UPDATED (04.28.13) GA DREAMERS: Deal signs bill expanding immigration crackdown

freshh. · 10:54 AM

Terrible news...

Quote:

Gov. Nathan Deal has quietly signed into law a measure that will expand Georgia’s sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration as Congress debates overhauling the nation’s immigration system.

Senate Bill 160 is aimed at blocking illegal immigrants from obtaining state driver’s licenses, grants, public housing and retirement benefits. The bill will also prevent people from using foreign passports to get public benefits in Georgia, unless those passports include paperwork indicating they are in the country legally.

Deal signed the measure Wednesday without public comment. The legislation expands on House Bill 87, a comprehensive immigration measure he signed into law in 2011.

The Republican governor’s decision to sign the new legislation comes as national GOP leaders are recalibrating their positions on immigration following President Barack Obama’s reelection win last year with about 70 percent of the Hispanic vote.

Congress is now considering a bipartisan bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants living illegally in the U.S. The federal Homeland Security Department estimated there were 440,000 immigrants living illegally in Georgia in 2011.

About 1,500 people marched through downtown Atlanta on April 10 in support of Congress overhauling the nation’s immigration system. Among other things, the demonstrators called on Deal to veto SB 160.

SB 160 is also intended to clean up several unintended problems created by the state’s 2011 immigration law.

For example, the bill is aimed at preventing massive backlogs for professional license renewals. Those backlogs were created by a provision in the 2011 law that requires applicants to show certain forms of “secure and verifiable” identification every time they renew their licenses.

“This legislation fixes some of the unintended consequences of the 2011 immigration legislation,” said Brian Robinson, a spokesman for the governor. “This will restore efficiency to government services, such as receiving a professional license, while still safeguarding taxpayers against the costs of illegal immigration.”

Secretary of State Brian Kemp, whose office handles professional license applications, praised the legislation.

“SB 160 will help hardworking Georgians get in the workforce faster,” he said in a prepared statement.

The Senate bill will also require all city, county and state government agencies to make their contractors to use a free online work-authorization program called E-Verify. Government agencies with fewer than two employees are now exempt from this requirement. SB 160 will take effect July 1.

Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, criticized Deal’s decision to sign the measure.

“It is a shame that Governor Deal continues to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment through signing SB160,” Gonzalez said in an email. “The law will make Georgia more hostile toward foreigners and make Georgia less competitive in the global marketplace. When the national GOP is moving toward immigration reform, Gov. Deal takes a huge step backward.”

Republican state Rep. Dustin Hightower of Carrollton, who sponsored similar legislation in the House, offered a different view of SB 160.

“I think it will go a long way in protecting the citizens of Georgia and the taxpayers of Georgia,” said Hightower, who served on a legislative conference committee that
helped craft the final version of SB 160.

Martin Lopez, an immigrant rights activist from Atlanta, was among those who demonstrated outside the state Capitol this month. He said many immigrants have been using their foreign passports as a form of identification because the state’s 2011 law prohibits officials from accepting matricula consular cards when people apply for public benefits.

“I don’t really know the outcome — it is going to be big,” said Lopez, who was illegally brought to the U.S. from Mexico when he was a child but has been granted a two-year reprieve from deportation.

Source

Pianoswithoutfaith · 04-26-2013, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Senate Bill 160 is aimed at blocking illegal immigrants from obtaining state driver’s licenses, grants, public housing and retirement benefits.

What?! they were getting all that there until now?

freshh. · 04-26-2013, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pianoswithoutfaith

What?! they were getting all that there until now?

I have no idea about that.

The part that worries me are the licenses. They are now able to take them away from those of us that have them and not grant them to anyone approved for DACA in the coming months.

If I don't hear about the ACLU filing a lawsuit in the next week, I will be moving out of state. I've had it with this state and the idiots that run it. It just isn't worth staying any longer.

ItsKdC · 04-26-2013, 09:11 PM

Yet another reason for me to wanna go back to Miami. Sometimes i really loathe this backwards ass state known as Georgia.

freshh. · 04-26-2013, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItsKdC

Yet another reason for me to wanna go back to Miami. Sometimes i really loathe this backwards ass state known as Georgia.

I definitely understand. We were in New York before we moved to Georgia.
Hindsight is 20/20. Should have stayed.

numanimtiaz · 04-26-2013, 10:41 PM

i was in Georgia last year, lived there for whole year. Thanks god i moved back to my hometown nyc best in the world. But Atlanta is a special place, met tons of people.

tyler129 · 04-26-2013, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freshh.

Senate Bill 160 is aimed at blocking illegal immigrants from obtaining state driver’s licenses, grants, public housing and retirement benefits.

If undocumented immigrants obtained grants, public housing and retirement benefits, the state government has a legitimate reason to enforce laws to block this and rightfully so.

Unless it's a rhetoric used to come up with further discriminatory laws.

Happyman0607 · 04-27-2013, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freshh.

I definitely understand. We were in New York before we moved to Georgia.
Hindsight is 20/20. Should have stayed.

New York is hands down the best state when it comes to immigration. You got gov Andrew cuomo, senator chuck shumer, mayor Bloomberg, all huge immigration supporters..

Although NY is a great state, I don't suggest dreamers or any undocumented move out of their current state due to them passing these stupid laws, can't let these conservative cock suckers win, get an out of state license and keep living there, don't let these mother fuckers think they won.

IamAman · 04-27-2013, 08:28 AM

Ever notice the states that "Crack Down" on immigrants are the biggest shitholes in the country with a history of racism? Alabama, Georgia, Arizona. Ok, Arizona has some beautiful scenery but still they don't really produce anything of value or contribute to the world. Hell, even that high fructose corn syrup filled Arizona Ice Tea is not made there.

ways · 04-27-2013, 09:46 AM

ouch and i was just starting to have fun driving ....

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UPDATED (04.28.13) GA DREAMERS: Deal signs bill expanding immigration crackdown