Cobb to Enter Immigration Agreement

The are set to enter an agreement with federal officials tonight to help ensure all county employees are in the country legally and are eligible to work.

Cobb is the first municipality in the state to use the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Mutual Agreement, or IMAGE program. Commissioner Bob Ott, who pushed for the program, said he hopes the county can be a leader for others.

The county has used the federal E-Verify program to check on worker status since 2006, but Ott said the IMAGE program will go a step further.

Though it will initially be used only with county employees, Ott told the Marietta Daily Journal that he hopes that in the future it will be used to prevent situations like the one during the construction of the new courthouse where a sub-contractor was hiring illegal immigrants.

The meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at 100 Cherokee St., will start with a vote and then a signing ceremony with ICE officials.