Georgia must be hospitable to people to bring new jobs

Our Legislature is intent on passing bills that would make Georgia significantly less competitive for foreign investment. Measures like Senate Bill 67, which would make English the language for driver’s license exams and eliminate other languages, only serve to diminish Georgia’s competitiveness on the global market.

On the surface, the legislation is being pushed as a “public safety” issue because people should be able to read road signs in English. But Georgia conducts tests for people who are illiterate by reading the exams to the drivers.

In January 2009, the city of Nashville voted against an English-only referendum because it would send the wrong message about Nashville’s hospitality. Obviously, Nashville’s elected officials and community leaders wanted to ensure they remain competitive for foreign investment.

Georgia, meanwhile, sends mixed messages. Georgia pulled out the stops to land Kia Motors, which will create 2,500 jobs. Last fall, Gov. Sonny Perdue said “Kia is committed to Georgia, and Georgia is committed to Kia.” Georgia’s economic development office spends millions courting foreign investment into our state. Obviously, foreign investment is a significant focus of Perdue for Georgia’s future. Or is it?

Unfortunately, some in our state leadership have been aligning themselves with anti-immigrant sentiment. The lead author and architect of The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act in 2006, the law that has become known as the beginning of the Jose Crow laws of Georgia, worked closely crafting the legislation with the Federation of American Immigration Reform. Sen. Chip Rogers defends this association despite FAIR being labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its anti-immigrant statements. To reward Rogers for his efforts on the Jose Crow laws, the Georgia Republican leadership named him Majority Leader in 2008.

In April 2007, an international incident occurred when Cheryl Kuehn, a Canadian citizen, was driving through South Georgia and was pulled over for minor traffic violations. The state trooper thought all foreign nationals had to be brought into the local jails to determine legal status, citing the bill Rogers sponsored. They proceeded to strip search and delouse Kuehn, forcing her to don prisoner clothing while she awaited verification of her legal status. She spent over 11 hours in detention, being treated like a criminal. The Canadian government even considered issuing a travel advisory for Georgia due to this incident.

Today, Georgia finds itself passing more legislative initiatives that we consider anti-immigrant and openly hostile toward immigrants. The House passed SB 67 Monday. The message being delivered with bills like SB 67 is rather simple: “KIA GO HOME. We want your money but not your people.” A climate of discrimination exists at every level of government due to these anti-immigrant legislative initiatives, association with hate groups and anti-immigrant rhetoric by our elected officials.

Now, I consider myself to be a Georgian. I want Georgia to succeed, and good economic development is in my best interest as a Georgian. However, given the shortsightedness of our state leadership and the open hostility toward immigrants, I would recommend for foreign investors to look elsewhere for true hospitality. It is shameful and it is a great disappointment our political leadership hasn’t recognized the wisdom Nashville demonstrated. Georgia hypocrisy is always on my mind.

• Jerry Gonzalez is exec-utive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected

Officials.