“ICE Is Already Here”: Cobb Lawmakers Warn of Federal Presence at Delegation Town Hall

Cobb County GA – As Cobb County braces for an incoming winter storm, Democratic state lawmakers told residents Thursday night that another force is already here—and it has nothing to do with the weather.

Spotlight South Cobb News Publisher Shelia Edwards was in attendance at the Cobb Legislative Delegation town hall at Jim Miller Park last week when, just as the meeting was coming to a close, she asked a question many in the room had been quietly carrying: Is ICE operating in Cobb County? The answer from lawmakers was unequivocal.

“ICE is already here,” said Rep. Solomon Adesanya, D–East Cobb. “Well, in Smyrna, yes.” Adesanya said employees in his office—whom he emphasized are not undocumented—sent him a photo earlier in the week showing ICE agents on South Cobb Drive. “I don’t support it. I hate ICE,” Adesanya said. “People say we have to abolish it, and I completely agree with that. They are terrorizing our community.”

State Rep. Terry Cummings, D–Mableton, confirmed that ICE agents have also been seen in Woodstock and Mableton. “They’ve been here for a minute,” Cummings said. “And it makes it very difficult to even reach out to people who are being impacted, because you say one wrong word to the wrong person and it gets back to ICE.” Cummings said local police often learn about ICE activity at the same time residents do. “They don’t call local police and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to be on Mableton Parkway tomorrow night,’” she said. “There’s no advance notice. But yes, they’re already in Mableton. They’re in Woodstock.” According to Cummings, ICE activity frequently happens late at night, when families are home and neighborhoods are quiet. “During the summer, folks are sitting outside with tables out, just down the street,” she said. “They can pick them up. It’s a growing problem. And my fear is that sooner or later there’s going to be a confrontation.” Cummings also suggested Georgia may be seeing less visible unrest than other states because ICE appears to be concentrating enforcement efforts in states led by Democrats. “That’s just my assessment,” she said. “But they are absolutely here.”

Many residents and lawmakers at the town hall tied national events to local fears, pointing to recent federal shootings in Minneapolis as evidence of why accountability is urgently needed. On Jan. 24, 2026, federal immigration agents fatally shot 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen who was known for his work at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. This is the second fatal shooting by federal agents in the city in recent weeks. Federal officials said the agent fired “fearing for his life and the safety of fellow officers.” But at least four eyewitness videos—verified and analyzed by NBC News—undercut key elements of that account. In competing news conferences, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino offered starkly different narratives. Walz blamed “untrained” federal agents for escalating the encounter, while Bovino accused protesters and local officials of “vilifying” agents and fueling what he called a “preventable tragedy.” The conflicting accounts, coupled with video evidence, have intensified scrutiny and reinforced concerns that federal immigration enforcement is operating with little transparency or accountability. Local leaders and civil rights advocates have questioned official accounts of the encounter and called for independent investigations, arguing that such actions reinforce fears among communities nationwide about unchecked federal power and the potential for ordinary people to become victims in enforcement operations.—calling them “absolutely unconstitutional, unlawful, and unforgivable cruelty.”

Rep. David Wilkerson, D–Powder Springs, who chairs the Cobb delegation, acknowledged the strain this places on local law enforcement and community trust. “After 2020—after Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd—there was real work done to improve relationships between law enforcement and the community,” Wilkerson said. “That trust is being destroyed.” Wilkerson also addressed the difficult political reality lawmakers face when immigration enforcement funding is embedded in the state budget alongside priorities like teacher pay raises and school safety. “We’re often forced to vote on budgets that include things we oppose to secure funding for things our communities desperately need,” he said. “That’s the hard conversation.”

Sen. Michael ‘Doc’ Rhett, D–Marietta, shared a personal story from his time working at a predominantly Hispanic school, recalling a parent who never returned after being sent to buy food for students. “Angela Davis said, ‘If they come for me in the morning and you don’t say anything, they’ll come for you at night,’” Rhett said. “How do I know who you are until I swipe you up and take you downtown?”

For many residents and lawmakers, national events—particularly recent federal shootings in Minneapolis—have intensified local concern about accountability. Community members have disputed official narratives in those cases, citing video evidence and raising alarms about unchecked federal authority during enforcement operations.

For many Black residents, masked ICE agents moving through neighborhoods without clear identification or accountability evoke painful historical parallels. Some liken the fear and intimidation to the era when hooded members of the Ku Klux Klan roamed freely, terrorizing and killing Black people without consequence—an analogy that reflects deep anxiety over federal power exercised without oversight.

Lawmakers outlined proposed legislation aimed at increasing protections, including requiring ICE agents to identify themselves, banning enforcement actions in sensitive locations such as schools, childcare centers, and shelters, and allowing individuals to sue if their civil rights are violated. For many residents in the room, the discussion underscored a growing sense of fear and uncertainty—one that feels especially close to home.

ICE, lawmakers said, is not coming. It’s already here.