Georgia Immigration Bill Looks to Arizona

All aboard the hate train. Georgia’s Legislature has passed a bill that copies some of the most maligned parts of Arizona’s infamously anti-immigrant SB 1070. The Georgia bill, which empowers police to check the immigration status of suspects, is now on the desk of Gov. Nathan Deal. —JCL

Los Angeles Times:

Following Arizona’s lead, the Georgia Legislature on Thursday passed a strict measure that would empower police to check the immigration status of “criminal” suspects and force many businesses to do the same with potential employees.

The bill passed in the waning hours of the legislative session despite critics’ outcries. Immigrant advocates threatened a state boycott if it became law, and Georgia’s powerful agricultural industry warned, among other things, that federal guest worker programs alone could not provide enough laborers to meet farmers’ needs.

Now the measure heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, who campaigned last year on the promise of implementing an Arizona-style law in a state with, according to one 2009 estimate, 480,000 illegal immigrants — about 20,000 more than Arizona.

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Flickr / Southerners on New Ground

Protesters hold up posters decrying Georgia’s HB 87 legislation, a copycat of Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB 1070.