Georgia Legislature set to target illegal immigration

What is the "Tea Party" going to do about Arizona being sued by the federal government for defending their own borders?  How about defunding Homeland Security and the Justice Department.  That is why the Constitution gives Congress the purse strings.  Time to check and balance.---rng


Finally, some common sense is being applied to the immigration and birthright issues and their effects on jobs. Let's see what President Obama and his minions have to say about this. -----lee

Metro Atlanta / State News 11:11 p.m.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

By Jeremy Redmon

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

     Complaining that the federal government has fallen down on the job, Georgia lawmakers are putting a big bull’s-eye on illegal immigration this year.

     The state’s legislative session won't begin until Monday. But lawmakers got started weeks ago, “prefiling” bills that would block illegal immigrants from attending state colleges and punish government contractors who hire them. Yet more legislation is on the way. Much more.

     A pair of Republican lawmakers is preparing to file omnibus legislation in each chamber some time in the coming days. On Tuesday, Rep. Matt Ramsey -- a co-chairman of a special study committee on immigration -- outlined for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution what the legislation will likely include:

     Complaining that the federal government has fallen down on the job, Georgia lawmakers are putting a big bull’s-eye on illegal immigration The state’s legislative session won't begin until Monday. But lawmakers got started weeks ago, “prefiling” bills that would block illegal immigrants from attending state colleges and punish government contractors who hire them. Yet more legislation is on the way. Much more.

     A pair of Republican lawmakers is preparing to file omnibus legislation in each chamber some time in the coming days. On Tuesday, Rep. Matt Ramsey -- a co-chairman of a special study committee on immigration -- outlined for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution what the legislation will likely include:

• Ways to encourage more communities to apply to join a federal immigration enforcement program called 287(g). Through the program, local police officers and sheriff's deputies are given the power to question people about whether they are in the country legally and issue arrest warrants, prepare charging documents, and detain and transport people for immigration violations;

• Measures to toughen an existing Georgia law requiring state and local government contractors to ensure their employees are eligible to legally work in the United States. The legislation could also include incentives for other private employees to participate in E-Verify, a federal work authorization program;

• Provisions to ensure the identification people use to get public benefits in Georgia are “secure and verifiable.”

     Ramsey said he and other legislators are also studying a tough new Arizona law that allows police officers to check the immigration status of people they stop for questioning. The Obama administration has argued that it is the federal government's responsibility to enforce immigration laws, and it successfully sued to halt key parts of Arizona's law last year.

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