Smyrna Woman Speaks at Vigil for Immigrants' Rights

Members of the Cobb Immigrant Alliance sported orange shirts that read, “No person is illegal,” in Marietta’s Glover Park on Wednesday. There the CIA held a vigil and press conference to encourage Gov. Nathan Deal to reconsider signing controversial immigration legislation that would allow law enforcement officials to request citizenship status documents of suspects.

The legislation would also require businesses to use new verifications of employees’ work eligibility.

Richard Pellegrino, an Austell resident and director of CIA, said “We’re trying to reach the governor, his heart as well as his head,” and to bring more voices to the table on this issue before the legislation is finally signed.

“Let’s get all parties together to find one (solution) that does the least harm,” Pellegrino said.

“Let’s enact comprehensive reform, proper border security and give a path to citizenship,” he continued.

According to this story by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Deal is expected to sign before the end of next week, and the enforcement measure has already caused one human rights group, the Atlanta-based The U.S. Human Rights Network, to move its biannual conference out of state.

Pellegrino said the legislation has and will bring several lawsuits, one of which he is a plaintiff. He also said the measure will harm the state’s $10 billion tourism industry and will cause more organizations and businesses to boycott Georgia when it comes to hosting large conferences or events.

According to the AJC, the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau has publicly opposed the legislation, saying that it is “unwelcoming," and the Atlanta City Council has also asked Deal not to sign. After Arizona enacted a similar law last year, several businesses and organizations canceled their conventions and conferences.

Pellegrino questioned how much additional funding it would take to enforce the bill if signed into law and where the county or state would find the funds to enforce it.

“In Cobb County, our surplus is gone. We’re now in a deficit,” he said.

Three speakers besides Pellegrino –Gerald Rose of the New Order National Human Rights Organizations, Larry Pellegrini of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights and Smyrna's Pat Burns of CIA– shared reasons why the bill would be detrimental to the state of Georgia and to Cobb County.

Pellegrini, a lobbyist, said, “You don’t have to be governor to realize the economic impact this will have on the state.”

Pellegrino said the bill, similar to the Senate Bill 1070 in Arizona, is “race-based,” and would spark additional racial profiling.

For one CIA member,  it was imperative that he attend today’s event. Carlos, who declined to give his last name, handed out the “Immigrant Survival Manual,” written by Pellegrino, to people in the crowd during the conference.

“If we don’t come today, who knows what they’ll do next? They’ve already violated our human and civil rights. I want to try to educate people of American society as well as immigrants,” Carlos said.

He emigrated from Mexico City, Mexico to the U.S. 12 years ago and is now married to an American woman.

 “I saw a change towards me” during the mid-2000s when immigration was a hot-button election issue, he said. “There was more aggression towards Hispanics.”

He recalls vividly when two white young men ran him off the road once and tried to fight him, because he was Hispanic, he said.

“It’s important to tell our side of the story. This is not only affecting immigrants, but affecting all American citizens,” he said.

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