a quote from The Brunswick News. 

But data from the sheriff’s office, examined by The Current, paints a different and more opaque picture about foreigners detained in the county, despite Jump’s support for the Trump administration’s immigration policies. The data suggests that ICE does not respond to every inquiry made by the sheriff’s office about foreign nationals in detention, and that many foreigners get released soon after arrest, apparently because they were charged with misdemeanors and their legal status wasn’t in question.

According to data spanning Jan. 1 to April 14, 35 of the 123 foreign nationals arrested and detained in Glynn County’s jail had a designation called an ICE hold, meaning ICE had requested that the jail hold the detainee for up to 48 hours after the scheduled release so that the federal agency could take custody.

The data provided by Jump’s office was missing two months’ worth of entries about whether his office notified ICE and ICE’s answers, if any. It had spelling errors, missing information and a layout that made analysis difficult.

Another 53 people had no ICE hold; according to the list, the hold status of another 32 arrestees was left blank, according to the sheriff’s information provided to The Current in response to a public records request.

Three other arrestees have inconclusive records: They’re not flagged as ICE holds, but comments on their records suggest one is, in fact, an ICE hold and two others were on hold for an unspecified federal agency. 

The sheriff said his office was committed to following federal immigration law, but they declined to elaborate on how their relationship with ICE has changed this year. 

“We adhere to the law. Every individual arrested goes through the same booking process. If the individual arrested on other charges is then suspected of being in the country illegally, we contact ICE. At this point, ICE adheres to its portion of the law,” the sheriff’s spokesperson said.

Of 35 people flagged in the data with an ICE hold, 23 show a release date from jail — but the sheet does not indicate the circumstances of release, so it’s unclear whether ICE took custody of the inmates or if the ICE hold expired before an agency official arrived. 

The other 12 arrestees do not show any release date.  

The data provided by the sheriff’s department does not specify the reason for ICE attention to these individuals, and it’s unclear whether there were outstanding federal warrants, or the individuals were undocumented or illegally in the U.S.  Jump has previously stated that he notifies ICE if fingerprints for a detainee at the jail do not appear in any federal database, a situation that suggests that the person did not enter the country through a legal border crossing or with legal immigration status.

Among those with ICE holds who remain in Glynn County Jail as of June 16 are four men charged with violent or serious crimes. These individuals, three of whom are accused of aggravated assault and one who is charged with child molestation, are the only people of the 123 foreigners detained in the time period suspected of serious violent crimes. 

Another 31 people with federal holds are accused of nonviolent offenses or had no charges listed in the data provided by the sheriff’s office.

At least one other individual — a U.K. passport holder arrested in February — appears to have been detained solely due to a federal warrant. He has spent more than 125 days in the Glynn County Jail without being transferred to federal custody.  

Georgia law defines a felony as any offense that is punishable by a year or more in jail. Three individuals were arrested solely on battery charges, which qualify as a misdemeanor. Four individuals were arrested for simple battery, a common misdemeanor in Georgia. One person was also arrested for discharging a firearm on or near a public highway, which is also typically a misdemeanor unless there was intent to cause harm. 

Why does this strike a chord now? 

The Current was the first to report that the Glynn County Sheriff’s Department had applied for an ICE partnership that would provide deputies with specialized training on serving administrative warrants on immigrants without legal status. 

While ICE covers the cost of training, the county sheriff would pay for the travel costs of six deputies selected by Jump for the program. 

Newly signed House Bill 1105 requires all local law enforcement agencies to pursue such partnerships, or they may potentially lose state or federal funding.  

Last November, Sheriff Jump requested a $1.5 million budget increase from the county commissioners, in part due to overtime he said was needed to “monitor” immigrants. In the county’s budget, due to start July 1, the sheriff’s department has increased by nearly $6 million.

When The Current first asked for information about the number of people detained in the county and transferred to ICE custody, sheriff deputies said they would provide it quickly. The department then charged the news organization $351.10 and took two weeks to deliver a spreadsheet. 

What do the numbers say?

Of the 123 total arrests from Jan. 1 to April 15, the highest number of foreigners — 53 — were detained by Glynn County Police Department (GCPD), 10 by the sheriff’s office and 25 by Brunswick Police Department. The spreadsheet did not show an arresting agency for four individuals. 

A total of 21 nationalities were among those arrested, with Mexican nationals comprising the largest number at 64 people detained.

Two of the 123 people listed as foreign nationals told their jailers they were from Guam, a U.S. protectorate whose residents are U.S. citizens, but they were later identified as Venezuelans, according to the Sheriff’s office. 

The sheriff’s office said that the legal status of foreign nationals is determined through a combination of identification, fingerprints and answers to questions at booking, such as citizenship and birthplace.

The most frequent charge for the 123 foreign detainees was traffic violations, according to the data, including 37 DUIs and 29 driver’s license violations. 

Nearly all those detained for traffic infractions were released the same day or the day after, according to the data. For instance, an individual from Mexico was arrested in March for a charge listed as “License required” by Glynn County police and released the same day. 

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, but these licenses are not deemed legal in Georgia, and local law enforcement may jail people with such IDs. 

Some undocumented immigrants entered the country illegally. Many others, however, came to the country with legal status but then overstayed, on work visas or student visas. Other immigrants are in the process of asylum applications, or were granted temporary humanitarian waivers to be in the country under the previous Biden administration.

Data reporter Maggie Lee assisted in this reporting.