WASHINGTON — Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) called Thursday for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to surge resources to Atlanta “to protect citizens against record levels of illegal immigrants” — some of whom have committed violent and heinous crimes.
Carter, who is running for US Senate in Georgia, praised Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE acting director Todd Lyons for the Trump administration’s success in securing the southern border — but said that “significant work remains” in deporting migrants in the Peach State, according to a letter exclusively obtained by The Post.
Nearly 500,000 migrants who illegally entered the US are residing in the Peach State, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“That represents a 45% increase since 2018 in the number of people in Georgia living in open defiance of the law,” the Georgia Republican wrote in his letter. “Every single person who is here illegally has broken the law and must be treated accordingly; anything less invites a culture of not just mass illegal immigration, but mass crime.”
Carter cited the Peach State arrest of one “criminal illegal alien from Mexico,” Salvador Rodriguez-Mendoza, with a currently active arrest warrant for murder and aggravated assault charges with a deadly weapon in Clayton County.
Rodriguez-Mendoza had a “lengthy rap sheet” with “multiple drunk driving offenses, drug possession, driving without a license, and driving on suspended license,” an Oct. 30 press release from the Department of Homeland Security stated.
The criminal migrant had also been kicked out of the country twice before — in 2000 and 2018 — but somehow re-entered the US for a third time at an unknown time and location.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the “heinous criminal” would no longer pose “a threat to Americans.”
ICE lodged an arrest detainer against Rodriguez-Mendoza last month, which will take effect after the conclusion of his criminal case in Georgia.
Carter also pointed to the horrific murder of a mother of five children by “a criminal illegal alien from Honduras” earlier this year.
“Without the increased assistance of federal agents with local law enforcement, more of these criminals will be emboldened to commit crimes and will never face justice,” the congressman told Noem and Lyons.
“Residents are clamoring for additional federal support, which would greatly assist state and local partners in maintaining public safety and ensuring that immigration laws are properly upheld.”
ICE has already carried out operations in large cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, Ore., in an effort to deport as many as 2 million illegal migrants nationwide before the end of 2025.
Much of those operations have focused on apprehending and removing criminal migrants.
As many as 8 million migrants came into the country during former President Joe Biden’s term, through a patchwork of permissive “humanitarian parole” and refugee programs as well as unlawful crossings of the US border.
The murder of nursing student Laken Riley on the campus of the University of Georgia by an illegal migrant was one of many cases last year that sparked backlash against the Biden administration and galvanized voters in the 2024 election concerned about the 46th president’s lax immigration policies.
Carter is locked in a tense three-way GOP primary race against Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) and former football coach Derek Dooley to take on Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff in 2026. Collins is leading the pack with more than 28.3% support, followed by Carter at 18.7% and Dooley at 12%, according to the RealClearPolitics polling aggregator.
Reps for DHS and ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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