Crackdown on illegal immigration

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Georgia caught in pickle between jobs, crackdown on illegal immigration
Bill Brim is worried about the extra costs he said his fruit and vegetable farm in Tifton would have to absorb if state lawmakers pass tough Arizona-style laws aimed at illegal immigration in Georgia.

Charles Shafer Jr., meanwhile, says the proposed laws could be a step in the right direction, so long as they are enforced here. The Lawrenceville resident said he was forced to shut down his home construction business years ago because he could not compete with others he suspected were hiring illegal immigrants.

Such different views have put state lawmakers in a pickle. While they want to curb illegal immigration in Georgia, the lawmakers also are trying to protect the state’s bruised economy. The problem is that the two issues are closely intertwined.

Illegal immigrants come to Georgia mainly to find work. There were an estimated 325,000 of them working in Georgia last year, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report released this month. That represents 7 percent of Georgia’s work force, according to the Washington-based nonpartisan research group, which uses U.S. census data for its estimates. Only six other states — including Texas and California — have higher percentages.

If all illegal immigrants were to leave Georgia, the state would lose $21.3 billion in economic activity, according to a 2008 study done for Americans for Immigration Reform, a Houston-based, business-sponsored group that supports changes to current immigration law.

At the same time, critics argue illegal immigrants are crowding local jails in Georgia and sapping the state’s taxpayer-funded resources, including its public schools.

Both bills now moving through the state Legislature — House Bill 87 and Senate Bill 40 — would require many private businesses to use a federal program called E-Verify to confirm whether their employees are eligible to work in the United States. SB 40 includes an exemption for farmers and other employers who participate in federal guest worker programs, which allow noncitizens to legally work in the United States.

Brim, the Tifton farmer, said he participates in one of those guest worker program called H-2A. He said that program helps him bring more than 450 workers from Mexico and El Salvador to work on his vegetable farm. He said his farm covers about 4,500 acres in Tifton and raises cucumbers, squash, eggplant, watermelon, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables, some of which are sold in Atlanta area grocery stores.

Brim said the H-2A visa program is cumbersome and is costing his business “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” which includes the costs of transporting and housing the migrant workers. He is concerned the E-Verify system would be incompatible with the federal guest worker program and create more work and expenses for his business.

“It’s an additional cost,” said Brim, a board member and past president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association. “It’s not free for you to hire that employee to sit there and make those calls and do all this documentation and paperwork.”

Republican Rep. Matt Ramsey of Peachtree City, who is sponsoring HB 87, has defended the E-Verify program, saying it is quick, easy to use and compatible with federal guest worker programs. His bill, however, exempts businesses with fewer than six employees from a requirement to use E-Verify.

“We want to make sure,” Ramsey said, “we are not putting an undue burden on what are truly the mom and pop businesses in our state.”

Shafer, the former homebuilder from Lawrenceville, said he used to make $10,000 or more a month framing houses before he shut down his business around 2000. Now he does part-time construction work for his brother.

He said he would rather be working more. He said he declared bankruptcy in 2003 and lost his home to foreclosure in 2009.

“I couldn’t compete against the ones who were working the illegals in the framing business, and I chose not to work the illegals to do it,” he said. “Over the last 10 years, I have lost two trucks ... and I’m struggling to keep one now. And I lost my house.”

Last week, the author of SB 40 — Republican Sen. Jack Murphy of Cumming — suggested some pain for employers is unavoidable in cracking down on illegal immigration.

“Do we want immigration reform or do we not want immigration reform?” Murphy said. Georgia employers, he said, “are going to have to figure out a way to make sure the employees they are hiring — even for seasonal work — are here legally. And there is a way to do it. It is just going to be uncomfortable for them to do it.”

Murphy made that statement after sitting through a nearly two-hour-long hearing that didn’t appear to bode well for his legislation. All six people who spoke about his bill were critical of it. Among them were business groups, who urged lawmakers to move carefully so they won’t harm the state’s economy.

The most vocal of these groups has been the state’s $68.8 billion agricultural industry, which relies heavily on migrant labor. That industry — the state’s largest — represented more than 383,000 jobs in Georgia in 2009, according to the Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development at the University of Georgia.

A day after the hearing on Murphy’s bill, the head of the Georgia Farm Bureau forcefully declared enforcement of immigration laws is a federal responsibility. Georgia Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall warned the consequences for Georgia’s economy could be severe if the state is made to appear anti-immigrant.

“We encourage the state of Georgia to assist farmers to obtain legal workers instead of threatening them with fines and imprisonment because the federal government has failed to handle its responsibility,” Duvall said at a Georgia Farm Bureau luncheon Tuesday. “This problem is a failure of government, not of employers.”

Gov. Nathan Deal weighed in on the immigration-related bills the same day after speaking at the Georgia Farm Bureau luncheon, saying he wants to investigate concerns he has heard about E-Verify’s reliability and accuracy. He said he doesn’t want the state to create any “undue burden” on employers. At the same time, Deal indicated he did not favor exempting certain industries from a requirement to use E-Verify.

Last week, lawmakers also heard from several groups who are pushing to boost enforcement against illegal immigration. Among these groups are the Georgia Tea Party and Jobs for Georgians, a construction industry advocacy group.

“The construction industry has really been decimated with these illegal immigrants working on these construction sites,” John Ciancia, chairman of Jobs for Georgians, said during a committee hearing last week on House Bill 87. “We are getting shut out because of our wages. They are ... abusing these folks and paying them a lesser wage.”

Murphy said he is sensitive to the concerns businesses have raised about his bill, calling his legislation “a work in progress” and saying revisions were on the way. Ramsey, who is sponsoring HB 87, said he also is revising his bill.

“While I want to restrict the number of illegal immigrants who try to work in Georgia,” Murphy said, “I do not want to put undue stress on any businesses to do that.”
http://daltondailycitizen.com/local/...al-immigration

Local lawmakers split on immigration bill
Georgia lawmakers representing Douglas County are split, generally along party lines, on their opinions about House Bill 87, a state immigration reform bill.

A Georgia House Judicial Non-Civil Committee Friday heard from about 30 people in the final day of public testimony on the legislation which would crack down on illegal immigration. The testimony reflected a wide variety of viewpoints on the bill proposed by Rep. Matt Ramsey, a Peachtree City Republican.

Ramsey said Friday his bill is a “work in progress” and would likely be changed before the committee votes on it.

House and Senate members with Douglas County constituents also had similar varying views on the immigration measure.

The two Democratic House members voiced opposition.

“I don’t think it was good for Arizona, and it’s definitely not good for Georgia,” Rep. Roger Bruce (D-Atlanta) said Friday. “We need to live up to our creed as a melting pot. It’s true immigrants need to go through a process, but we need to do things to bring people together, not separate them.”

Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) said, “I’m opposed to House Bill 87 because immigration is a federal issue. The state of Georgia, or any other state, has no business trying to regulate immigration. We have more important issues to deal with at a state level.”

However, on the other side of the aisle, Douglas County Republican House members had kinder words for immigration reform.

Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica) said he is a co-sponsor of House Bill 87 and has supported similar immigration legislation in the past.

“There’s work still being done on this bill, and I want to see the newest version when it comes out,” Bearden said Friday afternoon. “Rep. Ramsey and the immigration committee have put a lot of hard work into the legislation.”

Rep. Bill Hembree (R-Winston) also voiced his support of the bill.

“I do support the general idea of the bill,” Hembree said. “It has changed a few times. I think e-verifying the status of immigrants is a good idea and for law enforcement to determine if people are here illegally.”

The State Senate is considering similar legislation and the two state senators representing Douglas County commented Friday on the measures.

Sen. Bill Hamrick (D-Carrollton) called illegal immigration a “rampant problem in Georgia and throughout the U.S. and a “hot button issue” that draws impassioned arguments from both sides.

“I believe we’ll pass a bill addressing illegal immigration this session,” Hamrick said. “It’s our job as lawmakers to develop policy that serves the best interest of Georgia citizens. In past years, we’ve been active in stepping up where federal law fails to address immigration issues. Any legislation that tackles illegal immigration in Georgia and complies with existing federal and state law, would be worth considering.”

When asked about immigration legislation Friday, Sen. Donzella James (D-College Park) didn’t take a strong position, one way or the other.

James said some law is needed, and said while it is a federal issue, she feels Congress has ignored it and has not made any decisions.

“It has become a problem in some states, but I don’t see it as a problem in Georgia,” she said. “We do need an immigration law, but it needs to be fair and just to all. Our country was built on immigration and other people, especially those oppressed, have always wanted to come here. We need a law that will protect the immigrants as well as the country.”

James said she does not want to see laws that would cause businesses to have to pay huge fines

and said the law needs to find a way to help immigrants who have been here illegally 20 to 30 years and contributing to our tax base.

“We’ve had no hearings on it (immigration) yet and I’ve not heard a lot from my constituents about it.”

http://www.times-georgian.com/view/f...e=west_ga_news