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Illegals on agenda for U.S., state
11/20/2005

By Dave Williams
Staff Writer
dave.williams@gwinnettdailypost.com

ATLANTA - Some Georgia politicians believe illegal immigration is a federal issue that can only be addressed at the federal level.

Others say the state can and should have a role in reducing the number of illegals entering Georgia.

Some believe in the carrot approach, that illegal immigrants can be successfully assimilated by setting up a process that lets them stay in this country legally.

Others say the only way to get a handle on the influx of illegals is with the stick of strict enforcement.

The one point they all agree on is that America's immigration system is broken and must be fixed. Otherwise, it threatens to drive local, state and federal budgets through the roof.

The numbers are staggering: There are an estimated 250,000 illegal immigrants in Georgia, up 777 percent since 1992. The state now has the nation's seventh largest population of illegals.

It's costing Georgia taxpayers up to $700 million a year for Medicaid alone, said John Stone, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Evans.

"Here's our Medicaid system going broke and we're making cuts, yet we're losing 10 percent of our Medicaid budget to theft," Stone said.

Having reached a consensus that something is wrong, lawmakers at the state and federal levels have put forth a long list of fixes, representing a variety of approaches and philosophies.

Although illegal immigration promises to be a major issue for the General Assembly this winter, most of the action is taking place in Congress.

Enforcement emphasized

Several legislative proposals are in the hopper or will soon be in the mix just among the Georgia delegation.

All stress the need to enforce America's current immigration laws before considering changes to the system.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said he is preparing legislation that would delay taking up the "guest worker'' initiative President Bush has been pushing for two years until U.S. borders have been secured.

"Ours is a two-step process,'' Isakson said.

"You're just not going to see a guest worker program until we get some control over the borders.''

But Isakson said building a 2,000-mile fence along the Mexican border from California through Texas - as contemplated in a bill introduced by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. - isn't realistic.

Isakson suggested greater selectivity in the construction of physical barriers.

"There are some places on the borders where you have some topographically easy ways to get into this country,'' he said.

Rep. Tom Price, R-Roswell, also opposes Hunter's bill, but for a different reason. The Georgia freshman is sponsoring a resolution calling on the Department of Homeland Security to stop illegal border crossings by any means necessary, but he doesn't tell the Bush administration how to achieve that goal.

"One of the things that Congress often does is decide they have the best plan,'' Price said. "The thing we ought to do is set the parameters and have the folks whose job this is go do it.''

Stone said Norwood believes in giving federal authorities the tools to shut down the borders. His bill, which has been folded into a handful of measures sponsored by other members of Congress, would provide federal funds to train up to 700,000 state and local law enforcement officers to help their federal counterparts.

"We have 10,000 Border Patrol agents trying to control 2,000 miles of border with Mexico and 4,000 miles with Canada,'' Stone said. "It's a joke. It can't be done.''

Different approach

Others, however, question whether it should be done.
Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, supports a bill introduced by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

Like Bush's guest worker proposal, it would allow illegal immigrants to apply for visas to work in the U.S. for up to six years if they haven't committed crimes, have good work records and pay a fine.

"We cannot afford to deport everybody and round everybody up ... but it's important to control our borders,'' Gonzalez said. "What better way to do that than to create a legal means for allowing people into our country?''

But both the McCain-Kennedy bill and the president's plan have taken tremendous heat from lawmakers who can't stomach the idea of amnesty for immigrants who have broken the law by entering the U.S. illegally.

Some of those critics can be found in the General Assembly. State Senate Republican leaders who believe there is a role for state governments in the fight against illegal immigration are behind legislation designed to make Georgia less attractive for illegals by requiring proof of legal residence to receive certain taxpayer-funded services.

"We can't control the border, but we can do something to make sure Georgia is not a destination for illegal immigrants,'' said Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson, R-Savannah. "We don't want to be a magnet.''

Costs and benefits

But Sen. Sam Zamarripa, D-Atlanta, one of three Hispanic members of the legislature, disagrees with the mindset he said is evident in the bill.

Rather than looking at the costs of illegal immigration, he said policy makers should consider how illegals benefit Georgia businesses.

"They don't view these people as criminals,'' he said. "They view them as an important part of their business.''

"Our businesses here say they depend on that labor,'' added Athens Mayor Heidi Davison, who visited Mexico recently with a delegation of Georgia city and county officials. "If they didn't have it, they wouldn't be able to provide goods and services for the prices our citizens are willing to pay.''

But Johnson said he believes Georgians have grown so frustrated with illegal immigration that they would be willing to pay higher prices for goods produced by a labor force free of illegals.

One part of the Senate Republican bill, however, isn't going to fly with GOP Gov. Sonny Perdue.

The governor said he agrees with the need to clamp down on eligibility for such services as food stamps, Medicaid and housing assistance.

But on Friday, Perdue said he would not support prohibiting illegal immigrants from enrolling in Georgia's public colleges or universities.

"The cost of not educating these people ... will cost us much more in the long term,'' he said.

While the Senate is likely to pass the bill in some form, some members of Georgia's congressional delegation aren't anxious to see the legislature weigh in on illegal immigration.

"The problem we have is a U.S. government problem, not a state problem,'' Isakson said. "The federal government has to deal with the source of the problem, illegal entry into the country.''