Politics & Government

Portions of Georgia's HB 87 Blocked

Two parts of the controversial law blocked; governor's office promises to appeal. Cobb Immigrant Alliance will host a public forum Thursday night in Smyrna.

A federal judge in Atlanta halted two of the most controversial provisions of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011 that is to become law on Friday pending the outcome of a lawsuit citing the legislation as unconstitutional, according to several news outlets including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The judge, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Thrash, paused the provisions, one which would give law enforcement officials the power to stop suspicious persons and request documentation of citizenship and another that would punish people who knowingly gave rides to or harbored undocumented individuals.

Rich Pellegrino, , was one of many to oppose the legislation.

Find out what's happening in Smyrna-Viningswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Cobb Immigrant Alliance will be hosting a public forum Thursday from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at , 4061 King Springs Road in Smyrna. According to Pellegrino, the purpose of the meeting is to dispel myths and educate about immigration issues, including the new law resulting from House Bill 87. For more information on Thursday's meeting, see here.

The Immigrants' Rights Project Director of the ACLU of Georgia, appeared at town hall meeting in Mableton. The lawsuit states that the legislation is unconstitutional because it interferes with federal enforcement, encourages racial profiling and lead to Fourth Amendment violations, Shahshahani said.

Find out what's happening in Smyrna-Viningswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“This is an important victory for all Georgians that care about our civil liberties and don’t want Georgia to turn into a show-your-papers police state,” Shahshahani told South Cobb Patch on Monday afternoon. “The judge blocked the core provisions of the law, including the show me your paper provision and the parts that would criminalize hospitality.”

Gov. Nathan Deal's office described their reaction as "disappointed." 

“Curiously, the court writes ‘all illegal aliens will leave Georgia’ if the law is enforced, as if it is appalled at the thought of people attaining visas before coming to our nation," said Brian Robinson, the governor’s deputy chief of staff for communications in a statement. 

He said that the ruling helped "crystallize" an underlying problem in the country and state: the federal government becoming an obstacle. 

"Georgians can rest assured that this battle doesn’t end here; we will appeal this decision,” Robinson said. The statement points to the fact that 21 of the 23 sections of the law were upheld.

However, Shahshahani said, “At some point, there will be a hearing on the lawsuit or hearing of the complaint. As far as appeals, that remains to be seen.”

Pellegrino, an outspoken South Cobb opponent of the legislation, said, “We’re encouraged by [the ruling.] Of course, we would’ve hoped the whole bill would’ve been stopped, but we’ll take what we can get…we knew it was unconstitutional. They knew it was unconstitutional, but they still went ahead with it at the expense of the taxpayers…We want to get the whole law wiped off the books in Georgia.”

He said the law is a diversion from “real issues” such as “jobs, the economy and crime in the community” and that without it, “the state and America will learn to work together to solve the real issues instead of targeting and scape-goating any population, especially immigrants.”

- Patch editors Laura Sullivan and Scott Bernarde contributed to this story. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Smyrna-Vinings