Georgia Immigration Arrests Reveal Troubling Trend of Pretextual Stops and Federal Overreach
A controversial operation in Colquitt County, Georgia, raises serious questions about the collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration agencies, and whether due process is being bypassed in the pursuit of deportation.
On a muggy evening in mid-May, Lorenzo Sarabia Morales was driving home with his co-worker from a 12-hour shift at a poultry farm when the lights of a Georgia State Patrol car flashed behind him. Sarabia and his co-worker, Abraham Mendez Luna, were both concerned about recent rumors of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in Moultrie, an agricultural town in southwest Georgia’s Colquitt County. But as they pulled over, they didn’t sense immediate danger – these appeared to be police officers, not federal agents, and Sarabia hadn’t been speeding.
What the men didn’t know was that they were about to be caught in a wave of immigration enforcement that, according to reports, was both targeted and imprecise. At the time, the Trump administration asserted it was focused on violent criminals posing serious threats. Sarabia and Mendez, both without criminal records, were shocked when they were arrested and transferred to Stewart Detention Center, a privately owned facility with a history of allegations of abuse and neglect.
The Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office initially presented the arrests as a successful collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Georgia State Police, framing the operation as focused on serving warrants for 11 individuals accused of crimes against children. However, an investigation by The Intercept revealed a significant discrepancy between the Sheriff’s Office’s public narrative and the actual events. Rather than executing existing warrants, local authorities reportedly conducted traffic stops, arrested individuals without valid licenses, and then provided detainee information to DHS. Warrants, according to the investigation, were then issued after the men were already in custody.
“The 13 detainers issued by DHS were received after the subjects were taken into custody,” stated Ronald Jordan, a lieutenant at the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office.
Georgia State Patrol and DHS did not respond to requests for comment.
According to Meredyth Yoon, an attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice–Atlanta investigating the May 12 operation, the arrests appeared arbitrary. “The people we’ve spoken with so far were randomly pulled over or profiled and just arrested on the spot, either for not having a driver’s license or for no charge at all,” Yoon said. “That’s not a targeted operation based on people having outstanding warrants.”
The operation encountered a setback when information about the presence of DHS personnel began circulating on social media, forcing DHS to temporarily halt the operation. The Sheriff’s Office then shifted to a “concentrated patrol” throughout Colquitt County, resulting in arrests on charges ranging from child molestation to methamphetamine possession. However, Sarabia and Mendez, along with at least three other men transferred to ICE custody, were not among those facing such charges, Yoon confirmed.
Jordan stated that only one person on the original target list was ultimately detained during the operation.
The May 12 operation was shrouded in secrecy. Yoon’s attempts to obtain incident reports from the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office were unsuccessful; a records clerk reportedly stated that no reports were filed for cases involving ICE.
Sarabia and Mendez’s arrest, Yoon explained, exhibited characteristics of a pretextual traffic stop. State troopers reportedly offered multiple reasons for pulling the vehicle over – swerving, cellphone use, and a missing seatbelt – all of which Sarabia denies. He was ultimately arrested for driving without a license and failure to maintain lane. Despite lacking criminal warrants, both men were detained at the Colquitt County Jail.
“At the briefing before the operation, all deputies and troopers were informed that any traffic stop made as part of the operation would have to [be] based upon probable cause,” Jordan wrote in an email. “Abrahama Mendez-Luna [sic] had no criminal charges which make be [sic] believe he was a passenger in the vehicle.”
Sarabia’s family posted a $900 bond, but he was instead placed on an ICE hold. Attorneys from the National Immigration Project sent a letter to the local sheriff, arguing that holding an individual for DHS without a detainer or criminal charge was unlawful. By the time Sheriff Rod Howell received the letter, Sarabia and Mendez were already en route to Stewart Detention Center.
In the days following the arrests, videos circulated on social media showing other farmworkers being arrested on their way home from work in Moultrie. The United Farm Workers (UFW) Foundation raised concerns about Sarabia’s arrest, noting his prominent role in advocating for farmworker rights, including speaking out against extreme heat conditions on Georgia farms.
“We’ve had other leaders that have been vocal in the past, but none like Lorenzo. Lorenzo has been our most known and visible leader so far,” said Alma Salazar Young, Georgia state director at the UFW Foundation. “I wouldn’t put it past them to target labor leaders, and especially with Lorenzo being front and center of a campaign for heat regulations.”
Young pointed to similar immigration enforcement actions targeting farmworkers and UFW leaders, such as Border Patrol raids in California’s Central Valley in January, which sparked a Fourth Amendment lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In May, The Intercept reported that ICE arrested 14 farmworkers in western New York, many of whom were involved in UFW organizing efforts.
“We’ve seen a sharp increase this year in immigration enforcement operations that have targeted immigrant workers, especially in rural areas,” said Zenaida Huerta, government affairs coordinator at the UFW Foundation. While a recent shift in public opinion – with less than a quarter of Americans supporting the deportation of immigrants without criminal records – prompted Trump to vow to halt “dragnet roundups” of farmworkers on June 12, that promise came too late for Abraham Mendez Luna.
At an immigration court hearing on June 25, Mendez requested voluntary departure to Mexico to reunite with his family, hoping this would allow him to return to the U.S. in the future. Sarabia, a husband and father of two, is currently fighting his deportation, with his next hearing scheduled for August 19 to allow him time to secure legal representation.
“Even though he’s not a citizen of the U.S., I do consider him to be a model citizen,” said Young. “He works hard, takes care of his family, and we think he has a pretty good chance of winning his case. But we don’t really know.”
The events in Colquitt County highlight the risks associated with deputizing state and local police to enforce immigration laws, legal advocates argue. The 287(g) program, which empowers local law enforcement to carry out immigration operations, has expanded under the Trump administration and is particularly prevalent in Georgia. Critics warn that the program lacks adequate oversight, making it susceptible to abuse.
Following a 2023 incident in Athens, Georgia, where an undocumented immigrant was accused of killing 22-year-old Laken Riley, Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed a law requiring local police departments to enter into agreements with DHS, including through the 287(g) program. The Georgia Department of Corrections has participated in the program’s Jail Enforcement Model since 2020, and in March, Kemp expanded the collaboration to the Department of Public Safety under the Task Force Model, allowing Georgia State Patrol officers to act as “force multipliers” for ICE.
While the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office does not have a direct 287(g) agreement with DHS, it operates in accordance with state and federal law, according to Jordan.
As these agreements proliferate, arrests of undocumented immigrants have surged. “Being undocumented in the U.S doesn’t make you a criminal. It’s a civil violation. It’s no different than getting a traffic ticket,” said Tracy Gonzalez, Georgia state director of American Families United.
Colquitt County, a major agricultural region with an estimated 40,000 farmworkers, presents an easy target for ICE raids. “From California to Georgia, local police departments are increasingly coordinating with DHS and ICE and funneling people into detention through everyday traffic stops or license checkpoints,” said Huerta. “What we see in this case mirrors what we’re seeing across the country, where farmworkers are being caught in the crosshairs of a system that offers them no protection, no matter how essential they are.”
