Thread: GA: Legislation seeks to curb illegal immigrants in Ga.

Legislation seeks to curb illegal immigrants in Ga.;
Governor wants to avoid legal fight over verifying people's citizenship.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 27, 2011
By Jeremy Redmon

Georgia will almost certainly be forced to defend itself in court if it enacts an Arizona-style bill a Republican lawmaker filed Wednesday to curb illegal immigration here, legal experts predicted.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Gov. Nathan Deal indicated that while the governor campaigned on bringing an Arizona-type law to Georgia, he also wants to avoid a court battle.

Deal will strongly support expanding an existing federal immigration enforcement program called 287(g) in Georgia, his spokesman said.

On Wednesday, Charles Kuck, an Atlanta-area immigration attorney and past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said Rep. Matt Ramsey's bill is unconstitutional.

Kuck said the federal government would probably sue to block it if it becomes law.

"Absolutely, there will be a court challenge on that language," Kuck said. "This is no less unconstitutional than the Arizona statute."

Ramsey, of Peachtree City, said he was aware of the legal concerns surrounding the issue and that his bill has been carefully crafted so it would apply only to "criminal suspects" stopped by police.

"I feel very confident in what we have drafted, based on my own view of the law and the state and U.S. Constitution," said Ramsey, co-chairman of a special legislative study committee on immigration.

Similar to Arizona's controversial new law, Ramsey's bill will require state and local law enforcement officers to investigate the immigration status of certain people they reasonably suspect of being in the country illegally.

It also will authorize police to arrest them if they are in the country illegally and transport them to a federal jail.

The Obama administration has argued that Arizona's law is unconstitutional and would burden law enforcement agencies, diverting their attention from the most violent illegal immigrants.

The federal government successfully sued to halt key parts of Arizona's law, including the requirement that police check the immigration status of suspects. Arizona is appealing that decision.

Nine other states are considering similar Arizona-style legislation, including Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security --- which is responsible for detaining and deporting illegal immigrants --- declined to comment on Ramsey's bill.

But he said the federal agency does not believe that "a piecemeal approach to reforming our immigration laws makes them more effective."

Paul Bender, who teaches constitutional law at Arizona State University, said parts of Ramsey's legislation could be vulnerable to legal challenges.

"Anything in state law that seems to say state officials are going to on their own enforce federal immigration law --- interpret and then enforce it --- I think there is a strong argument that it is pre-empted" by federal law, said Bender, who has studied the legal battle between Arizona and the federal government.

On Wednesday, Deal's spokesman declined to comment specifically on Ramsey's bill, saying it was early in the legislative session. But he said the governor supports a federal program called 287(g). It empowers local officials to investigate the immigration status of people arrested and jailed for other crimes. The program is up and running in four Georgia counties and Georgia's Department of Public Safety.

"He would like to see us move to something that resembles a statewide 287(g) program," Deal spokesman Brian Robinson said. "It is already federal law. Let's go with what we know works ... and that we know will keep the state out of court."

Ramsey's bill seeks to provide incentives for state and local police to apply to participate in federal immigration enforcement programs, including 287(g). His legislation also would require private businesses with more than five employees to use a federal program called E-Verify, which seeks to verify that newly hired employees are eligible to work in the United States. A coalition of businesses and immigrant rights groups is suing to stop a similar law in Arizona that requires all businesses to use E-Verify, arguing that it is unconstitutional.

State Sen. Jack Murphy, R-Cumming, the other co-chairman of Georgia's immigration study committee, indicated in an op-ed released Wednesday that he will file legislation this week that will include several provisions similar to ones in Ramsey's bill.

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