Barnes says he supports an Arizona-type law

By Steve Visser

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Democrat Roy Barnes said Friday that he would support an Arizona-type law to deal with illegal immigrants in Georgia.

Barnes, the front-runner in the Democratic primary for governor, made the strongest endorsement among the party's gubernatorial candidates for adopting an Arizona-type law, but he cautioned he would want to ensure that the law would not result in law officers using racial profiling to detain suspected illegal immigrants.

Barnes made his remarks in a debate along with the six other Democratic candidates for governor: Thurbert Baker, Bill Bolton, Carl Camon, Randal Mangham, DuBose Porter and David Poythress.

The debate was hosted by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and PolitiFact Georgia, WSB TV and WSB Radio, and the League of Women Voters. It will air Saturday on WSB TV.

Barnes, a former governor, said he thought it was wrong for the federal government to sue Arizona over the law that is now being challenged in the courts.

"I don't have any problem with federal laws being enforced by state officials," he said. "We do that all the time."

After the debate Barnes said he didn't want to go as far as the Arizona law and make illegal immigration a state crime. "I don't want us to pay the cost -- that is a federal government cost," he said. "If it is a state crime, then you have to house them."

He also said after the debate that he was confident the state could pass such a law and not have police illegally racially profiling people to arrest illegal immigrants. "We have a great history of how to stop racial profiling," Barnes said. "It is done with training."

Baker, who has been running second to Barnes in polls,  said it was up to the federal government to resolve the illegal immigration issue.

After the debate, the state's attorney general said state officials already have the power to enforce federal laws in Georgia. "It can't be a state responsibility," he said, adding he would consider signing an Arizona-type law. "I would never commit to signing it without having seen it. I would look at it, I would entertain it."

Contenders Porter and Poythress said they would want to wait on the outcome of the federal lawsuit against Arizona, which has authorized state law officers to enforce federal immigration laws, before signing such legislation. Poythress said as governor he would focus on illegal immigrants who committed more serious crimes such as drug trafficking, child prostitution and gang violence.

Camon said he believed Georgians were smart enough to craft their own illegal immigration law, while Mangham said he would not support such a law because he feared it would lead to racial profiling.

Barnes, however, said that he thought it was wrong to expel college students who had grown up in the country after coming here illegally. He noted the recent case of a Kennesaw State University student who was arrested on campus on a traffic offense and the controversy that exploded when it was discovered her family had come to the United States illegally when she was a child.

"I say let her finish [college]," Barnes said. "Her mom and daddy ought to be brought in and made to account for how she is here illegally. She didn't walk here by herself."

Poythress agreed: "Why should we beat up on a 21-year-old school girl who is just trying to get an education," he said.

The Democratic candidates’ debate will air at 10 a.m. Saturday, and the Republicans’ debate will follow at 11 a.m. John Pruitt of WSB TV was the moderator. Questioners were Jim Galloway, who writes the AJC’s Political Insider column and blog; Condace Pressley from News Talk 750; and Lori Geary of WSB TV.