Originally published on Immigration Impact by Seth Hoy.
Despite repeated warnings from business groups, tourism and industry boards and advocates about the hefty price tag attached to Arizona-style legislation, state lawmakers continued to push “get tough” copycat proposals. Many ultimately rejected SB1070-style legislation (26, to date) due to high costs and political backlash, while others severely watered down, altered or put on hold legislation targeting undocumented immigrants. But states that did pass anti-immigrant legislation, like Georgia and Indiana, now face costly, uphill legal battles.
Yesterday, the ACLU, National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and several civil rights groups filed a class action lawsuit against Georgia’s copycat law signed into law by Governor Nathan Deal last month. Georgia’s law, HB 87, allows police to demand proof of citizenship during traffic stops, includes penalties for people who harbor or transport undocumented immigrants, and “makes it unjustifiably difficult for individuals without specific identification documents to access state facilities and services.” Among other things, the ACLU’s lawsuit charges that HB 87 is unconstitutional because it violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, violates the Fourth Amendment by authorizing “unreasonable seizures and arrests,” and “restricts the constitutional right to travel freely throughout the United States.”
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