Georgia’s anti-immigrant Arizona copycat bill heats up resistance

Photo: Caitie Elle

In an ironic twist of history on April 14, the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, the Georgia General Assembly approved HB 87, a piece of sweeping anti-immigrant legislation that legalizes racial profiling. Labeled the “show me your papers” law, it provides for immediate detention and removal to a federal facility if a person cannot prove citizenship or legal residency to local or state police.

Opponents of the bill often referenced the papers enslaved people were required to carry allowing them to travel off their owner’s property and the right of any white person to demand to see them. Enslaved people found without these documents were often brutally beaten and returned to their masters for more punishment.

The same voices that insist HB 87 is not racist also characterize the Civil War as not being about maintaining slavery. Instead they rehash the deceit of an honorable and necessary fight to defend the Constitution and states’ rights.

A veneer of legality, as the high principle motivating HB 87, permeated the right-wing rhetoric for public consumption, but the truth came out in the 11th-hour debate on the final night of the House session. Following a forceful argument made by an opponent of the bill who detailed the dangers of racial profiling and evoked the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s struggle for human rights for all, Sen. Renee Untermann declared she “didn’t care what happened to Mexican people.” So much for equality under the law and due process!

Provisions of racist law

Similar to Arizona’s apartheid law SB 1070, which is now being challenged in court, the Georgia legislation requires all businesses in the state with 10 or more employees to run the names of new hires through E-Verify, a federal identification program. However, mistakes in the data have resulted in the firing of eligible workers, who must take considerable time and effort to fix the errors.

There are stiff prison terms and fines for people found to have fake identification and those who knowingly transport or harbor undocumented people in the commission of such a crime. It is well documented that the vast majority of those detained and deported in Georgia counties under the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement agents to act as immigration officials, were stopped for traffic violations.

HB 87 also sets up a seven-member Immigration Enforcement Review Board to investigate local and state government officials for not enforcing state immigration laws.

Rep. David Ramsey from Peachtree City, Ga., a wealthy community south of Atlanta, was the prime architect of HB 87. He was assisted by Tea Party activists and national anti-immigrant forces such as NumbersUSA.

Several other pieces of anti-immigrant legislation failed to pass, such as an attempt by right-wing forces to bar undocumented students from attending all Georgia higher public education institutions. The Board of Regents capitulated to pressure in October and banned students without papers, regardless of their qualifications, from attending the top five schools, including University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State University. Undocumented students already pay out-of-state tuition, roughly three times higher than in-state tuition, even if they attended Georgia schools their entire lives.

Other unsuccessful bills sought to deny undocumented workers any compensation if they were hurt on the job and to make a first driving-under-the-influence offense a felony only for undocumented immigrants.

Broad fight against hate legislation

Fighting the whole range of hate legislation is a broad range of political, business and community groups. Everyone from the Catholic Archdiocese to 270 business and agriculture leaders have stated their concerns and called for its defeat.

One of the most active grassroots coalitions is the Georgia Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, which mobilized for numerous press conferences, lobbying days and coordinated call-ins to legislators. It also held a large rally of thousands on March 24, packing the entire street in front of the Capitol. Rep. John Lewis, himself a veteran of the Civil Rights movement who was beaten and jailed multiple times in the struggle to defeat Jim Crow segregation, urged the crowd to “never back down, to keep on struggling.” He declared his willingness to go to jail again for immigrant rights.

Several days later seven students, declaring they were “undocumented and unafraid,” stopped traffic on a busy downtown street by staging a sit-in to demand that GSU President Mark Becker refuse to comply with the Board of Regents ban. Reminiscent of the role of students in the civil rights struggle, undocumented youth plan on using direct actions over the summer in cities around the country to push for passage of the federal DREAM Act, which offers a pathway to legalization for children who grow up in the U.S.

With the Georgia Assembly in its final days in session and arguments over the provisions of HB 87 delaying a vote, more than 23,000 petitions were delivered on April 11 to Gov. Nathan Deal, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston, urging them to stop HB 87. The presenters cited the latest court ruling upholding the unconstitutionality of similar provisions in Arizona and warned of the economic and political repercussions of passing such reprehensible measures.

On April 14, hundreds gathered as dusk fell at the Georgia Capitol. Chanting for hours, with candles lit, children, their immigrant parents, students from Georgia State, religious leaders, peace and justice activists and others demanded “Kill the bill.” Inside, legislators debated, recessed, broke their operating rules and, with scant time left in the session, passed HB 87.

Immediately calls were organized to flood the governor’s office, urging him to veto the legislation. Despite such vocal dissent, Deal has signaled his intent to sign the bill into law within a few days.

As in Arizona, the law will be challenged in court in an attempt to prevent its implementation on July 1. Plans are already being formulated to organize a boycott of Georgia, specifically focusing on tourist travel, conventions and concert/entertainment performances. For more information, visit www.somosgeorgia.org.