Az.-style immigration bill picking up steam in Ga. | AccessNorthGa
Posted: Monday, January 24th 2011 at 10:57am
Az.-style immigration bill picking up steam in Ga.
ATLANTA – The push for an Arizona-style anti-illegal immigrant law is picking up steam in the Georgia General Assembly and those opposed to it are not letting up either.
Such a controversial law would allow police to stop someone they suspect might be in the country illegally. But Jerry Gonzalez with the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials says such a bill is a “fool’s errand.”
“If we are trying to attract and retain foreign investing (in) Georgia as a main driver of economic growth in Georgia,” Gonzalez tells Georgia News Network, “that’s going to hurt our efforts. It has hurt Arizona’s efforts.”
He says Georgia lawmakers ought to be focused instead on job creation and economic development. Gonzalez says it’s a myth that immigrants, even illegal immigrants, take jobs away from other Georgians.
“If people want to pick onions, if people want to pluck chickens, those jobs or available. But, fundamentally, the myth of immigrants taking jobs in certain sectors, specifically the agriculture sector, is a myrth.”
Gonzalez says such an anti-immigration law will ruin Georgia economically.
