Deal Signs Controversial Immigration Bill

ATLANTA -- Gov. Nathan Deal signed the state's controversial immigration reform bill into law Friday.

The controversial bill requires Georgia employers to use the federal govement's E-Verify system to check the immigration status of new employees. It also gives police more leeway to check the immigration status of criminal suspects.

"Today we're taking action to uphold the rule of law," said Deal. "With an illegal population estimated to be almost half a million, the collective financial costs to our educational, health care and corrections infrastructure is in the billions."

GOP legislative leaders have applauded the law though some south Georgia Republicans worried it would hurt farmers who hire migrant workers to plant and harvest crops.

The bill's sponsor, State Rep. Matt Ramsey of Peachtree City, said they leaed from mistakes contained in Arizona's controversial immigration reform law and did not include them in Georgia's version.

"This is a good day for Georgia taxpayers," said Ramsey. "And that's exactly who we are standing here on behalf of today."

Channel 2's Carol Sbarge was outside the state capitol as protesters gathered in defiance.

”Today we’re here to announce that the boycott is on. It is on and it is going to tell people across the country that they should not come here, protestor Xochitl Bervera told Sbarge.

Deal said the threat doesn't bother him. "The cost of illegal immigration, in my opinion, far outweighs any of the dangers that may be threatened by boycotts," said Deal.

Critics have told Channel 2 Action News they plan to file a federal lawsuit to stop the law and will ask a judge for an injunction. They compare the bill to a controversial Arizona law now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Some critics say the law will create economic calamity especially in Georgia's agriculture and tourism industries and could prompt national and inteational boycotts.

"They're here in this country producing $68 billion in our agriculture industry, fueling our tourism and convention business by providing the services that are needed for those industries," said Jerry Gonzalez of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials.

Anti-Defamation League Southeast director Bill Nigut released a statement Friday moing saying the bill is anti-business and anti-humane.

But Deal and other legislators said they leaed from the Arizona law's flaws and corrected them in Georgia's version.

The goveor has until May 24 to sign a bill into law. After that, any unsigned bill will become law automatically. However, the goveor’s office told Elliot that he has a self-imposed deadline of this Friday to sign bills into law since he will be leaving for an economic development trip to Europe on Saturday.