House OKs immigration legislation (Georgia doing it right!)

Albany Herald ^ | 02/15/2006 | Dave Williams

[devane617]

ATLANTA — Illegal immigrants wishing to wire money home to their families would have to pay an additional fee under legislation approved by the House Tuesday.

The narrowly focused bill took up more than two hours of sometimes-emotional debate, a harbinger of what lawmakers will face in the coming weeks when they take up more comprehensive measures targeting illegal immigration.

The Republican-backed bill, which passed 106-60 and now moves to the Senate, would require anyone wishing to wire money outside of the United States to prove they are either an American citizen or are in this country legally. Otherwise, they would have to pay a fee of 5 percent of the amount of the wire.

The bill specifies that the money collected would be used to help cover the state's costs for indigent health care. However, the provision is not binding because state law allows only certain transportation funding to come from a dedicated source.

Supporters said the estimated 225,000 illegal immigrants living in Georgia are costing taxpayers up to a $1 billion a year in services and are a major factor in overloading public schools and emergency rooms.

"The problem is real, the services that are used are real, and this remedy offers them an opportunity to pay back to the system for these services," said Rep. Tom Rice, R-Norcross, the bill's chief sponsor.

But opponents said the legislation is mean-spirited and seeks to punish hard-working people.

"What we're about to do is tax people who are doing the best they can to provide for their families," said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, the only Republican to vote against the bill. "I have a moral problem with that."

Rep. Al Williams, D-Midway, lectured his Republican colleagues for pushing legislation to allow counties to display the Ten Commandments at the same time they're targeting illegal immigrants.

"You can't insist on having the Ten Commandments hung if you don't live the Ten Commandments," he said.

Opponents also argued that illegal immigration is a federal issue and should be handled by Congress.

But Rep. John Lunsford, R-McDonough, chairman of the Legislature's Immigration Reform Caucus, said the General Assembly is stepping in because federal officials have failed to do so.

"We're trying to solve the problem, because the people of Washington are turning a blind eye to it," he said.

Before the final vote, House members amended the bill to exempt from the fee people who can prove they are paying taxes in Georgia.

However, lawmakers soundly rejected an amendment that would have increased the fee from 5 percent to 10 percent.

[Ole Okie]

I moved to Georgia from Oklahoma several years ago. I've lived in Oklahoma all my life (Sooner born, Sooner bred, etc), but I married a Georgia lady, and we decided to live in Georgia.

I had a valid Oklahoma drivers license, but when I went to get a Georgia license, they required a certified birth certificate. And they weren't fooling around.

And I thought, "Good for them".

[monkeywrench]

Sounds like Georgia may actually get a handle on this, then. Good luck to them!

[TKDietz]

Giving them aid and comfort by taxing them more? Immigration law is a federal responsibility. The state Georgia cannot deport people, only the feds can. All Georgia is trying to do is exact a penalty on illegals in a 'round about way. Anyone wiring to another country will have to prove they are citizens or here legally or pay the extra 5% tax. Some citizens and legal aliens are going to get hit with this if they don't have the proper documents when they go to wire money. Mostly though this will hit illegals. As it is, before this law they wouldn't get hit with this tax, now they will. The state of Georgia will benefit, and illegal aliens will pay a penalty tax on their earnings here they didn't have to pay before. I can't imagine how you think this is "giving aid and comfort to illegal immigrants."

[Go Gordon]

Some citizens and legal aliens are going to get hit with this if they don't have the proper documents when they go to wire money. Mostly though this will hit illegals.

Is Georgia going to monitor the purchase of money orders? If not, all the proposed legislation will do is put a lag in the money flow down to Mexico because illegals will no longer wire money, they'll simply buy money orders and use snail mail.

[TKDietz]

A lot of them will do that. So what? A lot will still wire money because it's safer and a lot quicker than trusting international mail.

[Marius3188]

This is why:

Section 274 felonies under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, INA 274A(a)(1)(A):

A person (including a group of persons, business, organization, or LOCAL GOVERNMENT) commits a federal felony when she or he:

* ASSITS AN ALIEN S/HE SHOULD REASONABLY KNOW IS ILLEGALLY IN THE U.S. or who lacks employment authorization, by transporting, sheltering, or assisting him or her to obtain employment, or

* encourages that alien to remain in the U.S. by referring him or her to an employer or by acting as employer or agent for an employer in any way, or

* knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions.

Our federal laws can prosecute them.

[TKDietz]

"Our federal laws can prosecute them."

Then why don't they? Why don't the feds do something about illegals? Why is it that as a public defender I represent illegals all the time and plead them to all sorts of crimes and watch them walk away even though they have been sitting in our jail where all INS had to do was come pick them up? You think locals can do anything about illegals? Venture into reality then. The locals can't do $hit without the feds. If Georgia wants penalize illegals by taxing their wire transfers, I say more power to 'em. Good for them. You want to whine about nothing? Have at it.

[TKDietz]

One more little point. You have to understand that the feds .

don't care about illegal aliens. They are yanking your chain if you think they do. If you eat food, you support illegal aliens. Illegal aliens work at all the farms and chicken plants where I live. "Big poultry" brought them up by the tractor trailer load. A buddy of mine who is a state trooper once pulled over a tractor trailer packed like sardines with illegals and was told by his superiors to let them go because they were headed for a chicken plant in a small town in my state, part of a very large public corporation owned in large part and run by a very powerful man in my state who gives lots of money to all the right politicians. Your elected officials who pay lip service to the problem of illegal aliens have been complicit in letting these people come up by the thousands in your area probably. The feds obviously do not care about the problem. They know as well as anyone else in the loop what has been going on and they have done nothing about it.

I taught business law night classes at a local college. I had a couple of human resource directors for local chicken plants in my classes trying to get their college degrees. Normally HR managers have to have college degrees to get their jobs, but these guys were fluent in Spanish so they were able to get these jobs without degrees. They both admitted to me their plants hire illegals like crazy, as long as they have reasonable looking paperwork, but both acknowledged that there is a thriving market for fake documents for illegals. It's wink and a nod stuff, and rumor has it these guys have all been encouraging and facilitating this stuff. Not many years back I heard from locals and illegals themselves that some of these plants were actually recruiting them in Mexico and helping them get here and get fake documents, a package deal to get them to come do crappy work for crappy pay.

The feds have to know what's going on. I know a lot of our our local politicians, even some who have gone on to work in the U.S. Congress, Senate, and even a couple who went on to work in high positions at the Dept. of Homeland Security. The guys that came from here at least had to know what was going on, and they were heavily financed by the very industries guilty of bringing these people up. This is a problem that goes all the way through our government, Democrats and Republicans alike. They aren't doing anything about illegals because those in big business profiting from illegals are financing their campaigns. Only now are they staring to crack down, a little, because of all the fuss people are raising. But they still aren't doing nearly enough. They're just talking smack and tossing out a few bones to make it look like they are doing something.

I don't know what the heck to do about illegals, but from what I see in my work I wish they'd at least deport the known criminals. That isn't even going on to any great degree. It's extremely frustrating. The feds know these people are sitting in our local jails and they won't come get them. They are notified every time our local law enforcement have good reason to believe people sitting in our jails are illegals, but the feds just won't do anything about it. Some are pretty serious criminals. I've ended up pleading them to things like sexual assaults on children and all sorts of serious charges, and unless they end up in prison there is almost no chance they'll be deported. Not even all of those who go to prison get deported. It just blows me away.

[TKDietz]

"don't care about illegal aliens. They are yanking your chain if you think they do. "

Should have said: "The feds don't care about illegal aliens. They are successfully yanking your chain if you think they do."

[Paul C. Jesup]

Is Georgia going to monitor the purchase of money orders? If not, all the proposed legislation will do is put a lag in the money flow down to Mexico because illegals will no longer wire money, they'll simply buy money orders and use snail mail.

Actually, illegal immigrants using the USPS to mail moneys from the illegal gains in illegal jobs could be considered a federal crime considering the money was earned through illegal means. This would be using the USPS to launder money which is very illegal.

[gubamyster]

ping

[Marine Inspector]

Unenforceable.

[Marine Inspector]

No offense, but how does Western Union (or whoever) know they are illegal?

They don't and can't and will never send a penny to the State.

[Marine Inspector]

Sounds like they need a birth certificate or visa.

Neither proves your legally in the country.

[doc30]

Typical of government. If you can't stop something, regulate it. If you can't regulated it, then tax it. It's just the evolution of government failure.

[blackie]

Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!

Support our Minutemen Patriots!

Be Ever Vigilant!

[doc30]

Sounds like they need a birth certificate or visa.

Neither proves your legally in the country.

And there are people legally in the U.S. without visas or other documentation proving they are here legally. That includes most western Europeans, Japanese and Canadians on trips of less than 6 months.

[Marine Inspector]

Exactly.

[Marine Inspector]

Note: Western Europeans and Japanese will have docs that prove they are here legally.

The vast majority of Canadians are admitted non-controlled and won't have anything but their Canadian documents, which prove nothing.

[doc30]

Note: Western Europeans and Japanese will have docs that prove they are here legally.

What documents are those? They do not need visas to be in the U.S., just like Canadians. THey are part of the visa waiver program and only need to show a valid passport at the port of entry. It won't be until 2007 that a passport will be required of Canadians crossing at a land crossing. ANd who will train all the banks and financial institutions in understanding the wide variety and excemptions in immigration documentation?