Georgia Legislator Attempts AZ 1070 Redux

My local paper printed this piece of shit spin piece, about a "tough" immigration bill. Tough in the sense of tough to swallow perhaps.

The bill in question is HB 87 "Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011" and can be found at http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2011_12/fulltext/hb87.htm.

A fair assessment of HB 87 would include some discussion of the costs associated with imprisoning those found guilty of “aggravated identity fraud”, for up to 15 years.

It would be reasonable for the paper to mention that this bill contains the exact same provisions as the Arizona law that the Federal Court recently struck down. The Arizona court struck down their ill-conceived law as it would have resulted in violations of the 4th Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. Georgia should not be spending millions of taxpayer dollars to attempt to defend this indefensible proposition.

Here's an excerpt:

17-5-100

(b) During any stop of a criminal suspect by a law enforcement officer, where the officer has probable cause to believe that such suspect has committed a criminal offense, including any traffic offense, if, during the lawful detention of such suspect, the officer develops reasonable suspicion to also suspect that such person is an illegal alien, then the officer shall, when reasonably practicable, make an attempt to determine the immigration status of such suspect.

Is there such a thing as reasonable suspicion in this context?

As proposed, HB 87 will make criminals of many otherwise law abiding Georgians trying to make a living. The bill makes it a criminal offense to encourage an illegal immigrant to enter the state. It also allows almost any citizen to bring a lawsuit against any business, local or State government agency or official by just accusing them of violating immigration law. Further, HB 87 burdens every employer doing business in Georgia with using the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify system.

Agriculture, poultry, and manufacturing, several of the largest industries in the state, will be hit hard by the legislation. They’ll find themselves with an increased cost of labor and compliance, or they will simply shut down operations due to overly burdensome regulations.

This job-killing bill, stripping Georgians of constitutional protections should never be enacted. It is short-sighted and fundamentally wrong.