ATLANTA — Multiple coalitions of Latino community organizers and advocates came out this week to decry increasingly harsh rhetoric on immigration in the wake of the killing of Laken Riley as well as a Georgia bill that would require local agencies to enforce federal immigration law or face penalties.
Several public news conferences were held Thursday ahead of the State of the Union address that heavily featured the topics of immigration and border security and highlighted the political flashpoint Riley's death has become.
Against this backdrop, groups from Cobb County to the Capitol Building in Atlanta voiced their opposition to what one advocate, Richard Pellegrino, called "fearmongering, hatemongering and misinformation" against immigrants, both documented and undocumented.
Pellegrino is a cofounder of the Cobb Immigration Alliance, which alongside the Cobb chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a representative of the Cobb County Sherriff's Office held a news conference at Marietta Square. Additional news conferences were held by the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights and at the Capitol with GALEO, Georgia House Rep. Pedro "Pete" Marin and an attorney from Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
"We're one community and we wanna again establish this welcoming environment, wanna put the word out there to our immigrant brothers and sisters, migrant refugees, that we welcome you," Pellegrino said. "And if anybody is attacking you, anybody is making it hard for you to be here, you contact us and we've got your backs."
The other two demonstrations focused more specifically on Georgia H.B. 1105, which passed the state House on a 97-74 vote on Crossover Day and could become law if the state Senate also passes it.
If enacted, the bill would turn what is currently an encouragement under state law that local law enforcement agencies "work in conjunction with federal immigration authorities" into an official requirement. It would also turn an authorization for local agencies to enter into memorandums of understanding with the U.S. Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies "for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration and customs laws and the detention, removal and investigation" of unauthorized immigrants into a requirement.
Further, the bill would require local agencies to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if someone booked into a jail is "unable to provide documentation indicating their lawful status."
Any local law enforcement agency not in compliance with those new requirements would be "subject to the withholding of state funding or state administered federal funding."
The bill's backers, 11Alive's Doug Richards reported last week, said it would "send a clear message that adherence to the law is not optional" as state Rep. J. Collins (R-Villa Rica) put it. Invoking Riley's death, Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah) endorsed the bill and framed any crime committed by an unauthorized immigrant as an "avoidable crime."
The groups speaking Thursday across metro Atlanta rejected that framing of the bill.
"I strongly oppose this bill due to its lack of moral decency. Its sole purpose is to stigmatize and undermine specific communities of people who are different," Rep. Marin said. "We cannot in good conscience legislate intolerance."
The attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Meredyth Yoon, said it would constrain local law enforcement under an unworkable requirement.
"Local police should not be forced to interpret and enforce complex immigration laws," she said. "This bill will invite error, separate families and distort local law enforcement priorities."
Bearing signs including slogans such as, "We are not scapegoats," the activists with the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights said they had a petition with more than 6,000 signatures opposing H.B. 1105.
"The people of Georgia want this legislation to stop and die in this legislative session," said Geovani Serrano.
Carlos Garcia, the Cobb Sheriff's Office Latino liaison, said he was "an immigrant and American by choice." He didn't speak specifically about the legislation, but said he was "proud to serve my community here in Cobb County" and that "we all of us want to live in a safe and secure community."
"But when we marginalize specific individuals for their legal status, we create an issue for everybody," Garcia said.
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