MONROE, Ga. (AP) — Anthony Pham immigrated to the United States in 1982 from Vietnam and became a citizen five years later, after President Ronald Reagan signed an immigration law that sped the legalization process for millions of new Americans.
Now a business owner and proud Republican in Georgia's staunchly conservative 10th Congressional District, Pham says he supports maintaining legal status for young immigrants living in the United States illegally who were brought to the country as children.
The conservative voters who dominate here and in many other GOP districts profess varying degrees of sympathy for the immigrants affected by Obama's program and then Trump's reversal. But these voters also are convinced that illegal immigration is a drag on Americans' economic opportunity, and they want the GOP-controlled Congress to stand with a president they see as defending U.S. workers and the rule of law.
Rep Jody Hice won election in 2014 in part as an immigration hard-liner appealing to voters such as Suggins, Trantham and Young, who are representative of the older, whiter electorates that dominate midterm elections, particularly in GOP-leaning districts.
Hice's aides say he's open to negotiation on the immigrant program and that he doesn't want to see a mass deportation of its beneficiaries. But his campaign website still blasts "amnesty" and argues that illegal immigration "drives up the cost of education, health care, police and judicial services and social services."
There are Republicans in this Georgia district favoring a legislative solution, including one who wants to challenge Hice next year.
"There needs to be a fix so these kids don't have to look around the corner for an ICE agent every time they try to contribute to society," says Joe Hunt, an executive with a restaurant franchising business in Athens.
