FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS KEY PROVISIONS OF ARIZONA IMMIGRATION LAW

Today, Phoenix, Arizona United States District Court Judge Susan Bolton enjoined key sections of Arizona's controversial immigration law, SB 1070. The federal government sued Arizona in federal court trying to enjoin it from implementing the law, which among other reasons, focused on the separation of federal and state powers.
The judge in her decision acknowledged that the federal government has primary authority over making and enforcing immigration laws. While states have limited authority to enforce immigration laws, they cannot interfere with federal enforcement or undermine federal priorities. The judge also recognized the serious strain that the Arizona law would place on federal resources, which would detract from the federal government's ability to enforce immigration laws in other states and target resources toward serious criminals. The decision acknowledges the complex nature of immigration law and the harmful consequences of local police attempting to make immigration determinations.
Arizona is all but sure to appeal to the 9th Circuit. While it's not really a Georgia issue, many politicians recently discussed trying to get the same law enacted in Georgia, so this is a huge victory on that front -- if the law is going to be stricken down in Arizona, there is little chance to its passing in Georgia.

COLUMBUS GA TEA PARTY SUPPORTS ARIZONA RALLY

A Columbus rally to support Arizona was held last Sunday at the Columbus Government Center. They have handed out a list of Arizona businesses for the buycott -- the Tea Party's movement that encourages people to buy products from a specific source to show support. In this case they have shown solidarity with Arizona's new immigration law.
Hopefully the Arizona law will be repealed or at least injunction will be issue by the District court in the suit filed by the Justice Department against its implementation, which will take away from all the Arizona law talk in Georgia.

GOP GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES TALK TOUGH ON IMMIGRATION

Georgia's republican candidates for governor are hitting the immigration issue left and right. Well, mostly to the right that is. At debates and forums, on their websites and in TV ads, the four top contenders in the GOP primary say they would support a tough immigration law like the one that recently passed in Arizona. All of them are also calling on state college administrators to make sure no illegal immigrants attend state schools.
Nathan Deal would put into law legislation similar to what passed in Arizona.
Karen Handel thinks we should check the legal status of students, and that those who are not here legally should be removed from school and should be sent back to their country of origin -- by whom she is not stating but maybe she is suggesting that the public universities now enforce our immigration laws?
Former state Sen. Eric Johnson earlier this month unveiled a proposal that would require elementary and secondary schools to collect citizenship data on enrolling students and also would require public hospitals to find out which patients are in the country legally. Apart from being unconstitutional, does he expect those people collecting the data to be able to understand the various legal statuses?
At least about this recent proposal Deal has said teachers and hospitals shouldn't be dragged into enforcement of immigration laws.
John Oxendine has said he will work with the state's next attorney general to sue the federal government to recoup prison and other costs incurred by the state for the detention of any illegal immigrant. His reasoning for that is that states wouldn't have to bear those costs if the federal government had effectively done its job of keeping illegal immigrants out. Such a measure is doomed to fail and will just cost us taxpayers more money.
All these candidates agree that Georgia needs to do more if the federal government does not enforce immigration laws. The justice department just sued Arizona over the implementation of the law, and we'll have to see how that goes.
What a sad state of affairs for Georgia and Georgians...

GA GOP PROPOSED TO PROHIBIT HIGHER EDUCATION FOR UNDOCUMENTED

Georgia GOP Senators and Gubernatorial candidates propose legislation to prohibit undocumented students from registering in state higher education facilities altogether -- whether or not they pay in-state or out-of-state tuition.
14 GOP state senators wrote a letter to the Board of Regents last Wednesday claiming that persons not lawfully in the country are not eligible to attend taxpayer supported colleges and universities in Georgia, regardless of their tuition rates. Their claim is that out-of-state tuition does not cover the full costs of a student's education at a public university, so even for those who pay those higher fees, their attendance would still be subsidized by taxpayers.
Gubernatorial candidates Eric Johnson, Nathan Deal, John Oxendine and Karen Handel confirmed through their spokespersons that they support this action.
At least one milder view was presented by David Poythress, another candidate, who said that illegal immigrants should not receive in-state tuition, but that the Board of Regents should not enforce federal immigration laws like any other private industry.
The entire debate exploded after the Jessica Colotl story (the girl found in Kennesaw state driving without legal status), and the anti-immigrationists are just taking it too far.
While I do agree that the first spots at any college or university should go to U.S. citizens or legal residents, there are simply not enough of them to fill all the slots in these universities. Doing so would just lower the admission standards to state universities and colleges and they should not do it in order to maintain their good educational levels. Alternatively, enrollment would be much less - and would be adversely affected even with the increase to out-of-state costs which will present a price-prohibitive barrier for many.
In addition, even illegal residents pay state taxes such as property taxes, sales taxes, etc., so they contribute to the tax base in the state. Do these people think it would be better for these students to be out on the streets, getting into the job market or gravitating towards criminal activity instead of educating themselves? We have enough uneducated citizens here in Georgia, and anyone who wants to go to college has a much greater potential to contribute to the state, not diminishing from it.

GA GOVERNOR PERDUE SUPPORTS COLOTL'S STAY

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue has spoken to Fox Atlanta in support of allowing Jessica Colotl to finish her degree at Kennesaw State University, as long as she pays out-of-state tuition.
He also said it is important that officials operate with compassion when it comes to immigration decision.
Finally, one reasonable voice among the Georgia Republicans. Too bad the gubernatorial candidates are not as compassionate.

GOP GOVERNOR DEBATE FOCUSES ON IMMIGRATION

This past Saturday night, 4 GOP candidates for the position of Governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal, Eric Johnson, Karen Handel and John Oxendine discussed the heated immigration debate at the top of the agenda.
All of the candidates supported the Arizona legislation and said that if elected they would follow the same -- saying things like it's a duty for all law enforcement officers to enforce the law, or things of this nature. Handel stated that under no circumstances illegal immigrant should be able to benefit or use state services.
Well, great rhetoric maybe targeted towards a GOP audience -- after all Georgia is a very conservative state with Federal and state elections going about 70% towards Republicans. So that is not surprising. The surprising part is the uniformity of all these four candidates about the issue and the lack of understanding of the details involving this sensitive issue. But I guess that's not surprising coming from politicians either...

RESEARCH SHOWS IMMIGRANTS DON'T TAKE JOBS FROM AMERICANS

Factcheck.org has gathered a lot of academic research that shows that immigrants (even undocumented workers) do not take jobs from Americans. The opposite is true -- according to most economists and unbiased research tanks.
According to the publication, immigrant workers create almost as many jobs as they occupy and maybe more - including things they buy, that increases the demand for goods and services, and thus contributes to the economy, in turn increasing the demand for labor.
Beyond all the hate and rhetoric of the anti-immigration vocal groups, the facts are available at:
http://factcheck.org/2010/05/does-immigration-cost-jobs/