Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Immigration and Georgia's Economy, Sen. Curt Thompson from Decatur, said the committee, made up of Democratic members of the state Seante, came to listen, and for nearly three hours they heard overwhelming testimony from over 30 witnesses that Arizona-type immigration legislation in Georgia would be a disaster.
Sen. Vincent Fort of Atlanta told one witness who supports the legislation that he hopes legislators can reach a common ground based on fairness.
That witness was Sarah Jones who said she was not a racist, that she is a law abiding citizen and the issue is legal versus illegal immigration.
"None of us is opposed to legal immigration but breaking our laws, we are opposed to that," she said.
Witness after witness, many of them first generation Latino Americans, said the legislation would discriminate, racially profile, and drive hard working people away from an economy that up until now they have supported.
Executive Director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials Jerry Gonzalez said the law, if it goes on the books, would ruin the poultry industry in Gainesville.
"Without the Latino work force that we have in Gainesville, the poultry industry cannot survive," Gonzalez said.
The President of Fieldale Farms, Tom Hensley, called for federal immigration reform, not a state law that would persecute poultry workers whom he described as hard working, law abiding people who pay sales taxes.
"It's up to Congress to pass on immigrant issues, so I implore you, don't pass any more laws," Hensley said.
Thompson observed that the laws that have been passed to date haven't done any good. "There's no reason, there's no track record to believe that passing more state laws is going to do any good."
An overflow crowd swelled into Meeting Room A at the Georgia Mountains Center Tuesday night, a crowd so large that Mountains Center employees had to remove a partition to allow more seating.
President of Fieldale Farms Tom Hensley called for federal immigration reform, not a state law
Executive Director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials Jerry Gonzalez said the law, if it goes on the books, would ruin the poultry industry in Gainesville
Sarah Jones said she was not a racist, that she is a law abiding citizen and the issue is legal versus illegal immigration.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/2/236409