Bill would make a felony of DUIs for undocumented aliens
by Walter C. Jones, Morris News Service Calhoun Times
Mar 04, 2011

As the House was passing sweeping immigration legislation Thursday, a freshman senator was quietly moving a separate bill that would make it a felony for undocumented aliens to drive drunk.

Sen. William Ligon, R-Brunswick, introduced Sen. Bill 162 based on his experience as a municipal-court judge in Brunswick. Half of those convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol were undocumented aliens, he said Thursday.

His bill won't fill up all of Georgia's prisons with alien drunk drivers, though, because the goal is to get them deported. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service takes charge of undocumented immigrants jailed by local law enforcement officers for deportation, but due to lack of manpower and money focuses on those arrested for the worst crimes.

"It became clear that the INS will pay attention more if the offense is a felony," he said.

Ligon said he wasn't familiar with other instances in which the state elevated an offense to a felony because the accused is in the country without proper paperwork. However, anyone convicted of a fourth DUI is already charged with a felony.

Larry Pellegrini, executive director of the immigrant-rights group Georgia Rural Urban Summit, called Ligon's proposal part of conservatives' strategy to make living in the state risky for immigrants.

"If they chip away at the edges, people will leave," he said.

SB 162 is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee. It would have to pass there and then the Rules Committee before coming to the full Senate for a vote.

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