Georgia Immigration" - (Google) News Sweep - 3/30/'06
Georgia Immigration" - (Google) News Sweep - 3/30/'06
3/30/'06 - The following article(s) were found in the media. Several stories are provided ... with links to the original sources ... for your convenience:
- Ga. Congress members push immigration reform (AP - Macon Telegraph)
- Peace vigil remembers border crossers killed (Red and Black - UGA)
- READERS WRITE (AJC)
- Police Wary of Immigration Crackdown (WXIA)
- Immigration comes knocking at statehouses across country (AP / Athens Online)
- Anti-immigration Law May Be Moot (WXIA)
- Perdue declines to say whether he will sign immigration bill (Macon Telegraph, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Access North Georgia)
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http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/14218338.htm
Ga. Congress members push immigration reform
By Daniel Yee
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA - Reforming U.S. immigration policies will provide better border security and ensure a pool of workers for jobs that many Americans no longer wish to do, members of Georgia's congressional delegation said.
"The people of Georgia want our borders secured. I think those who depend on labor want a system where they can get labor without violating the law," said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia.
U.S. immigration reform has been a highly charged issue, with hundreds of thousands of people - particularly Hispanics - turning out in protest at recent rallies in Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday approved a package of immigration and border security measures for the full Senate to consider.
"This issue is the most emotional, most sensitive, most politically charged issue I've seen during my 12 years in Congress," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia.
Chambliss has criticized the Senate committee's decision to approve legislation that would give millions of illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship, something immigrant rights supporters - including restaurant owners, agricultural groups, Democrats and others - hailed as a major victory for their cause.
"I'm just opposed to amnesty. I think it's wrong. We've got laws in place to allow folks who want to become citizens of the United States," Chambliss said. "Those folks who participate in the program won't stay in agriculture. They'll be gone. They'll seek a better job that's not as difficult, maybe pays better. The chances are good they'll be displacing an American worker."
Isakson said no reform will work without the border being sealed first. He said a federal law in 1986 gave amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants "without addressing the problem." Now there are about 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, he said.
Chambliss pledged to introduce an amendment on the Senate floor that would modernize the temporary worker program that many Georgia farmers abide by. His plan would allow farmers to hire immigrants as temporary workers in currently excluded categories such as dairy farms or as meat, poultry and seafood processors and packers.
But illegal immigrants in the program would have to return to their home country at some point in the next two years. The time lag was created so farmers would not immediately suffer from a drain of workers.
"I'm mainly trying to have a system that is workable that will create a good pool of workers from which our farmers can choose," Chambliss said.
Any legislation the Senate approves would have to be reconciled with the House, which passed its own immigration legislation last fall. The House immigration reform bill mainly focused on border security, said Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta.
"We wanted to clearly send a message to the American people and to the Senate that we thought that was the most important thing, to stop the hemorrhaging first. As many as 400,000 (illegal immigrants) are coming here every year," Gingrey said.
Congress needs to make sure immigration legislation is comprehensive and fair to all, said Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta, who likens the struggles of today's immigrants to the civil rights struggles of blacks in the 1960s. "You have an element in our society, and it's here in Georgia ... where we have to have someone to blame for all of our problems. It's the immigrants today, tomorrow it will be somebody else," Lewis said. "I don't know what the state of Georgia would do, what many of these states would do all over the country, if we packed (immigrants) up and sent them back. What would it do to our economy?"
The federal debate comes at a time when the Georgia legislature is grappling with immigration issues. As many as 80,000 Hispanic workers in Georgia participated in a work stoppage Friday to protest an immigration bill debated last week in the Georgia House. Tuesday, the Georgia House gave final approval to a sweeping bill that would deny some state services to adults living in the U.S. illegally, sending what would be some of the nation's toughest immigration rules to the governor.
Ultimately, however, immigration reform must take place on Capitol Hill, Isakson said.
"The state legislature is reacting to a problem that is not of their making; it's a federal problem. The ball was dropped in Washington, not Atlanta," Isakson said. "Where we have fallen down as a nation is we have a cumbersome immigration problem and less-than-good security on the border. It's the worst of both worlds."
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http://www.redandblack.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/03/30/442b675f9fbac
Peace vigil remembers border crossers killed
Published , March 30, 2006, 06:00:01 AM EDT
The vigil follows more than a week of protests against state and federal immigration legislation.
Across from the state capitol Monday night, more than 150 Latino students from around the state sang songs, lit candles and prayed for Gov. Sonny Perdue to veto State Senate Bill 529.
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If signed by Perdue, the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act will require stricter documentation of employees' citizenship status and make human trafficking a felony.
The final version of the bill was adopted by the state Senate on Monday and by the state House on Tuesday.
The day before, the Latino Intercollegiate Consortium, an organization of students from several state colleges and universities, organized the candlelight vigil.
The vigil started at 9 p.m., but 30 minutes later there was only standing room left in Central Presbyterian Church.
Members of the Hispanic Student Association (HSA) and Students for Latino Empowerment carpooled to the event.
Melina Baetti, president of HSA, could not attend the vigil in Atlanta, but spent Monday exercising her democratic right to contact elected officials.
"I've been sending green postcards to Gov. Perdue's office between classes all day," Baetti said. "We came up with the idea for the cards at the consortium and other people are sending them out too."
The postcards ask Perdue to veto SB 529 and includes the name and college affiliation of the sender.
Vigil participants shared their views on the bill inside the church before moving outside to march.
A community member began to cry as he spoke in Spanish about his love for the United States despite the injustice he feels the government is perpetuating towards the immigrant population.
A student from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College shared the pain she feels when she sees immigrants "working like slaves" in South Georgia fields.
"I feel frustrated because I can't believe that our representatives are taking these drastic measures without thinking how this bill will affect the lives not only of undocumented immigrants, but of every single person living in the state of Georgia," said Claudia Caycho, a freshman from Norcross and vigil participant.
Caycho, and others in the Hispanic community, do not feel SB 529 will stop illegal immigration.
While participants were encouraged to be honest when sharing their views, they were also instructed "nunca se indentifique como indocumentando," or "never identify yourself as undocumented."
As the students marched they sang "We Shall Overcome," "God Bless America" and "America, the Beautiful."
Tonight's vigil at begins at 7 p.m. at the Catholic Center.
After the vigil, participants will silently march up Lumpkin Street towards the Five Points area if weather conditions are favorable.
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http://www.ajc.com/thursday/content/epaper/editions/thursday/opinion_44b2b7ab41a940d4007e.html
READERS WRITE
John Dillahunt, Alice Lassiter, Julie Fredrick, Joseph D. Young, Dan F. Huth, John F. Moore, Peter S. Morgan Jr., Gary Moss - For the Journal-Constitution
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Thursday, March 30, 2006
...Immigration
Responses to "Governor gets illegals bill," Page One, March 29
Action amounts to pandering
What a gutless paper tiger of a so-called illegal immigration control bill our state legislators have passed ("Governor gets illegals bill," Page One, March 29).
They are more interested in pandering to lobbyists and some business owners than in representing the people who elected them. It's hard to imagine that they are proud of a bill whose key provisions don't even begin to take effect for a year, such as checking the legal status of immigrants applying for taxpayer-funded benefits.
With laws like this, illegals (and I'm talking about only illegals) can look forward to a long and happy life in the United States. I will never pass up a chance to vote out of office anyone who supported this pathetic bill.
JOHN DILLAHUNT, Peachtree City
Perdue will pay if he doesn't sign
If Gov. Sonny Perdue doesn't sign this law, shame on him. I can assure him that he will not be re-elected --- 70,000 registered Hispanic voters are not going to tell the rest of the registered Georgia voters what they can and cannot do in this state.
Illegal immigrants have no rights in Georgia or any other state, and to give them rights is wrong.
ALICE LASSITER, Atlanta
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http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=77992
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http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/033006/news_20060330052.shtml
Immigration comes knocking at statehouses across country
The national push and pull on immigrants' rights is reflected in statehouses from the deep South to northern New England.
An avalanche of proposals are under consideration that would cut services to undocumented workers - from education to health care - but some of the most significant recent steps actually help illegal immigrants.
So far this year, only one major proposal has passed: Georgia's legislature last week approved what supporters claim would be the nation's toughest anti-immigrant law, limiting state benefits such as non-emergency medical care and unemployment checks to those in the country legally.
But recent actions, by law, executive order or court decision, have extended benefits to illegal immigrants in Illinois, New York and Washington state. Even when Arizona voters passed sweeping restrictions on illegal immigrants in 2004, state leaders interpreted the law to scale back the impact.
"People talked tough but they did some inclusionary things," said Michael Fix of the Migration Policy Institute, an independent, nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. "It seems to me the toxicity is more in the debate than the outcome. But who knows what the future's going to bring."
As Congress struggles with how to craft an effective immigration policy, states are in the midst of their own version of the debate. Some of the tougher ideas this year:
New Hampshire would fine businesses up to $2,500 if they hire workers not authorized to be in the country.
Arizona would build a wall and spend $50 million on a radar system to track anyone who crosses over from Mexico.
Georgia would have local police to check the immigration status of everybody they arrest.
Over the past year, other policies have emerged that broaden illegal immigrants' benefits, Fix said. Washington state and Illinois have expanded health care available to poor families, regardless of immigration status. Court decisions in New York extended cash assistance for all the poor.
In all, state legislators this year have introduced 368 bills in 42 states tackling immigrant issues, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The majority have sought to make daily life harder for illegal immigrants by limiting access to government-provided services, though some aimed at stopping exploitation.
"There's a sense we've lost control of the borders," said Ann Morse, who tracks immigrant legislation at the NCSL. "States are caught in the crossfire between Congress and the public, showing ways they can respond to the problem."
In Nebraska, state Sen. Ray Aguilar sponsored a measure to extend in-state tuition rates to children of illegal immigrants who live in Nebraska, and says he has the support to get it passed. Next year, he hopes to pass a law that would let undocumented workers get a driver's certificate - not a license - so they can drive to work.
"We try to figure out how to assimilate the people, and when you do that you deal with a lot of the problems," said Aguilar, a Republican and the grandson of Mexican immigrants who, he believes, moved here legally.
He is on an interstate committee of legislators studying immigration issues. Earlier this month they visited Nogales, Ariz., to see the challenges on the border first hand.
In Arizona, state Rep. Russell Pearce has been a vocal and insistent proponent of laws and rules that would stem the flow of illegal immigrants, pushing for a wall, a radar system and money so that local law enforcement could jail the immigrants they catch.
"Enough is enough is enough," said Pearce, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. "How can you come to this country and expect to have a right to free stuff? It's just like breaking into my house."
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 033006
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=77997
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That's because there are federal laws on the books that would make some of the measures impossible to enforce.
Under state Senate bill 529, employers who hire undocumented workers could face stiff penalties. But there's a catch-22 -- under existing federal law, it is illegal to ask for any documentation.
"The problem is we were supposed to be eliminating illegal workers, but now, we can't aske them for documents that would show they're allowed to work here," said attorney David Whitlock of the Fisher and Phillips law firm.
Whitlock is an attorney for a firm that deals with labor and employment issues. He says many Americans may be surprised to learn that illegal immigrants are helping to pay for Social Security through deductions they cannot collect.
"$335 billion -- that's a third of a trillion dollars that is possibly largely responsible for keeping our Social Security program floating, somewhat," Whitlock said.
Whitlock says he believes it will be nearly impossible to deport the millions of illegal workers. That's why he says he's in favor of a compromise system where the workers, in essence, pay to play -- earning the right to work in the United States.
"They pay a penalty a fine, if you will. $2,000 - $3,000, for breaking our laws. Now register them, and legalize them, in effect, and collect the tax revenue for them. Now, we have a win-win," said Whitlock.
Whitlock says the economic fallout won't just affect America. Mexico gets $22 billion a year from workers sending money home there.
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=73333
Perdue declines to say whether he will sign immigration bill
The Associated Press - ATLANTA
Gov. Sonny Perdue isn't saying yet whether he will sign a sweeping immigration bill, which received final passage in the Georgia Legislature this week.
But the Republican governor said Wednesday he did not think the bill was "anti-immigrant."
Perdue said Wednesday that Georgia needs to strike a balance between being a welcoming state for newcomers "whether they come from Alabama or Michigan or Mexico" while also ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used for people in the state legally.
Perdue said he thinks "it's only right" to expect that the state's social services are dedicated to people eligible to receive them.
"And that's one of the things the bill does," Perdue said.
Perdue spokesman Dan McLagan said the governor's legal team would be studying the bill and he would decide in the coming days whether to sign it.
The immigration bill was a top priority for Republican leaders in the Legislature this session. And while Perdue has not publicly staked out a position on the bill it is widely expected that he will sign it.
The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act would verify that adults seeking many state-administered benefits are in the country legally. It would also sanction employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants and mandate that companies with state contracts check the immigration status of their employees.
The bill is believed to be the first comprehensive immigration bill to make it through a statehouse this session, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
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Erik Voss
erik@ICAtlanta.org
404-457-5901 Direct
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