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VERIFY: Are there sanctuary cities in Georgia?

The Trump administration advocates stricter enforcement of immigration laws, but some communities are becoming sanctuaries.

Immigration policy is an issue you've probably heard about before.

The Trump administration advocates stricter enforcement of immigration laws, but some communities are becoming sanctuaries.

"Sanctuary cities and sanctuary communities refuse to report immigration violations on the grounds of simply getting an ICE warrant," said Mercer University Professor Chris Grant.

He said in many sanctuary communities, local law enforcement will not act on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement order to detain someone on an immigration offense unless a judge has signed a warrant for it.

But does Georgia have any sanctuary cities?

After the state's General Assembly passed legislation in 2009, Grant says "sanctuary cities aren't legal in Georgia."

But the national think-tank Center for Immigration Studies says Clayton and DeKalb counties are sanctuary communities.

So we can verify that there are some sanctuary counties in Georgia, but if the state legislature outlawed sanctuary cities, how can that be?

Grant says, "The counties seem to get around it by being counties and not being cities because the law technically is formed for cities, not for counties."

So even though there aren't any sanctuary cities in Georgia, we can verify that there are sanctuary communities in DeKalb and Clayton counties.

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