ACLU to File Suit Against Georgia's Immigration Law

By Elizabeth Llorente

Published June 01, 2011

A rally against a proposed Arizona-style immigration bill Monday, April 11, 2011 outside the State Capitol in Atlanta. The bill was signed and the law is scheduled to go into effect on July 1.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia and other rights groups are preparing to file a lawsuit challenging Georgia's immigration law, which seeks to go after undocumented immigrants.

The state chapter of the ACLU said in a statement Wednesday that the groups plan to hold a news conference Thursday to discuss the suit. Georgia's law, one of the toughest on immigration at the state-level in the nation, is scheduled to go into effect on July 1.

Last week, the ACLU filed a lawsuit seeking to block enforcement of a new law in Indiana that targets undocumented immigrants.

The law enforcement provisions in Georgia's law are similar to a Utah law on immigration enacted this year and echo some parts of a law enacted last year in Arizona. All or parts of those laws have been blocked by federal judges.

The Georgia law authorizes law enforcement to check immigration status of a suspect who cannot provide an accepted form of identification. Other provisions include more stringent requirements for employers to verify the eligibility of prospective hires to work in the United States, and penalties for people who harbor or transport undocumented immigrants.


Shortly after the law passed, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said the measure had been drafted with care not to repeat some aspects of the Arizona law that had been left vulnerable to court challenges. Deal nonetheless conceded that he expected lawsuits.

“We think it’s not nearly as contentious in many of the areas that [Arizona's] statute had been challenged on," Deal was quoted as saying in published reports. "But I certainly understand that is probably going to be put to a court test.â€