Deal Plans To Sign Immigration Bill – News Story – WSB Atlanta.
Deal Plans To Sign Immigration Bill
Posted: 6:13 pm EDT May 9, 2011Updated: 7:10 pm EDT May 9, 2011
ATLANTA — Gov. Nathan Deal said Monday he still plans to sign the state’s controversial immigration reform bill into law, but he only has four more days to do that.Deal told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot on Monday that his staff is “working through (the bill) very diligently,” but said he does plan to sign it by the Friday deadline.
The controversial bill requires Georgia employers to use the federal government’s E-Verify system to check the immigration status of new employees. It also gives police more leeway to check the immigration status of criminal suspects.
GOP legislative leaders applauded the law though some south Georgia Republicans worried it would hurt farmers who hire migrant workers to plant and harvest crops.
Critics have told Channel 2 Action News they plan to file a federal lawsuit to stop the law and will ask a judge for an injunction. They compare the bill to a controversial Arizona law now before the U.S. Supreme Court, though
Deal and other legislators said they learned from that law’s flaws and corrected them in Georgia’s version.Deal has until Friday to sign any bill into law, though if he fails to do so, under Georgia law, the bill would become law automatically.
