Georgia Governor Opens Door to Racial Profiling with New Anti-Immigrant Law; Boycott Called For

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Keith Rushing
krushing@rightsworkinggroup.org
(p) 202.591.3305, (c) 202.557.4291

Washington, D.C. –  (May 13, 2011) Today, the Rights Working Group condemns Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's decision to sign H.B. 87, a law that could lead to rampant racial profiling and discrimination through the targeting of Georgia's immigrant and native-born population.

The Rights Working Group, a national coalition of  more than 300 member organizations, is asking everyone who opposes racial profiling to join Somos GA's call to boycott the state of Georgia.

"Although the federal courts have struck down key provisions of Arizona's anti-immigrant, racial profiling bill, S.B. 1070, Georgia ignored those decisions and  moved forward with this odious, copycat bill," said Margaret Huang, Executive Director of the Rights Working Group coalition, which leads the "Racial Profiling: Face the Truth" campaign.

Although the federal government has the responsibility to enforce the nation’s  immigration laws, H.B. 87 would empower local and state officers to demand that people, based on their appearance, produce documents to prove they are legally documented residents of Georgia.

"It's outrageous that Gov. Deal would even consider signing this clearly unconstitutional bill into law," Huang said. "The right to due process and to equal protection under the nation's laws is enshrined in the U. S. Constitution. But this new law will cause local and state police in Georgia to violate the Constitution. It will mean that people based on their looks, on their physical profile, will be discriminated against by being asked to prove their legal status."

H.B. 87 would:

• Empower local and state police to arrest and transport undocumented immigrants to state and federal jails.
• Establish an Immigration Enforcement Review Board to investigate complaints about local and state government officials failing to enforce state immigration-related laws.
• Subject people who knowingly transport or harbor undocumented immigrants with up to 12 months imprisonment or $1,000 in fines.

Sian Miranda Singh OFaolain, a Rights Working Group field organizer who attended today's rally at the Georgia State Capitol to protest the law, referred to the law "as a throwback to the days of slavery when African-Americans could not leave a plantation without a note from their masters. Blacks who were freed had to carry their manumission papers everywhere they went."

OFaolain grew up in Atlanta, a city with a deep history in the civil rights movement. "I'm from here and I'm ashamed that a bill like this could become law."

One Georgia resident at today's rally, who asked not to be identified, called the economic boycott the people's veto. "The boycott is a way for member organizations to be in solidarity with the immigrant community in Georgia. The intention of the law is to make people afraid. The immigrant community here has been quiet, staying in the shadows, doing their job, not coming out and this has totally galvanized people. It's creating solidarity between black folks and brown folks."

The Rights Working Group is calling on the federal government to reassert its exclusive authority to enforce immigration law and prohibit racial profiling in all its forms. Specifically:

• Congress should introduce and pass the "End Racial Profiling Act," which would prohibit profiling based on race, religion, national origin and ethnicity by federal, state and local police.
• The Department of Justice must strengthen its 2003 Guidance on the Use of Race by Federal Law Enforcement Agencies to prohibit all forms of racial profiling.
• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should reconsider programs that use state and local criminal justice systems to enforce civil immigration laws. Specifically, DHS should eliminate the 287(g) Program and halt the expansion of the Secure Communities Initiative until adequate civil rights and civil liberties protections are put into place.

For interviews with Margaret Huang or Sian Miranda Singh OFaolain contact Communications Manager Keith Rushing at (p) 202.591.3305 or (m) 202.557.4291.

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Formed in the aftermath of September 11th, Rights Working Group is a national coalition of nearly 300 organizations from across the country representing civil liberties, national security, immigrant rights and human rights advocates.  RWG seeks to restore due process and human rights protections that have eroded since 9/11, ensuring that the rights of all people in the U.S. are respected regardless of citizenship or immigration status, race, national origin, religion or ethnicity.