Republican lawmakers in Georgia are advancing a bill that would require police to help identify undocumented immigrants and detain them for deportation.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Republican lawmakers in Georgia are advancing a bill that would require police to help identify undocumented immigrants and detain them for deportation. The proposal comes after the death of a Georgia nursing student whom police say was killed by an undocumented Venezuelan man. WABE’s Emily Wu Pearson says advocates worry the measure will lead to racial profiling and a crackdown on all immigrants.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JESSE PETREA: We have never seen a time like this. We have the greatest border crisis in our nation’s history.
EMILY WU PEARSON, BYLINE: Georgia Republican Representative Jesse Petrea is laying the case for new immigration legislation.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PETREA: In Georgia, the people of this state, the people we represent, are expecting us to do something. And I think this is a good way to do just that.
WU PEARSON: He’s talking about a bill that would require local law enforcement to take on some of the responsibilities of federal immigration enforcement, mainly to identify, arrest and detain undocumented immigrants. The bill gained momentum after a Venezuelan migrant was arrested in the killing of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student in Athens, Ga. Democrats like Representative Pedro Marin say the bill endorses racial profiling.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PEDRO MARIN: This bill will force human beings to live in fear and burden local governments and law enforcement officers by expanding their responsibilities without a penny of state funding.
WU PEARSON: The proposal is similar to a Texas measure currently blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court. Georgia’s doesn’t allow police to proactively arrest people they suspect are immigrants. Instead, it would require them to check immigration status during…
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