Since new Georgia law went into effect on July 1, Cobb County has started deportation proceedings against 42 illegal immigrants.

From the AJC:

Maria Rivera sits in the Cobb County Jail, facing deportation after a traffic stop.

If the Mableton mother of three, who is here illegally from Mexico, had been pulled over in any other county in Georgia, she likely would have bailed out and gone on with her life.

But Cobb County's jail is at the forefront of local enforcement of immigration laws, going a step further than many states and further than a new Georgia law requires.

Cobb has trained some sheriff's deputies to determine the legal status of all foreign born inmates at the jail, no matter how minor the charge. Cobb jailers now can start deportation proceedings under what's known as a "287-G" agreement with federal immigration authorities.

In Cobb, jailers have been trained by federal immigration officials on how to inspect immigration documents.

"They can initiate the removal proceedings themselves," said Richard Rocha, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement, known as ICE. "Any time we can share resources with local law enforcement, it's a plus for public safety," Rocha said.

Rivera was flagged because she had been deported before, in March 2006, after crossing the Mexican border illegally, Rocha said.
_______________

According to the Savannah Morning News:

The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, which took effect July 1, requires law enforcement officers to investigate the citizenship status of anyone jailed for a felony crime or driving under the influence. It also directs Georgia's Department of Public Safety to select and train Georgia state patrol officers to enforce federal immigration law while carrying out regular duties.