Anti-Immigrant Atmosphere in Georgia

Jenny Jarvie writes in the LA Times:

When Emelina Ramirez’s roommates attacked her, punching and kicking her in the stomach, she called the police for help. The police 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 Hispanic 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 harshest laws against illegal immigration. It is a story that, for many undocumented immigrants, has one moral: Do not trust the police.

“People are living in fear,” said Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, which is attempting to educate Hispanic residents on the state’s new law. That is difficult, he said, because of the vast difference in how local enforcement officials interpret the law. The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, which took effect July 1, requires law enforcement officers to investigate the citizenship status of anyone jailed for a felony crime or driving under the influence. It also directs Georgia’s Department of Public Safety to select and train state patrol officers to enforce federal immigration law while carrying out regular duties. Click here for the rest of the story.

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