New America Media, News Report, Caitlin Fuller, Posted: Aug 04, 2011

Part 3 in the series, “Immigration’s New Battlefield.” Read Part 2 here.

Editor’s Note: The battle over immigration is now being waged at the state level. Since Arizona’s immigration law SB 1070 went into effect one year ago, five states – Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah -- have passed similar laws.

Georgia’s Arizona-style immigration bill, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011, or HB 87, passed through the Georgia legislature in April. Just a few days before going into effect on July 1, a federal judge temporarily blocked two of the bill’s 23 provisions. These two provisions would have authorized police to inquire about detainees’ immigration status and would criminalize the transportation or housing of undocumented people. The remaining provisions went into effect July 1, 2011. The most controversial of these is the section that requires employers to ascertain employees’ immigration status via the online program E-Verify.

Georgia's Latino population grew by 96 percent in the last decade, making it the 11th fastest Latino growth rate in the nation. The Latino population increased from 5.3 percent of the state’s total population in 2000 to 8.8 percent in 2010.

NAM interviewed community leaders and ethnic media journalists to learn the impact of these laws on the five states at the frontlines of immigration’s new battlefield.


Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director, Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (Atlanta)
The environment in Georgia is extremely hostile and anti-Latino against immigrants and citizens alike. However, as the judge blocked the provisions that we were most concerned about, we have been urging people to stay. We’ve held numerous town hall meetings informing people about the bill and informing them what employers can and cannot ask of them regarding E-Verify.

I think the state has had problems dealing with racial issues in the past, and those issues are resurfacing with a new flavor to them.

Initially, the bill was sold as an immigrant issue, but once you start looking at the losses farmers have suffered as a result of the law, it becomes a mainstream issue. It is something that is going to impact every single Georgian.

Looking ahead, the biggest challenge is to ensure that civil liberties and human rights are protected, hold elected officials accountable, and drive voter engagement in 2012.

Eva Cardenas, Community Organizer, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (Atlanta)
HB 87 isn’t just an attack on Latinos; it’s an attack on the working class. We can’t afford to pay $20 per peach. It’s an attack on all of us.

When politicians want to win a seat, they use immigration to create an environment of fear. When politicians use this kind of language, it authorizes everyone to use the same kind of thinly veiled racist arguments. As a Latina woman who has been in the state for 11 years, I have never felt so profiled.

Jongwon Lee, Editor, Korea Daily Atlanta (Duluth, Ga.)
I believe that, even though about 80 percent of Koreans in Georgia are legal immigrants, the majority are newcomers. That means that they still don't know how the immigration law works here. If the new law would make Koreans an easy target of racial profiling, then these newcomers would not be able to defend themselves.

With this new anti-immigrant bill, there is a high chance that they will be wrongfully arrested because they don't have a state ID or permanent resident card to show, if ever a police officer would pull them over or ask for their identification.

Tayyibah Taylor, Publisher and Editor, Azizah Magazine (Atlanta)
I am concerned with human dignity remaining in tact. This is a country that’s been built by immigrants and I’m concerned with human dignity first and foremost.

We haven’t seen immediate effects in our community since the law has gone into effect—the majority are U.S. citizens or are here with green cards. In the [Muslim] community here, it’s not a huge issue, so for that reason, we’re not really covering it.

Alexis Scott, Publisher, Atlanta Daily World (Atlanta)
I think it's terrible. And I think the majority of black media does not see the link [between the immigration bill and its impact on the black community]. That's why I've been running stories on it.

If they come after them, they come after us. The climate is fairly tense -- not between blacks and Latinos -- but in general because the state of the economy is so bad. Georgia is still above the national average in terms of the unemployment rate.

Rodrigo Cervantes, Editor & Columnist, Mundo Hispánico (Norcross, Ga.)
Since it was first introduced, HB 87 has been the number one journalistic issue for us. Our biggest challenge in covering this story as ethnic media is being labeled as activists or cataloged as unprofessional journalists. In the end, our real success will come when we can do our job professionally and ethically. We can address a community and be a voice for the voiceless, and we can also be their ears and the eyes so that we can inform a community that doesn’t always have access to good information.

Sen. Emmanuel Jones, Chairman, Georgia Legislative Black Caucus (Atlanta)
The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus opposes HB 87. The environment toward immigrants has gotten a lot worse in recent years. In my district, schools have closed down due to Latino families pulling their children out of school. A lot of businesses that depended on Latino business for their income are closing. The law is divisive, and it’s not something we need in the state of Georgia. We need to get people to understand that we are all connected, and that the Latino population is a critical part of our community.

The GLBC joined with Latino groups to rally against this legislation, including participating in the demonstrations in Atlanta on July 1. We have been helping to coordinate smaller protests throughout the state, including at Georgia State University. We are also focusing on voter registration for 2012, as well as our strategy to get people to the polls on election day.

Judy Yi, Program Director, Center for Pan Asian Community Services (Doraville, Ga.)
A lot of the communities we serve are small businesses and a lot of them have questions regarding E-Verify. People don’t know who to hire and who not to hire. Other small business owners have voiced concerns about the hassle and time consumption of E-Verify. Some businesses can’t afford to be waiting the 90-day period to check employees, especially since there have been errors made with matching names with documentation. The E-Verify program poses many problems for the non-John Smiths in the state.

There has been over an 80 percent increase in the last decade among the Asian community. There has also been a boom in the Latino community. The representation in Georgia is not representative of the communities. In some counties the legislators are all white males and not representative of the communities’ different cultures.

There have also been concerns about carrying documentation. My mother threw away her naturalization certificate by accident and the cost of replacing it is about $600. They can’t afford it. This raises the question of what will happen to low-income families who can’t afford to replace lost documents to validate their status.

Additional reporting by Raul Rodriguez and Anthony Advincula.