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Category Archives: immigrants

Fourteen Students Jailed Protesting University Bans on Undocumented Students (UPDATE 1)

February 5, 2016 GLORIA TATUM 2 comments

Photograph courtesy of Dr. Laura Emiko Soltis, Freedom University. (APN) ATLANTA — On Monday, February 01, 2016, fourteen students, including six undocumented students, were arrested in civil disobedience actions at two universities. Almost one hundred undocumented and documented students integrated classrooms at Georgia State University (GSU); the University of Georgia, Athens (UGA); and Georgia Tech. The purpose […]

Clarkston Mayor, Ted Terry, Welcoming Syrian Refugees

September 16, 2015 BARBARA PAYNE 3 comments

(APN) ATLANTA — Mayor Ted Terry of Clarkston is stepping up with compassionate solutions, while many others merely watch the Syrian refugee disaster unfold on Facebook. “Clarkston is ready to step up and do our part to welcome more Syrians, more Iraqis, more Afghanis to our City,” Terry told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on September 10, 2015. “Our Christian […]

Charges Dropped for Five Who Protested at Stewart Detention Center

April 15, 2015 ANNA SIMONTON Leave a comment

(APN) ATLANTA — Five people arrested for criminal trespassing while protesting at an immigration detention center in November 2014 have been cleared of all charges. Known as the Stewart Five: Anton Flores, Kevin Caron, Maureen Fitzsimmons, Rebecca Kanner, and Jason McGaughey were arrested on November 22, 2014, at an annual demonstration held outside of Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, […]

State Senate Votes to Ban AP U.S. History, Claims the Courses are “Biased”

March 14, 2015 ANNA SIMONTON 16 comments

(APN) ATLANTA — This week, on March 11, 2015, in a 38-17 party line vote, the Georgia State Senate passed SR 80, a resolution to force Advanced Placement U.S. History (APUSH) out of Georgia schools. Advanced Placement (AP) classes enable high school students to take college level courses and receive college credit. They are administered by the College Board, […]

Federal Judge Throws Out Two Provisions of Georgia’s Immigrant Law

July 1, 2011 GLORIA TATUM Leave a comment

(APN) ATLANTA — On June 27, 2011, US District Judge Thomas Thrash, Jr., put on hold two core parts of HB 87 which would have gone into effect July 1. His ruling blocks police from asking about immigration status during investigations of criminal violations. Investigations into someone going a few miles over the speed limit, rolling a stop sign, […]

Lawsuit Filed to Challenge Georgia’s Anti-Immigrant Law

June 3, 2011 GLORIA TATUM Leave a comment

(APN) ATLANTA — On Thursday, June 02, 2011, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Asian Law Caucus, and a coalition of other organizations including civil rights groups filed a class action lawsuit challenging Georgia’s discriminatory anti-immigrant law passed last month and inspired by Arizona’s notorious SB 1070. […]

(IPS) Prison Lobbyists Help Spread Anti-Immigrant Laws to U.S. South

May 26, 2011 MATTHEW CHARLES Leave a comment

This article first appeared on the Inter-Press Service at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55802 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. Among other things, the bill allows law enforcement officials to ask suspicious […]

Governor Deal Poised to Sign Divisive Immigration Bill in Georgia

May 12, 2011 GLORIA TATUM Leave a comment

(APN) ATLANTA — Governor Nathan Deal is poised to sign the controversial racial profiling immigration bill, HB 87, into law. He has until May 24, 2011, to sign or veto the bill before it automatically becomes law, that is, forty days since it was passed by the legislature. Deal is in a bit of a bind because Georgia Republicans are […]

Seven Undocumented Students Arrested for Wanting an Education

April 6, 2011 MATTHEW CHARLES Leave a comment

(APN) ATLANTA — Seven undocumented students from around the nation were arrested today while staging a sit-down protest on Courtland Street at Georgia State University for over an hour. Risking prison and deportation these brave students practiced the age old tradition of civil disobedience to protest the shameful laws which ban them from attending college. Georgina Perez, Viridiana Martinez, […]

8,000 Rally against Georgia Anti-Immigrant Bills

March 25, 2011 GLORIA TATUM Leave a comment

(APN) ATLANTA — Over 8,000 activists rallied outside the State Capitol on Thursday, March 24, 2011, to show their outrage and disgust over Georgia’s Arizona-type immigration bills. As previously reported by Atlanta Progressive News, legislation, HB 87, has already passed the State House. A similar bill, SB 40, has also passed the State Senate. While the vast majority of protesters […]

Some Georgia Immigration Bills Advance, Others Stagnate or Fail

March 6, 2011 MATTHEW CHARLES Leave a comment

(APN) ATLANTA — With several immigration-related bills introduced this year in the Georgia Legislature, some of the most sweeping measures–modeled after recently passed immigration reforms in Arizona–are advancing to passage, while other bills face hurdles or have stagnated. Atlanta Progressive News has attended committee hearings and observed floor debates related to several of these bills. HB 87, “SHOW ME […]

Prison Firms, Suspected Hate Group behind Georgia’s Immigrant Bills

February 22, 2011 MATTHEW CHARLES Leave a comment

(APN) ATLANTA — Private prison firms and right-wing hate groups have supported, lobbied for, and–either directly or indirectly–helped to craft several bills pending in the Georgia legislature this Session, including HB 87, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011. “Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)- we know they have lobbyists here,” Larry Pellegrini, a long-time activist and lobbyist […]