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Local Hispanics fear state legislation


Attorneys from the Hernan Taylor & Lee law firm answer legal questions Friday at Oasis Católico Santa Rafaela, a Catholic mission off U.S. Highway 29. The law firm has offices in Roswell and Canton as well as in Mexico.


By Joe Johnson | joe.johnson@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 12:31 AM on Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Rosa came to the United States illegally, but her two young children are American citizens because they were born here.

Still she's afraid if they get sick, the whole family could get sent back to Mexico.

"I am very afraid," the 31-year-old woman said. "If I have to bring my children to the hospital, I am afraid I could be deported, and if one parent is deported, the family is going to be destroyed."

Rosa's not alone in her fears - and confusion - about pending new immigration laws in Georgia and others being debated in Washington.

She was one of the more than 100 area migrants who showed up for an informational session at a predominantly Mexican trailer park in northern Clarke County Friday evening to hear Spanish-speaking attorneys explain the new laws and help them prepare for possible U.S. citizenship.

The event was sponsored by Oasis Catolico Santa Rafaela, a Catholic mission based in the Pinewoods Estates North trailer park off U.S. Highway 29 North.

"This is a beginning; it's education about the situation," said Sister Margarita Martin, one of the mission's nuns.

"Any information the people can get is important, because there is so much misinformation out there in the media."

All tables in the picnic area of the mission were filled during the open-air forum, which was ringed by men still in their work clothes and women holding children or with baby carriages.

Rosa's concerns are typical of migrants living in Georgia since Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act on April 17. The new law, which takes effect July 1, 2007, will deny some social services to migrants, require jails to determine the immigration status of certain inmates and calls for a "memorandum of understanding" with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to give immigration enforcement powers to local police.

"I am very afraid right now," said Maria, a 27-year-old with a 3-year-old son who said she feels like a prisoner in her own home.

"What if there is a roadblock and they find out we don't have papers, and they deport us?" Maria said. "Right now, life is very difficult because all I do is stay at home because I am afraid. I feel like I am locked up."

Maria and Rosa said they felt somewhat better after attorneys explained the proposed federal immigration laws.

There are competing versions of legislation in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. President Bush has sided with the Senate's comprehensive version, which would create a guest worker program that could lead to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. The House version does not have a guest worker provision and would make it a felony for someone to be in the country without documentation.

"If comprehensive immigration reform passes, it will create a great opportunity for people to legalize their status," said Jamie Hernan, an attorney with the Roswell law firm Hernan Taylor & Lee. "If the legislation passes and is signed into law, there likely will be a short window of time for people to file, from three to six or nine months, and we're telling people what they should be doing now to prepare."

Federal comprehensive immigration law reform would mitigate the effects of Georgia's tougher new law on many undocumented migrants because it would put them on the path to citizenship, Hernan said.

Both the House proposal and the Senate bill would increase enforcement at the Mexican border. The Senate proposal, however, would allow migrants who have been in this country for more than five years to gain citizenship after working six additional years, learning English and paying a penalty and back taxes.

Undocumented migrants here from two to five years would have to return to a border entry point and apply for the guest worker program, and those here illegally for less than two years could face immediate deportation.

Immigrants eligible for guest worker status will need documentation such as birth, marriage or divorce certificates, passports or visas, pay stubs, children's school records, rent receipts and utility bills, Hernan explained.

Microphones were passed around the crowd outside Catolico Oasis during a question-and-answer session.

"People generally wanted to know about their specific situations," Hernan said. "The Senate (bill) provisions recognize people will have difficulty getting their work documents, especially day laborers, and we want them to know they need to get letters from their employers with dates of employment and other records that show incomes, wire transfer receipts - anything they can come up with to show how long they've been here and that they've been working."