Mayor Bottoms defends order prohibiting jail from accepting ICE detainees

ATLANTA - Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has signed an executive order prohibiting Atlanta's City Detention Center from accepting any new ICE detainees.

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In a statement released Wednesday, Bottoms said that she was "watching the impact of President Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy on children and families."

The City of Atlanta has an agreement with the U.S. Marshall's Office to house detainees arrested by ICE in the jail.

"As we work as a nation to end this despicable immigration policy, the City of Atlanta will not take the risk of being complicit in the separation of families at the border," Bottoms said. "Thus, I have signed an Executive Order that prohibits the City jail from accepting any new ICE detainees."

Previously, Bottoms had shared a tweet by former Attorney General Eric Holder that said the division of families "brought shame to our nation." Today, she called the act "inhumane" in her statement.

Bottoms called for the Trump Administration and Congress to "enact humane and comprehensive measures that address our broken immigration system. Slightly after the release was distributed, Trump signed an executive order which would end the process of separating children from families after they are detained crossing the U.S. border illegally.

You can read the entire statement below: