No matter how many times I read this stuff, it makes me sick. It's in the works in a bunch of other States, including Michigan.
Prison Lobbyists Help Spread Anti-Immigrant Laws to U.S. South
By Matthew Cardinale
May 26, 2011
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55802CLIPS:
ATLANTA, Georgia, May 26, 2011 (IPS) - Earlier this month, Georgia became the third state to enact some of the most anti-immigrant legislation in recent U.S. history, when Governor Nathan Deal, a Republican, signed the bill, HB 87.
One national lobbying group that was instrumental in bringing together business interests and lawmakers was the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It was an ALEC task force, which included a representative from a private prison - along with lawmakers from Arizona and other states - who helped draft Arizona's immigration bill, which became a template for Georgia's law as well.
The federal government pays over 60 dollars per detainee per day to house men at CCA's Stewart Detention Center, the largest immigration detention centre in the U.S., located in Lumpkin, Georgia.
CCA's top management in Tennessee contributed the largest block of out-of-state campaign contributions received by Arizona's Republican governor, Jan Brewer. Brewer employs two former CCA lobbyists as aides who assisted with signing Arizona's SB 1070 into law.
Georgia State Sen. Donald Balfour, a key Republican supporter of Georgia's HB 87, in 2006, 2007, and 2008 received 2,000 dollars each year in donations from CCA; in 2009 he received 1,000; and in 2010, 750. # Governor Deal received from CCA 5,000 dollars in 2010 for the General Election. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has received at least 7,000 dollars from CCA since 2006. # Georgia Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers has received at least 3,500 dollars from CCA since 2008.
But not all Republicans were thrilled about the new laws, particularly Republican legislators representing rural Georgia districts. Many Georgia farmers are believed to rely upon low-cost immigrant labour to perform tasks like picking onions and plucking chickens.
Time will tell how the new immigration laws - even the very passage of them, whether the courts uphold them or not - will impact immigrants and their families living in Georgia - that is, whether they will stay here or decide to take their chances in another U.S. state.
Solid story with financial / donation data points. Using the methods used by the NPR team in their set of GA stories to tie the bills to the money and staff in the Governors and State Legislators.
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