MARIETTA - With the unanimous consent of the Board of Commissioners, Sheriff Neil Warren signed a new agreement on Tuesday with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to check the immigration status of everyone booked into the county jail.

The federal agency is requiring new uniform agreements with all state and local agencies that participate in the 287(g) program. The changes are nominal word rephrasing, Warren said.

"This has not changed the way we do business one bit," Warren said. "There's a little bit of language change, but as far as operational, it's not changing one thing that we've been doing since July 2007."

Warren also struck back against the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, which on Monday earlier issued a report arguing that "unchecked police power under 287(g)" is tearing apart families in Cobb. The ACLU report states: "Cobb County residents who appear to be foreign-born have been subjected to rampant racial profiling and are routinely picked up by the police for minor or nonexistent violations."

"We are not profiling," Warren said. "We have no formal complaints of profiling. If I had any idea that any of my officers or any officer of any other agency were targeting any group of people, I would deal with it both professionally and legally. I just don't see it."

Under the Vienna Convention, all foreign nationals must be identified upon coming into custody and in many instances, their embassy notified. "The use of ICE resources facilitates this identification and has the side benefit of putting ICE on notice when the individual is determined to be in the United States illegally."

Cobb Police Chief G.B. Hatfield, whose officers make most arrests in Cobb, also took exception to arguments that his officers make those arrests based on race.

"We follow Georgia law, and the law's very clear - if you get stopped for any violation, you must have a valid driver's license," Hatfield said.

"If an officer stops an individual and they cannot produce a valid driver's license, and the officer can't determine if they have a license, can't establish where they live or who they are, that officer cannot just give them a ticket and let them drive off. We have a duty to protect other motorists.

"Now, whenever I meet with any special-interest group, I tell them that if they know of any instances of bias, to bring it to my attention and let us investigate it. As of today, I've only received one complaint from a Latino group, and that's been about two years ago," Hatfield said. "It's impossible to respond to claims that we're profiling if they don't give us a chance to investigate that claim. We do not profile, and we do not tolerate profiling."

The Cobb County Sheriff's Office was the first agency in Georgia to participate in 287(g). Since July 2007, Warren's office has identified more than 6,600 inmates who were in the United States illegally.

"As I have said many times, immigration is a federal issue," Warren said. "However, when illegal aliens come into our community and commit a crime, it becomes a local issue."

Four Cobb deputies will join deputies from Gwinnett County later this month in a training program to become certified as ICE agents.