The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Senate Republicans on Tuesday announced that they intend to make illegal immigration a top priority of the election-year legislative session that begins in January, lining up behind a proposal to prevent undocumented workers from receiving taxpayer-funded services in Georgia.
The bill would put the Department of Motor Vehicles in charge of verifying that recipients of state benefits, from Medicaid checks to professional licenses to unemployment benefits, are legal residents of Georgia and the United States.
"There are 350,000 illegal aliens in the state of Georgia," said state Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), speaking at a Capitol news conference with Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock). "Every dollar we spend on services for [them] is a dollar that's not able to go to a Georgian or some of our neediest citizens or even people like the evacuees who are here legally and need our help."
The measure, Senate Bill 170, was introduced by Rogers during last winter's session of the Legislature but was not acted on.
Posted by Richard at September 14, 2005