HB87 was one of the best Arizona-style crackdowns against illegal immigration to date. Now with SB 160 Georgia can do even better – IF Governor Deal signs the bill. The costs of 450,000 illegal aliens to Georgia taxpayers are staggering, totaling $2.4 billion a year.
Way to go, Peach State!
Georgia’s Legislature has approved a tough expansion of the state’s 2011 Arizona-style crackdown on illegal aliens, and it now awaits the Governor’s signature (please contact him to do so – contact info below after the article).
Passed in the final hours of the General Assembly’s 40-day session – and despite fierce lobbying against it by La Raza groups, the Chamber of Commerce, ACLU and pro-amnesty activists – Senate Bill 160 would block illegal aliens from getting state driver’s licenses, grants, public housing and retirement benefits.
It would also prevent people from using foreign passports to obtain public benefits, unless those passports include records indicating they are in the country legally.
Additionally, SB 160 would require all city, county and state government agencies to require their contractors to use a free online work-authorization program called E-Verify. Government agencies with fewer than two employees are now exempt from this requirement.
State lawmakers say the legislation would tighten and clarify the HB87 comprehensive immigration bill Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law in 2011, which was patterned after Arizona’s landmark SB1070 law, passed in April 2010. Republican Rep. Dustin Hightower of Carrollton, who sponsored similar House legislation, spoke in favor of SB 160 before the House approved it by a vote of 113-54.
“It also goes a long way in protecting the taxpayers of Georgia by filling a lot of loopholes that were there where illegal immigrants were taking advantage of different public benefits,” he said. The Senate approved the measure by a 43-9 vote.
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