GEORGIA GOVERNOR ON TIGHT IMMIGRATION SPOT

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (R) fought against illegal immigration when he was a Congressman. But as governor, he is urging caution and pushing not to put an undue burden on employers as a response to bills that are proposed at the state legislature (for example to require all Georgia businesses to enroll in E-Verify). Deal is currently under pressure from business groups not to support these measures.
Deal's spokesperson Brian Robinson said that he wants to curb illegal immigration in Georgia in a way that would avoid unnecessary and costly court challenges. He also said that the governor has other challenges that are more immediate such as the HOPE scholarship program for pre-k student and the budget shortfall in the state.
Deal realizes that the state has limits in what it could do and that the reliability and accuracy of E-Verify is still questionable.
However, when he was serving in Congress, Deal co-sponsored legislation that would mandate businesses to use E-Verify. He also drafted legislation in Congress to block automatic birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants.
May Deal realizes that as governor there are more important issues to battle (such as the state's budge crisis) than pursuing bills that overburden the state coffers and do nothing to curb illegal immigration.