4/14 – ajc.com – Georgia lawmakers pass illegal immigration crackdown | ajc.com
Georgia lawmakers pass illegal immigration crackdown | ajc.com.
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.
Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com Ouafae Azhari (foreground) shouts out as other demonstrators protest Georgia House Bill 87 outside the Capitol on the final day of the 2011 legislative session.
Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), second from right, confers with other senators before proposed immigration House Bill 87 is debated in the Senate chambers on the final day of the 2011 legislative session.
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,” said Rep. Matt Ramsey, the Peachtree City Republican who authored the bill. “We think we have done our job that our constituents asked us to do to address the costs and the social consequences that have been visited upon our state by the federal government’s failure to secure our nation’s borders.”
By a 37 to 19 vote, Georgia’s Senate amended and then adopted the bill. The House gave final approval to the legislation less than two hours before the session expired on a 112 to 59 vote. Now the bill goes to Gov. Nathan Deal for his signature. The Republican governor campaigned last year on bringing an Arizona-style law to Georgia, but he has yet to take a position on HB 87.
Deal and state lawmakers came under intense pressure in recent weeks from business groups that lobbied against the proposed law.
Other opponents of the legislation, who worry it opens the door for racial profiling by law enforcement, have threatened to help organize economic boycotts targeting Georgia, if Deal signs the bill. Arizona has lost dozens of conventions since it mounted a similar crackdown last year.
Of particular concern to Georgia businesses is a requirement to use the federal E-Verify program. That program helps companies confirm whether their new hires are eligible to work in the United States. Some business owners say it will create red tape that will cost them time and money.
“We’re coming out of [a] recession, and businesses are doing all they can do right now to stay afloat,” said Jann Moore, senior director of public policy and education for the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. “To turn around and put the responsibility of another policy on business is the wrong thing to do. The timing could not be worse.”
Other Georgia business boosters said lawmakers in a final day compromise had addressed some of their concerns. The legislation, for example, now exempts businesses with 10 or fewer employees from the requirement to use E-Verify. It also gives businesses 30 days to correct any “good faith” violations before they face penalties for not complying with the E-Verify requirement.
“Small businesses won’t be impacted as negatively as they would have been,” said Joselyn Baker, spokeswoman for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a great step forward in making sure that Georgia’s economy is able to continue to recover.”
Georgia’s HB 87 would also:
• Empower local and state police to arrest illegal immigrants and transport them to state and federal jails;
• Punish people who use fake identification to get a job in Georgia with up to 15 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines;
• Penalize people who – while committing another crime — knowingly transport or harbor illegal immigrants or encourages them to come to Georgia. First-time offenders would face imprisonment for up to 12 months and up to $1,000 in fines;
• Establish a seven-member Immigration Enforcement Review Board to investigate complaints about local and state government officials not enforcing state immigration-related laws;
• Directs the state Agriculture Department to study the possibility of creating Georgia’s own guest worker program. Some Georgia employers have complained the federal government’s guest worker program is too burdensome and expensive.
Georgia is among 30 states that have considered new laws targeting illegal immigration this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In all, 52 such bills have been introduced nationwide. About three quarters of them resemble Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070. So far, 14 of these bills have failed, including measures in Florida, Kentucky and West Virginia. And three have passed, including Georgia’s legislation and two bills in Utah.
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. Arizona appealed that judge’s decision. But a federal appeals court upheld the lower court’s decision this week, keeping much of the law on hold pending the outcome of the federal government’s lawsuit.
Another Arizona law requires many private businesses to use E-Verify. A coalition of businesses and immigrant rights groups is suing to stop that law, arguing it is unconstitutional. The case is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ramsey said he worked on more than 16 drafts of the legislation, partly to protect it against court challenges. He said he has looked at similar laws from several states and has benefited from watching Arizona’s legal cases play out in the courts.
Opponents promised Thursday evening they would continue to push Deal to veto the bill.
“We are going to urge him to listen to the majority of everyday Georgians, who understand how bad this bill will be for Georgia,” said Xochitl Bervera, who joined about 60 other people in demonstrating against HB 87 outside the state Capitol Thursday evening.
Staff writers Dan Chapman, Arielle Kass, Margaret Newkirk and Chris Quinn contributed to this report.
Does an Arizona-style immigration help or hurt Georgia?
Reaction from those who closely watched the debate on HB 87, which gives law enforcement the power to investigate the immigration status of certain suspects and requires many Georgia businesses to ensure workers are eligible to work in the United States.
“These people are illegal and the state can’t afford it any more. Now that you have this, it’s not business as usual anymore … From everything I’ve heard, we got pretty much what we wanted.”
— Bill Hudson, board member of the Georgia Tea Party and a retired dentist from Marietta.
“We know this bill is not going to create a single job. When has the General Assembly become so anti-economic development? If Sunday alcohol sales is what they hang their hat on for economic development, that’s pretty sad.”
— Bryan Tolar, president of the Georgia Agribusiness Council. The council argued the bill would have the greatest impact on farmers who would be forced to buy new equipment to comply with the law
“They’re using all of these services and not giving back into the system. It’s ethically wrong and it’s morally wrong. This will stop unscrupulous behavior.”
— Catherine Davis, legislative director for the Network of Politically Active Christians and a Stone Mountain resident. Davis supports provisions in the bill that allows law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants and transport them to state and federal jails.
“I travel to Germany six times a year on economic development missions and I have also gone on economic development missions to other places in the world and I am absolutely sure it will harm our reputation. I have seen what the reaction was throughout the world to the law in Arizona. The world will react in same way to the law in Georgia.”
— Teri A. Simmons, business recruiter at Atlanta-based law firm Arnall Golden Gregory, who thinks the immigration bill harms Georgia’s international business reputation.
“It sounds like the immigration hawks kind of got what they wanted in the end. If it actually ends up being implemented, it’s something of a victory. … The Georgia law seems to have addressed the top-priority matters a state can deal with.”
— Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a D.C. think-tank that supports tighter controls on immigration and advocates wider use of E-Verify.
“I still have serious concerns about putting another mandate on small employers.”
— Kyle Jackson, National Federation of Independent Business state director, discussing the impact of the E-Verify system on small businesses. The immigration bill passed by the General Asssembly requires businesses to use the federal program to verify new workers are eligible to work in the United States.
4/14 – ajc.com – Chip Rogers: Senate close to a deal on illegal immigration | Political Insider
Chip Rogers: Senate close to a deal on illegal immigration | Political Insider.
Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, a supporter of HB 87, said lawmakers were close to an agreement on the illegal immigration measure – the most important piece of legislation facing the chamber on its final day.
Negotiations with the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Matt Ramsey, R-Peachtree City, have focused on giving businesses – which would be required to use the federal E-Verify data base to screen hires – a probationary period to correct lapses.
A similar clause already exists in the legislation for local governments found employing illegal immigrants.
Under Rogers’ plan, the Senate would be asked to “agree, with amendments” to the House version – a tactic designed to avoid a conference committee whose Senate members would appointed by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. If successful, another House vote would be required.
Opponents of HB 87’s toughest provisions still hope to push the bill into a conference committee. More background can be found here.
As for that Senate Republican caucus meeting – after 90 minutes, lawmakers returned for a late start to the day, without making any decision on the leadership struggle. The morning gathering capped a six-hour session on Wednesday.
– By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
4/13 – AP – ACLU requests regents look at some admissions info – Beaumont Enterprise
ACLU requests regents look at some admissions info – Beaumont Enterprise.
ACLU requests regents look at some admissions info
KATE BRUMBACK, Associated Press
Updated 06:13 p.m., Wednesday, April 13, 2011
ATLANTA (AP) — The University System of Georgia is looking into the possibility that the websites and admissions materials for some of its schools could mislead applicants about the system’s policy regarding “undocumented students,” a spokesman said Wednesday.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia on Tuesday sent a letter to the Board of Regents, which oversees the system, saying that language on some schools’ websites and admissions material indicates that acceptance is contingent on verification of the applicant’s legal presence in the United States.
The Board of Regents last fall adopted a policy that would bar “undocumented students” — which includes illegal immigrants and others who don’t have their paperwork in order — from attending schools that have rejected academically qualified applicants in the previous two years. That currently applies to the state’s five most competitive schools.
Students who cannot prove that they are in the country legally are still allowed to attend the other schools but they must pay out-of-state tuition. Anyone applying for in-state tuition must be able to prove legal residence in the country and the state.
If some schools not in that group “have communicated to applicants that they are ineligible for admission even if academically qualified, this is in fact an error, and we are working with those institutions to update communications to accurately state the policy,” Millsaps said.
There may have been some confusion in the implementation of the new policy, but the system was working to clear that up, he said.
“The application form we’ve got is pretty clear, so it appears that maybe some of the errors happened with institutions trying to make explanations about the policy above and beyond what the application form states,” he said. “It wasn’t the intention to deny admission for those institutions.”
GIRRC - Georgia Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition 