Musings on Immigration

The Georgia State Senate acted recently to pass an anti-immigration measure aimed at stopping 300 Georgia residents who happen to not have legal status from attending public colleges and universities in Georgia, despite the fact that they are paying out-of-state tuition.  The Georgia House is moving to pass similar legislation at the behest of House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee Chair, Cobb County resident, and AllState Insurance Attorney Rich Gollick. THE RATIONALE The rationale behind this bill (besides the red herring argument that local governments needed clarification on whether they could accept electronic copies of "secure and verifiable documents"), is that the undocumented students are somehow using taxpayer dollars and taking spots from U.S. citizens.   You heard these arguments from all the sponsors of this bill  in the Senate.  These reasons for supporting this bill are not based in either reality or facts.  In Georgia, no undocumented student ca...

This week both branches of the Georgia State Legislature have been busy in trying to pass anti-immigration legislation. The curious part of their efforts is what appears to be a complete lack of communication between the branches and what their specific purposes are. THE GEORGIA HOUSE DISSES THE GEORGIA SENATE On Monday, the Georgia House completely eviserated the Senate version of the anti-immigration legislation by substituting, in whole, for the entire SB 40, with what it was HB 87. Unfortunately, the committee chair and the bill's sponsor were not completely truthful with the public, or with their committee members about the actual content of the "new" SB 40, better known now at HB 87 "Heavy." Sections 1 through 9 of HB 87 and HB 87 Heavy are identical. Section 11 through 18, and Sections 20 through 22 also are identical. BUT, there are two significant and otherwise unnoticed changes in Section 10 , and in Section 19 . First, in Section 10, the Ho...

The Georgia State Legislature’s 2009 session just ended on Friday, and none too soon. Thanks to the efforts of sensible State Senators who truly understand the unwelcoming message that SB 67 (English only driver’s license exams) would have sent to foreign investors in the Georgia economy (e.g. Kia Automotive), we have one less anti-immigration law taking effect later this year. But, that means several pieces of poorly written, improperly considered, and incredibly costly anti-immigration legislation still did manage to pass through the Georgia Legislature and is headed to the Governor’s desk for signature. Clearly it is time for Governor Perdue to do what is right for Georgia and veto these bills. Now is not the time to kowtow to immigrant bashers and sign these pieces of legislation: SB 20, which provides that no local government, whether by initiative, referendum, or any other process, shall enact, adopt, implement or enforce any “sanctuary” policy. A Georgia community enacting ...