LAT: (Georgia) Citizenship checks strain trust in police

[Eugene]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Citizenship checks strain trust in police

Georgia law puts illegal immigrants at risk as victims
of crime and racial profiling, Latino activists say.

By Jenny Jarvie, Times Staff Writer
July 29, 2007

ATLANTA — Emelina Ramirez called police to tell them her
roommates were attacking her, punching and kicking her
in the stomach. When the police arrived, they handcuffed
her, took her to jail and ran her fingerprints through a
federal database. She is now in an Alabama cell awaiting
deportation.

In the last month, Ramirez's story has spread beyond the
Latino community in Carrollton, the small rural town west
of Atlanta where she lived, and across Georgia, which has
just enacted one of the nation's toughest laws against
illegal immigration. It is a story that, for many
undocumented immigrants, has one moral: Do not trust
the police.

-snip-

The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act,
which took effect July 1, requires law enforcement
officers to investigate the citizenship status of anyone
charged with a felony or driving under the influence. It
also directs the state Public Safety Department to select
and train Georgia state patrol officers to enforce federal
immigration law while carrying out regular duties.

Across the state, however, Latino activists say that local
officials are increasingly running background checks on
Latinos who commit misdemeanors, such as minor traffic
violations, or even those who go to the police to report
thefts or fraud.

At the same time, criminals are targeting undocumented
immigrants, aware that they tend to have large amounts
of cash and are wary of reporting crimes.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-deport29jul29,0,7347330.story

[glowing]

1. I'd say a lot of illegal immigrants will be leaving the state of Georgia

if this keeps up.

[youngdem]

3. I suspect that is the idea, no?

:shrug:

Illegal immigration creates situations for which there is no perfect solution.

I don't blame the states for trying to grapple with the problem.

[jody]

2. I expect other states will pass laws similar to Georgia's. n/t