Senate alters, OKs immigration crackdown bill
By Jeremy Redmon
April 11, 2011

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia’s Senate on Monday approved an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration amid threats of economic boycotts and petitions from thousands of critics who oppose the legislation.

By a vote of 39 to 17, the Senate approved House Bill 87 after nearly three hours of debate and a lengthy and sometimes confusing discussion about several amendments.

Among other things, the Senate eliminated a provision in the bill that would have required many private businesses to use a federal work authorization program called E-Verify. That program helps businesses confirm their newly hired employees are eligible to work in the United States.

The bill now moves one step closer to Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk for his signature, but the process is far from over. Because the Senate substantially amended the bill, it must now go back to the House, which has been pushing for a tougher crackdown to include the E-Verify requirement for private businesses.

Some lawmakers predicted Monday the House would not agree to the Senate changes and would instead offer its own amendments or seek to appoint a committee to hash out differences between the two chambers.

"We will try to work things out and get things perfected in the conference committee," Republican Sen. Jack Murphy of Cumming, the sponsor of a similar immigration enforcement bill, said through a spokesman after the Senate vote Monday.

Time is running out. Thursday is the deadline for bills to pass this year’s legislative session. And while Deal campaigned last year on curbing illegal immigration in Georgia, he has not yet taken a position on HB 87.

That bill is partly patterned after a tough new law Arizona enacted last year. The Obama administration successfully sued to block key provisions of Arizona’s legislation, arguing those parts are pre-empted by federal law. On Monday, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision to keep much of that law on hold pending the outcome of the federal lawsuit.

In Georgia, critics warned Monday the Senate should put the brakes on its immigration legislation, given the federal appeals court’s decision.

“There is no reason for us to be forging ahead on this to be simply the second state to go forward and spend millions of dollars litigating this issue,â€