NEW GA LAW TO MANDATE IMMIGRATION STATUS CHECK FOR BENEFITS

House Bill 2, sponsored by Rep. Tom Rice, R-Norcross, clarifies and adds some enforcement provisions to Georgia's 2006 immigration reform act (called the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act). According to this law, all governments and official agencies in the state and their contractors have to use the "E-Verify" system to verify new hires eligibility to work. It also requires all local governments and agencies that administer public benefits to collect a sworn affidavit and use a federal database - the "SAVE" program - administered by DHS - to verify the eligibility of all applicants for those benefits. Last year House Bill 2 was passed because many of its applications were considered optional. The law now mandates to obey the first one. How this measure will curb illegal immigration is beyond my understanding, but at least our legislators here are keeping themselves legislating.