The mayor of Athens, Georgia, was skewered Thursday by Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) for standing by sanctuary city policies in the wake of Laken Riley being murdered at the University of Georgia—a crime allegedly carried out by an undocumented immigrant.
Collins said he made a records request for emails sent by Mayor Kelly Girtz, which uncovered a correspondence between him and Clarke County Sheriff John Williams—a chain of emails he alleged showed that they were more concerned about saving face than changing policy.
“A shocking email exchange reveals troubling priorities of Athens Mayor and Clarke County Sheriff only two days after Laken Riley’s murder,” wrote Collins to start a five-tweet thread to X.
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Specifically, Collins took issue with the officials showing concern over how they’d address residents instead of rushing to alter city and county policy regarding migrants. He appeared to be especially peeved that Girtz, while defending the city’s then-stance of endorsing non-cooperation policies with ICE, pointed out that undocumented immigrants are 60 percent less likely to be incarcerated than American-born citizens—data backed by Stanford research.
“While the community is experiencing deep trauma right now, and emotions are understandably raw, I support the detainer policy as one that is both humane and following the well-documented propensity of immigrants in the U.S. to be less criminally inclined than the native-born population,” wrote the mayor to Williams on Feb. 24—two days after Riley, 22, was killed while going for a jog on campus.
That policy will likely soon be moot in Georgia, however, as state lawmakers passed a law last week that requires law enforcement statewide to scrutinize the immigration status of people in their custody. If someone is found to be undocumented, local sheriffs will be legally required to cooperate with ICE in each instance. Gov. Brian Kemp is yet to sign the bill into law, but is expected to do so.
Republicans in Georgia have pushed hard for harsher penalties for undocumented immigrants who commit crimes on U.S. soil in the aftermath of Riley’s death. Some, like Collins, have claimed that increased cooperation with ICE could have prevented Riley’s slaying—namely because her alleged killer, José Antonio Ibarra, was arrested for shoplifting in Athens just months before she was killed.
Collins has long been staunchly anti-immigrant and been among the most outspoken lawmakers in the aftermath of Riley’s slaying. He even offered her parents a seat with him at Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, which they turned down, and authored a bill titled the “Laken Riley Act.”
Most of Collins’ outrage was initially directed at Joe Biden and Democrats, which he blamed for having a weak southern border that allowed for Ibarra to enter the country in the first place. Now, he’s taking aim at Girtz and Williams for not being as upset as him in private conversations.
“Instead of prioritizing solutions to prevent tragedies like this in the future, Mayor Girtz treats Laken Riley’s murder as a PR drill to be managed with ‘comfort and unity’ rather than enforcing the law,” Collins posted to X.
In calling out Williams specifically, Collins alleged he seemed to “care more about the PR than anything else”—all because he sent an email to Girtz seeking clarity on Athens’ city policy so he could “protect the integrity and professionalism of the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office and myself.”
In closing his thread, Collins called for new leadership in Athens.
“The blatant disregard of law and order by public officials is highly concerning,” he said. “It reveals the need for accountability and new leadership that will prioritize public safety. Laken’s death was preventable, but nothing will change with leaders like these.”
