Rep. Marvin Lim Issues Statement Regarding Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office’s Immigration Policies

State Representative Marvin Lim (D-Norcross) issues the following statement regarding the Gwinnett County Sherriff’s Office’s (GCSO) immigration policies.

“Out of concern for the current administration’s policies and actions on immigration, including deportations of people with lawful presence in the United States – as well as the recent implementation of HB 1105, which mandates some law enforcement cooperation with ICE detainer requests – on April 28, 2025, I sent a letter to Sheriff Taylor of the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office inquiring about related practices. The goal of the letter – as I stated several times to Sheriff Taylor and his office in the nearly two ensuing months – was to learn more about those practices, in order to work together toward policy that the public could understand.

Nearly two months later, we are not closer to that clarity and transparency regarding GCSO’s immigration policies and practices.

It is my strong belief that, even regardless of one’s beliefs as to what policies should be, making those policies clear and transparent leads to the safest outcomes, not just for immigrants but for all people. And I have been keenly aware that HB 1105 – on which I voted no and gave a House floor speech against – had provisions that were unclear. For that reason, it was important for me not to rush to judgment and public condemnation but to attempt to understand the state of GCSO’s policies. To that point, after speaking to advocates and other law enforcement alike who were willing to be more transparent – though not incorporating any lessons learned from GCSO’s experience, due to their demurring – I have also written two letters to Attorney General Chris Carr on June 11 and 13, 2025, asking for a legal opinion on a variety of critical legal questions regarding HB 1105 that hamper its just application.

At the same time, merely because the legislature drafts a bill poorly does not mean

a constitutional officer charged with ultimately implementing the law does not do their best to implement that law. Sheriff Taylor cannot abrogate his responsibility to implement HB 1150 in as clear and consistent a manner as possible. And it is quite possible he is doing exactly that – but we cannot know, because he has been insufficiently responsive, his own actions not consistent with the values of clarity and transparency that we all, not just as elected officials but as humans, should strive for.

Case in point: after I sent my first letter and then further prompting, he still did not directly respond but did instruct a deputy to provide a response to my initial set of questions. That response was provided on May 16, 2025, and included only one written policy: PO34.00, regarding ‘Suspected Illegal Foreign Nationals.’ However, that response not only failed to answer very specific questions in the initial letter but only raised further questions. On May 23, 2025, I wrote a second letter to Sheriff Taylor and the GCSO, requesting further clarification on at least 22 unanswered questions about basic standing operating procedures and policies, including several regarding clear provisions on HB 1105, such as whether GCSO had, in fact, provided interpreters within HB 1105’s requirements.

In the ensuing month, GCSO requested a call, failed to answer my attempts to schedule or make that call, punted toward later times and otherwise made attempts to dodge and evade.

All along, Sheriff Taylor never responded directly to me – until today, when I requested an immediate response in light of GCSO’s charges against Mario Guevara, apparently for traffic violations linked to Mr. Guevara’s following unmarked law enforcement vehicles on or about May 20, 2025. His response, notwithstanding at least 22 unanswered questions I posed weeks ago and their claimed desire to move the discussion on those questions to phone was ‘my position on this issue has been clearly stated and addressed.’

This response is especially disheartening because a suite of the unanswered questions I asked are very relevant to Mr. Guevara. Those questions, which have nothing to do with GCSO jail policy, regarded the statement GCSO made, in its May 16, 2025 response, that GCSO cooperates with ICE when they feel it is ‘mutually beneficial’ to do so. My questions in reply regarded what policies exist to adjudge what ‘mutually beneficial’ cooperation means – a critical question that goes far beyond law enforcement discretion in the field – and whether GCSO cooperates with ICE on enforcement of laws regarding any individual’s ‘lawful presence’ only as required by HB 1105 and no further. Had Sheriff Taylor answered my reasonable questions, these assumptions could at least be confirmed or corrected.

Sheriff Taylor has, unfortunately, forced my hand, to reveal his lack of transparency regarding GCSO’s immigration-related policies – something that can no longer reasonably be seen as unintentional, but a deliberate decision on his part. I am an immigrant representing a large immigrant community, but at the end of the day, as I have also repeatedly stated, clarity and transparency makes everyone safer. And merely because Sheriff Taylor ended 287(g) in Gwinnett, though significant, does not abrogate his responsibility to have clear and transparent policies – especially when his practices look like 287(g) in all but name. Our Fourth, Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments demand it.”

*Editor’s note: Rep. Lim’s letters to Sherriff Keybo Taylor, GCSO’s responses and letters to Attorney General Carr are attached.