Local Sheriff Department Allowed to Enforce Federal Immigration Laws

The Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department has become the fifth agency in Georgia to be accepted into a federal program that allows local and state officials to enforce federal immigration laws.

The Gwinnett Sheriff's Department is one of 11 new law enforcement agencies nationwide whose acceptance into the Homeland Security Department program was announced Friday.

The acceptance of Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway's application was hailed as a victory by anti-illegal immigration groups but decried by civil liberties and human rights groups.

The 11 new participants are the first to sign a new, standardized agreement since the program was overhauled following an investigation earlier this year by the Government Accountability Office.

(Associated Press)

Court Rules On Woman Who Faces Sterilization

The federal appeals court in Atlanta says a Chinese immigrant can continue to appeal a deportation order because of the likelihood she will be sterilized if returned to China. Mei Ya Zhang of New York City, who entered the country illegally in 2003, said that since being ordered deported nine months later she had married and had two daughters, putting her at odds with China's one-child policy. The Board of Immigration Appeals ruled Zhang waited too long to ask that her asylum petition be reconsidered. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the BIA Tuesday to reconsider. A three-judge panel said Zhang showed changed conditions in China, namely that the sterilization policy was being more strictly enforced in her native Fujian Province.

(Associated Press)

Atlanta One Of 30 Cities For Immigrant Reform Events

Immigrant rights advocates will hold a news conference on the steps of the Capitol this morning to launch the Georgia component of the national Reform Immigration For America campaign. The event will bring together labor, faith, business and immigrant community groups to push for comprehensive immigration reform. Similar local launches are scheduled in more than 30 other cities today. A three-day national campaign summit is set to start Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

Nathan Deal Challenges Citizenship Law

Congressman Nathan Deal is proposing a change in the long-standing federal policy that automatically grants citizenship to babies born on U.S. soil. Supporters of Deal's proposal say "birthright citizenship" encourages illegal immigration. Opponents say the proposed law wouldn't solve the illegal immigration problem and goes against the tradition of welcoming immigrants. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution says anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen. Deal, who is running for governor, says the wording isn't meant to automatically give citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants. Deal proposes that babies born in the U.S. would automatically have citizenship only if at least one of their parents is a U.S. citizen or national, a legal permanent resident of the U.S., or actively serving in the U.S. military.

(Associated Press)

Inmates To Be Deported

Deportations loom for many of the 914 foreign-born inmates discovered at the Gwinnett County jail during a 26-day review that concluded this week. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has taken custody of about a third of those inmates, while the others are being detained for possible deportation. Gwinnett County's Sheriff says no one outside the jail was checked for citizenship during the surge and that all jail inmates, who average about 2,700 per day, were screened regardless of their claim to citizenship.

(Associated Press)

Albany: protesters outnumber Klan at rally

An anti-immigration rally held by about 20 members of the Ku Klux Klan outside the Seminole County Courthouse on Saturday drew some 100 protesters.

The event was held under heavy police security.

Sheriff Dale Swanner said the rally by the Georgia Knight Riders ended without incident. He described the Klan participants as "outsiders that chose to come into our county."

It was held on the same day as this town of about 2,700 held its annual Harvest Festival, which was moved from its site in the heart of town to just south of the Seminole County High School football stadium.

The local NAACP chapter held a "Not In My Town" counter-rally at Macedonia Baptist Church.

Information from: The Albany Herald, http://albanyherald.net

(The Associated Press)

Panel hears about alleged misconduct in ICE raids

A panel of national commissioners heard testimony in Atlanta Thursday, accusing immigration and customs enforcement, or ICE, agents of misconduct.

The National Commission on ICE Misconduct and Violations of 4th Amendment Rights was started by the United Food and Commercial Workers' Union.

17 year old Marie Justeen Mancha, a U.S. citizen of Mexican origin, testified that ICE agents searched her house two years ago, when she was home alone.

"I looked around and there were about 4 or 5 men in my home," she said, "And they were coming up the stairs. They began to ask me questions. I started to feel closed in, like I couldn't say no or not answer them because they were blocking the front door, and it was just me and them."

Several attorneys said Georgia communities are using a federal provision that lets local officials enforce immigration law. They claim it's led to racial profiling. ICE officials deny that they have illegally searched homes or detained individuals.

Southeast immigrant fugitive arrests up sharply

Southeastern immigration agents who focus on finding fugitives, arrested four times the number of illegal immigrants in fiscal 2007, compared to the previous year. Among 24 units nationwide that specialize in catching fugitives, the Georgia-North Carolina territory had the third-highest number of arrests. Only Los Angeles and Miami had more. Agents on these teams focus on finding people who have not shown up for immigration hearings, or stayed in the U.S. after orders by a judge to leave.

Immigration bills dies, with help from two GA senators

Today two Georgia senators did an about face on immigration legislation. Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson voted to kill a bill they helped write. Conservative critics argued that some of Chambliss and Isakson’s compromises amounted to amnesty. The two Republicans said opponents didn’t fully understand the bill. Now, they have backed away from the bill. The vote today probably killed any chance for immigration legislation until after next year's presidential election.

Gwinnett county votes for tougher immigration policy

The Gwinnett County Commission Tuesday night voted to require companies seeking county contracts to verify that their employees are legal U-S residents. Critics had said that the new policy would be unconstitutional and usurp the regulation of immigration by the federal government. However, County commissioner Lorraine Green says the plan is a response to the federal government's inaction on immigration.

"The federal government seems to think that immigration is about picking onions in Vidalia...it's not. It's about what the illegal immigrants are doing to our communities, and that's what this is really all about. We felt this was an opportunity for us to get some compliance but yet do it in a way that wouldn't automatically generate a huge lawsuit".

The county board also voted to have auditors on occasion inspect records of companies hired to do contract work. Gwinnett’s local government contracts work from private firms, providing services for the county such as construction and food and medical care for jail inmates.

President Bush in Georgia

President Bush will be in Georgia this morning, as Air Force One will touch down in Brunswick. His schedule includes a tour of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and then making comments on immigration reform. The measure being pushed by the administration and with support of key Democrats and Republicans, has been met with public backlash. The President says this bill is the nation's best chance to reform the immigration system.

English labs for north Georgia immigrants

A Northeast Georgia school system is addressing a growing Hispanic population by creating English language labs. Access North Georgia.com reports that Hall County will use a $2.6 million-dollar loan to create labs at two middle schools and three elementary schools. Students from other county schools will have access to the labs as well. According to the latest U.S. Census figures, Hall County has one of Georgia’s largest concentrations of Hispanics, or 25% of the county. Officials say the English labs in Hall County will be ready for the start of school in August.

Out-of-state tuition for undocumented immigrants?

A forum at Dalton State College Tuesday brought members of the community out to address representatives of the Board of Regents. At issue is whether colleges will still be able to grant so-called "presidential waivers" after the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act of 2006 goes into effect July first.

Presidential waivers can be granted to any out-of-state or international student at the university's discretion, as long as the student meets admission requirements for the college. They can also allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition, as they are ineligible for state or federal financial aid.

According to the Board of Regents' lawyers, the bill prevents the university system from granting the waivers to undocumented immigrants. But other lawyers say the issue is murky.

Over 40 people spoke at the Dalton forum, the large majority of who were in favor of keeping the option for waivers alive.

Some Dalton State students who spoke admitted to being undocumented. Others, including a group of students from Kennesaw State, spoke behalf of their undocumented friends.
Three more forums are scheduled in Clarkston, Tifton and Gainesville.

Board of Regents discuss immigrants’ student status

Members of the Board of Regents will visit Dalton today to discuss the effects of a new law on immigrants’ student status at state schools.
The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act of 2006 goes into effect July first. The bill is meant to crack down on illegal and undocumented immigrants.
According to the Board of Regents’ lawyers, the bill also prevents any Georgia resident without documented legal status from receiving in-state tuition. This means for many students college tuition could triple, even if they graduated from a Georgia high school.
The Board of Regents has scheduled four forums in areas with large Latino populations to address concerns about the changes and to take public comments. In addition to today’s meeting in Dalton, forums will be held in Clarkston, Tifton and Gainesville.

Georgia sits out nationwide immigration protests

Georgia immigrant rights groups seem to be sitting out today’s nationwide marches and protests for immigrant rights. No local group has announced a boycott or march today. It’s a change from last year’s nationwide immigration protests, many stores and malls in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods in Atlanta closed or were deserted. Today’s nationwide campaign is in an effort to spur Congress to act on immigration reform before the looming presidential primaries take over the political landscape. Some of the organizers from last year say Georgia’s immigrant community is quieter now because immigrants are afraid of a tough new state law targeting illegal immigrants.