Georgia moved one step closer Monday to mounting an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration when a key legislative panel passed a 22-page bill targeting the problem.
Like Arizona’s tough new law, House Bill 87 authorizes police to verify the immigration status of certain suspects. It also empowers police to detain these suspects and take them to jail, if authorities determine they are in the country illegally.
Additionally, the newly revised bill penalizes people who “willfully and fraudulently” use fake identification to get a job in Georgia. Such people could be charged with a felony -- aggravated identity fraud -- and face up to 15 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines under the bill.
The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Matt Ramsey of Peachtree City, said he hopes his bill could come before the House Rules Committee and then go to the House floor for a vote this week.
House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, unsuccessfully sought for the committee to table Ramsey’s bill on Monday. She complained it has “several constitutional and substantive impediments.” And she warned it could lead to racial profiling, create a “fiscal nightmare” for government agencies facing lawsuits and damage the state’s economy.
“I’m deeply concerned about the impact of this bill on the bottom line of this state at the time of an economic downturn,” she told the committee.
Ramsey and others have complained illegal immigrants are sapping taxpayer-funded resources in Georgia. His bill includes language prohibiting police from using race and national origin while enforcing its provisions.
Similar legislation -- Senate Bill 40 -- is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee. That bill’s author, Republican Sen. Jack Murphy of Cumming, pulled much of the teeth out of that legislation when he introduced a revised version last week. There are at least six other immigration-related bills pending in the Statehouse now.
Meanwhile, supporters of some of this legislation are seeking to pressure Gov. Nathan Deal to live up to his campaign promises and support bringing an Arizona-style law here.
Asked about the pending legislation in Georgia, Deal recently suggested there are limits on what the state can legally do concerning immigration, and he said he does not want to put an “undue burden” on employers who would have to comply with certain requirements in the bills, such as making sure employees are eligible to work in the United States.
A spokesman for Deal last week said the governor is committed to curbing illegal immigration in Georgia but is focused on other priorities now, including closing a gaping hole in the state budget.
On Monday, Ramsey said the new provision in his bill aimed at illegal immigrants using fake identification could serve as a deterrent.
“It is just another tool we are giving prosecutors,” Ramsey told the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee on Monday before it approved his bill.
Called the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011, HB 87 also would punish certain people who knowingly transport or harbor illegal immigrants here. And it empowers people to sue local and state government officials who don't enforce existing state laws aimed at illegal immigration.
Ramsey's newly revised legislation gives state and local government officials up to 30 days to move into compliance with existing state laws targeting illegal immigration before someone could sue them for violations. The added 30-day “cure period” is meant to prevent frivolous lawsuits, Ramsey said.
Also Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a hearing on another immigration-related bill -- Senate Bill 27 -- to give the sponsor time to review a softer substitute version that has been introduced. The substitute includes substantial changes to the original, which seeks to toughen existing laws aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from getting jobs in Georgia. The sponsor of SB 27, Republican Sen. Judson Hill of Marietta, said Monday he did not know who had introduced the substitute.
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