Thread: Georgia lawmakers pass illegal immigration crackdown

Georgia lawmakers pass illegal immigration crackdown

By Jeremy Redmon

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Complaining the federal government has failed to secure the nation’s borders, Georgia’s Legislature followed Arizona’s lead Thursday and approved an aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration.

The nation is watching Georgia, which is making the leap into a legal thicket Arizona jumped into last year.

Like Arizona’s laws -- which are fighting for survival in federal court -- House Bill 87 creates new requirements for many Georgia businesses to ensure new hires are eligible to work in the United States and empowers police to investigate the immigration status of certain suspects.

Some business owners worry the crackdown will harm the state’s agricultural, landscaping and restaurant industries, which partly depend on migrant labor. But proponents of tougher immigration laws have long complained illegal immigrants are burdening the state’s public schools, jails and hospitals.

“It’s a great day for Georgia,â€

Georgia lawmakers pass Arizona-style immigration law
By Gustavo Valdes
April 15, 2011 4:02 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Georgia Legislature passes Arizona-style immigration bill
* Bill awaits governor's signature
* ACLU threatens to sue, other groups plan boycotts


(CNN) -- Unmoved by threats of boycotts and lawsuits, the Georgia Legislature on Thursday joined Arizona in passing what may be one of the nation's toughest anti-immigration laws.

The Republican-dominated state House and Senate passed House Bill 87 during the final hours of the 2011 Georgia General Assembly. The bill must be signed by Georgia GOP Gov. Nathan Deal before it can become law.

The bill, among other things, allows law enforcement officers to question suspects in certain criminal investigations about their immigration status. It punishes people who transport illegal immigrants during the commission of a crime and imposes hefty prison sentences on those who use fake documents to get jobs.

Deal has not committed to signing the bill, however he promised to support this kind of legislation when he campaigned for governor last year.

After the vote, the bill's author, Republican state Rep. Matt Ramsey, declared, "we have done the job that we were sent to do."

Ramsey said the bill addresses issues forced on the states because of the federal government's decades-long failure to secure the nation's borders.

The bill passed both chambers after lengthy debate. Opponents argued that the bill could encourage racial profiling and discrimination. They also said the measure, if enacted, could hurt the image and the economy of the state.

Supporters blamed illegal immigrants for overcrowding Georgia's schools and forcing taxpayers to shoulder the burden of paying for emergency room medical care for undocumented residents.

"People come here, legally or illegally, to fulfill the dreams that they have for themselves and their families," said state Sen. Vincent Fort, an Atlanta Democrat and an opponent of the bill.

State Sen. Renee Unterman, a suburban Atlanta Republican who supported the legislation, countered, "they are illegals, they are going to use our services."

In the end, neither chamber's vote was close. The state Senate passed the measure by 37 to 19. The Georgia House, which provided final passage for the bill, approved it in a 112 to 59 vote.

The Thursday vote marks the second time in five years that Georgia lawmakers passed an anti-illegal immigration bill heralded as was one of the toughest in the nation. In 2006, the state Legislature passed a bill, later signed into law, requiring government contractors and public employers to run the names of people they hire through a federal database to determine if they are legal residents of the United States.

House Bill 87 requires private businesses with more than 10 employees to use the same database also. The system is called E-Verify. The legislation enables state and local law enforcement officers to arrest illegal immigrants. It also imposes prison sentences of up to 1 year and fines of up to $1,000 for people who knowingly transport illegal immigrants during the commission of a crime.

Workers convicted of using fake identifications could be sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $250,000.

The business community, including the influential agricultural lobby, strongly opposed the E-Verify provision. In a last-day compromise, however, House and Senate lawmakers added language to the bill exempting businesses that employ fewer than 11 workers from having to use the federal database.

Republican state Sen. John Bulloch, who chairs the chamber's Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, said, "in the end, I still don't like it but it's a good bill."

D.A. King, an anti-illegal immigration activist and longtime lobbyist for tougher laws, called the measure "one of the most well thought-out, potentially effective, immigration enforcement bills in the country."

"On the state level, this will set new bar," King said.

Protesters held a candlelight vigil outside the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta Thursday night. At the gathering, seven-year-old Jazlie Camacho, told the crowd, "I am here to make sure they take this law away."

Jazlie is an American-born citizen, but her parents are from Mexico.

Paulina Hernandez, a member of a group called Southerners on New Ground, said her organization will call for a boycott against the state.

"We are not willing to tell the nation that Georgia is a state worth investing in because they don't have the best interests of their people in mind."

Several legal and activist groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, are already planning lawsuits in an attempt to block implementation of the measure. They hope the courts will agree with them.

In Arizona last year, a federal judge halted implementation of that state's anti-immigration law after the Obama administration filed suit. The president's lawyers argued that the federal government, and not the state, has the sole authority to regulate immigration.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/15/ ... eref=ib_us

Ga. lawmakers OK Immigration Reform

ATLANTA (AP) - An immigration bill that contains some parts similar to a law enacted in Arizona is heading to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's desk.

Both chambers of the Georgia General Assembly passed the bill Thursday, the final day of the legislative session. Deal supported tough immigration measures in Congress, but a spokesman declined to say whether the governor would sign the bill.

The bill would authorize law enforcement officers to verify the immigration status of certain criminal suspects and allows them to detain those found to be in the country illegally. It would also penalize people who "knowingly and intentionally" transport or harbor illegal immigrants.

It also would require employers with 10 or more employees to use a federal database called E-Verify to check the immigration status of new hires.


http://www.11alive.com/news/article/187 ... ta-schools

Groups to Fight Anti-Immigration Bill
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-234838.html

Some predict Georgia's bill will suffer the same fate as Arizona’s law . A federal judge put some of the most controversial provisions in Arizona’s law on hold last year after the Obama administration argued they are preempted by federal law.

This seems to depend on who appointed the judge to their lifetime postion. If it is a Clinton or Carter appointed judge, maybe. But the appeals court will not be the 9th Circus.

"The legislation, for example, now exempts businesses with 10 or fewer employees from the requirement to use E-Verify. "


This is the problem
These are the biggest offenders , the small businesses

Why even bother if they are going to water it down to appease the illegals and their supporters

Did you see the protesters last night at the GA capitol? Their arrogants makes me sick! They are disgusting!

RELATED

******Georgia passes immigration bill similar to Arizona's***


Police would be given the power to check the immigration status of 'criminal' suspects and many businesses would be required to do the same with potential hires.


Opponents of the bill protest outside the Capitol in Atlanta. Immigrant advocates threatened a state boycott if the bill becomes law, and Georgia's powerful agricultural industry warned of a field worker shortage. (David Goldman / Associated Press / April 14, 2011)

By Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times

April 14, 2011, 10:13 p.m.
Reporting from Atlanta—
Following Arizona's lead, the Georgia Legislature on Thursday passed a strict measure that would empower police to check the immigration status of "criminal" suspects and force many businesses to do the same with potential employees.

The bill passed in the waning hours of the legislative session despite critics' outcries. Immigrant advocates threatened a state boycott if it became law, and Georgia's powerful agricultural industry warned, among other things, that federal guest worker programs alone could not provide enough laborers to meet farmers' needs.

Now the measure heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, who campaigned last year on the promise of implementing an Arizona-style law in a state with, according to one 2009 estimate, 480,000 illegal immigrants — about 20,000 more than Arizona.

Since his election, however, Deal has warned that immigration laws should not place an "undue burden" on employers, raising concerns among foes of illegal immigration that he was wobbling.

A Deal spokesman declined to comment late Thursday on the governor's plans for the bill.

Whether or not it is enacted, Georgia's legislation underscores the increasingly disparate strategies that states are invoking in lieu of a comprehensive federal plan to deal with illegal immigration.

On Monday, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge's order striking down parts of the controversial Arizona law, known as SB 1070, which was signed by Gov. Jan Brewer last year. Among the rejected sections was a provision requiring police to check the immigration status of people they lawfully stop whom they also suspect to be illegal immigrants.

Some states, including Florida, are considering significant immigration bills, but others, including Nebraska and Colorado, have rejected such bills recently. Utah passed immigration-control legislation last month but softened its effects by also passing a law that creates "guest worker" ID cards for undocumented immigrants.

And just this week, Maryland's General Assembly passed a bill that would grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants (as California does). Maryland's governor was expected to sign it. Georgia is one of several states that denies in-state tuition to illegal immigrant residents.

In a provision with rough similarities to the most contentious part of the Arizona law, the Georgia bill gives police the authority to check a suspect's immigration status if the suspect is unable to produce a valid ID and if the officer has probable cause to believe the suspect has committed a "criminal offense." If the person is verified as an illegal immigrant, police can detain that person or notify federal authorities.

Charles Kuck, a prominent Atlanta immigration attorney, said the way the bill is written, "criminal offenses" could be as minor as traffic violations.

Kuck, a Republican and outspoken critic of the legislation, said there was some question as to whether this provision gave police any more power than they already have. But the bigger problem, he said, was with "the message that it sends — this bill says, 'Immigrants, do not come to Georgia.... You're gonna have to show us your papers when you come.' "

He scoffed at another section prohibiting police from considering "race, color or national origin" when enforcing the bill.

"Let me ask you a question," Kuck said. "Do you think any white people are going be taken in for an immigration background check if they forgot their wallet at home?"

Among other things, the bill outlaws the use of fake IDs to secure employment and the transporting or harboring of illegal immigrants while knowingly committing another crime.

The biggest sticking point proved to be the provision that all but the smallest companies use the federal system called E-Verify to check the immigration status of new hires.

Critics from the farm lobby said E-Verify was not totally accurate, and put employers at risk of lawsuits if they erroneously denied a legal resident a job. The bill's supporters characterized that as overblown rhetoric from an industry addicted to cheap labor.

An earlier Arizona law, passed in 2007, requires all employers to use E-Verify and dissolves businesses that repeatedly hire illegal immigrants. That law, too, has been challenged on grounds that it usurps federal authority. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in December.

If Georgia's bill becomes law, it too is likely to wind up in court. But Peter Spiro, a Temple University law professor, said its fate may hinge on whether Arizona's laws pass constitutional muster.

But for the time being, fans of the Georgia bill were heartened by their achievement Thursday.

"We're a law-abiding state," said state Sen. Earl "Buddy" Carter, a Republican from Pooler. "And we want people to abide by the laws."

richard.fausset@latimes.com


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 0355.story

Originally Posted by Justthefacts

"The legislation, for example, now exempts businesses with 10 or fewer employees from the requirement to use E-Verify. "


This is the problem
These are the biggest offenders , the small businesses

Why even bother if they are going to water it down to appease the illegals and their supporters

This is why we have to continue to report the small businesses that hire them.

added to the homepage and going out to the nation now.

http://www.alipac.us/article6232.html

W