I came across this quote & I felt like it should be shared.
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better: The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew victory nor defeat.”
Teddy Roosevelt
“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
IMMIGRATION (HB87)
a- General Conclusions:
With every great privilege, comes an inherent responsibility to abide by the laws that protect that privilege.
- The Pew Hispanic Center recently determined that Georgia’s immigration population ranks 7th in the nation
- That same study estimates an illegal immigration population that nears 425,000, or a city population second only to Atlanta
As our local and state budgets become smaller and smaller, a greater scrutiny has to be given to those who receive services from those budgets.
- From 2000-2009, Georgia’s illegal population grew by 115%, the fastest of any state.
The fiscal burdens created by illegal immigrants directly impact the cornerstone services Georgia provides its citizens and the level at which they are provided, the Federation for American Immigration Reform estimate that burden to be $2.4 Billion per year. The services illegal immigration impacts:
- Education
- Healthcare
- Law Enforcement / Corrections
Georgia’s unemployment rate is at historic levels and it is our job as legislators to protect job opportunities for Georgia’s legal citizens.
This legislation is necessary to address Georgia’s serious social and economical problems caused by the federal government’s failure to secure our border.
b- Specific to Legislative Action:
** AS ORIGINALLY Filed**
Expands the use of federal E-VERIFY system.
- The E-VERIFY system is an accurate, no-cost, Internet-based federal database designed to verify the eligibility to legally work in the United States. It is only intended for newly hired employees. It is not a screening system. More than 16,000 Georgia businesses already use E-VERIFY.
Require the use of secure and verifiable identification documents for any official use, including the dispensation of public benefits.
Provide greater incentives for law enforcement agencies to participate in federal partnerships that will provide faster and more efficient identification and transfer of illegal aliens.
Provides new tools for law enforcement to allow greater latitude in handling immigration issues:
- Provides for greater opportunities to prosecute those that knowingly harbor or transport illegal aliens in our state, or knowingly entice entrance of illegal aliens into our state
- Provides greater opportunity for law enforcement officers to identify illegal aliens during the course of an investigation
- Provides penalties for government officials who fail to enforce state laws related to immigration
