Thread: GA: Deal on course with immigration promise

Deal on course with immigration promise

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 8, 2011
By Eric Stirgus

Campaign promise: Create an Arizona-style immigration law.

Gov. Nathan Deal spoke often during last year's campaign about severely cracking down on illegal immigration if he was elected.

In recent weeks, Republicans in both chambers of the Georgia Legislature have crafted bills aimed at capturing more of the estimated 425,000 illegal immigrants living in the state.

Although Georgia is the nation's ninth-highest-populated state, one group estimated this month that the Peach State has the seventh-largest number of illegal immigrants.

House Bill 87 and Senate Bill 40 both have some elements of Arizona's hotly debated Senate Bill 1070, such as a proposal that will allow law enforcement to arrest someone with "probable cause" that the person may be an illegal immigrant.

A federal judge in Arizona struck down that element of that state's law last year. Some Georgia lawmakers raised questions during a hearing last week about whether some sections of HB 87, such as the probable cause provision, could withstand a legal challenge.

The Georgia bills also contain provisions that would impose fines and propose jail time for individuals who help illegal immigrants get into the state. They also include a measure that would require employers to check the citizenship status of their workers.

Deal's press secretary, Stephanie Mayfield, told us in an e-mail that the governor "remains 100 percent committed to signing legislation that allows local governments to work with federal authorities and that will protect Georgia taxpayers and enforce the rule of law."

And for these specific bills, Mayfield added: "We're talking about bills that are likely to change throughout the legislative session. Stay tuned."

We will. Because of Deal's interest in passing tougher illegal immigration legislation and the strong interest in the bills being proposed, we are curious to see the progress of this effort and rate this as a promise In The Works.

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/En ... 45&start=1

Related but not Duplicated:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-227411.html