by Cristopher Rubio
Let me just start by saying that I love living in Georgia. I’ve lived here since 2007 and there’s plenty to do (in Atlanta anyway), and the weather’s not too bad either. But given the way that the state’s lawmakers and citizens have treated the extremely divisive issue of immigration since my time here, I must say that I’m embarrassed to call myself a Georgian.
Here are some of the following things that have happened in just the last 18 months:
- March 2010: Kennesaw State University student Jessica Colotl ignited a national debate on immigration after it was found that she was paying in-state tuition despite her undocumented status. After spending two months at an Alabama detention center, Colotl returned to Kennesaw State only to endure the constant harassment from classmates and others.
- May 2010: A bar owner in Cobb County thought it’d be cute to post this outside his bar. Reminds me of that Georgia bar owner that was selling these shirts during the 2008 Presidential Elections.
- October 2010: The State Board of Regents voted to ban undocumented immigrants from attending the top colleges in the state.
- March 2011: Third-graders in a Gwinnett County school were given an assignment titled, “What is an Illegal Alien?” The assignment included a short passage and some multiple-choice questions, one of which asked, “What does the U.S. do with illegal aliens?” Wonder what the “correct” answer was…
So yeah, this isn’t the most tolerant state in the union. To make matters worse, during the 2010 Gubernatorial election, both the Republican candidate Nathan Deal and Democratic candidate Roy Barnes made it clear that they supported Arizona’s HB 1070. Basically, whomever Georgians voted for was going to implement something very similar. Great.
Deal was elected Governor, and our lawmakers wasted no time in passing a similar law. Deal signed HB 87 into law in May, ignoring the lessons from Arizona and the potential loss to our tourism and agricultural industries, among others. The law, set to take effect on July 1, is being challenged in court. However, a judge granted a temporary injunction last week (surprise, surprise), delaying the law from taking effect for at least another few months.
Many undocumented immigrants have already left the state since HB 87’s passing, leaving many farmers with few workers to harvest their crops. Governor Deal’s answer? A program that hired ex-convicts to tend the fields.
Time will only tell what happens with HB 87, but it’s still frustrating that our political leaders passed a law that hurts the Georgia economy and doesn’t help paint the state in a very positive light.
Luckily there are great organizations like GALEO and glinc (to name a few) that help give a voice to the voiceless. But there is still a long way to go in this fight, and I fear things getting worse for the immigrant community in Georgia. After all, that’s been my experience since moving to the Peach State.
To learn more about Cris, visit ElKaminoReal.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.
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About Cristopher Rubio
This is so True, The south is the new frontier on the battle for Immigration Reform.
This is sad but so true. I do hope that things get better. I guess things always have to get worse to get better and the publicity (negative for the most part) that Georgia is getting is going to force politicians to think and act on immigration.
I had no idea it was like that there. That’s very sad to hear that in such a diverse country things like this are still happening and some educated. People make every un-educated discussions. I hope things can change for the better.
Georgia is a very tolerant state. There are no headlines of murderous lynch mobs chasing illegal aliens around. Take a drive throught the state and you will see a wide cross section of many different ethnicities and nationalities represented from around the world. Our international corporations employ people from everywhere and it is not hard to find small private businesses that are owned by legal immigrants. While making your way around one will notice many non-English languages represented on business marques and signs, as well as church signs too. What the citizens of Georgia object to are folks who do not want to respect the laws and legal channels for entering this country. Show me anyone who enjoys having someone break into their home and then demand homeowner’s rights? It’s not a far stretch to understand the legal citizens, while willing to share, are not happy about those who have a mentality that they have a right to cut in line and not follow the rules in order to take something that is not theirs. It is proven that Americans, and Georgians as well, are some of the most generous, loving and accepting people in the world, but they have a right to protect their families, properties, and communities.
Thanks for the comments. JT thank you for yours as well. I see the points you are making about our immigration system and I agree that the system is broken and needs fixing. Trust me, either way I’d love for this to get settled. But if you look at the four situations that I described you can see forms of racism and intolerance. For example, in Jessica’s case, yes she is undocumented, but she was brought to this country without her consent. Now that’s she’s in this country what is she supposed to do? Is she supposed to return to the country she no longer knows? I mean would you rather her sit on her butt and do nothing, or perhaps resort to a life of crime? No, she pursued higher education and yet she was constantly harassed by her peers at KSU. The problem is not Jessica, it’s the system that has allowed for things to happen this way. Blame must not be shifted on her, it must be focused on our lawmakers. We want a solutions.
And just because a place is diverse does not make it tolerant. I agree that this state is very diverse, but again, the things I have seen say otherwise. My goal here was to bring some attention to what is happening or has happened. So are you saying that it’s OK to be tolerant of legal immigrants but not to those who are undocumented? Alright, so we should ignore the fact that those immigrants with money are much more likely to gain legal access to this country. I am from a part of South Texas that has seen a huge increase in Mexican business owners move to the US in the last two years. People with money don’t have any issues coming over here legally! Is it preferential for this country to have wealthy business owners immigrate to our country as opposed to poor farmers? Sure, but let’s not act like every undocumented immigrant can “wait in line” like everyone else. How are you supposed to “wait in line” when the affluent can decide tomorrow that they want to move over here and be here in a month?
There are undocumented people from all over the world hanging out in Georgia. I knew a lady from Europe, who had many friends in the US that were from Europe as well. She made me aware of several who skirted the law for fear of being sent back, so the issue is not pointed at one ethnicity.
When I learned that my child had stolen some candy from the local store, I made the effort to make him return it. I didn’t demand that the shop owner give it to us because he didn’t have a better security system to prevent the candy from being stolen. The candy was returned because that was the right thing to do.
Years ago, I was at a party of a person who was quite wealthy. One of the party attendees decided she needed to make a number of long distance phone calls because SHE decided the fellow was rich enough to afford it. She thought is wasn’t fair that he had the means for a lifestyle she wanted, and she was going to help herself to what wasn’t hers. She didn’t give much consideration to the hard work he had put in to afford that livestyle. Poor as she was, she was not justified in her actions.
Unfortunately every state has some sort of hate towards immigrants. Some are more noticed than others, but it does exist everywhere. Jessica from KSU should lift up her head up high for trying to get educated. Have you seen the news lately on how some politicians our doing with our tax money and we should applaud them? Too bad that some state laws are so ridiculous! They should think about what Jessica would do if one day she decides to have children and she can’t feed them. Yes, fall into the cycle of the one she is trying to avoid by getting educated. U.S is sending the wrong message, instead of passing the dream act, and allowing thousands of immigrants get educated and enrich this country with power and diversity, they rather suffer the consequences later and continue allowing this country to go bankrupt.
so interesting,,,,my mom taught me at the age of 10 >\< ( i'm 60 now) that we should NEVER accept the "melting pot" mentality. she taught me that in a melting pot everything loses its form, uniqueness & originality. she said we should be like siete mares, the seafood dish. in this each item maintains its' flavor, contributing to the whole. i've taught this to my children and they have taught it to their children. my mam lives on!
i agree
Decides?? (chooses) to have children she can not feed?!!!