Democrats filed legislation Tuesday protesting President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration, saying no person possessing a valid visa to enter the United States shall be detained or rejected from entry in Georgia.
Senate Bill 100 is largely symbolic in the GOP-controlled state Legislature. But it comes after more than 7,000 people converged Sunday on Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport against the measure, which closes the nation's borders to refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
It is sponsored by state Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, who attended that protest, as did other signers of the bill, including state Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta.
Both took to the floor of the Senate on Monday to decry the “chaos” the order created over the weekend and said they supported those protesting it. But their objections were met with a stony silence from the GOP, as well as a reprimand from state Sen. Greg Kirk, R-Americus.
Kirk said he had spent the weekend looking after the communities around his district in South Georgia trying to recover from a series of devastating storms earlier this month that killed at least 15 people in Georgia and four more across the Deep South.
The presidential election was over, Kirk said. “It is time for us to come together and stop the divisiveness,” he said.
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