HB 59 would prohibit all 35 public universities and colleges as well as 26 in the Technical College System from admitting undocumented students, regardless of their academic credentials.

This bill is economically shortsighted, fundamentally unjust, and unnecessary.

Economically Shortsighted

 Denying higher education access to Georgia’s undocumented students fails to capitalize on the state’s investment in the students’ K-12 education.

 Many students may well regularize their status under current or future federal laws and are likely to remain in Georgia.

 Facilitating educational access to students also promotes economic growth. By increasing the number of college graduates who earn higher wages, Georgia generates significantly more income, sales, and property taxes.

 If this bill were to become law, undocumented students will not be able to utilize their full potential to advance the competitive edge of the state that is their home.

Fundamentally Unjust

 Banning access to public higher education to students who graduate from high school in Georgia violates principles of fundamental fairness recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1982 landmark case of Plyler v. Doe. Undocumented students are by and large talented high achievers who were brought to the U.S. as children by their parents. They persevered against the odds to earn their admission to college.

 Higher education is also increasingly essential to an individual’s potential and opportunity.

Unnecessary

 Only 501 of 310,000 students within the University System of Georgia were found to be undocumented per an investigation conducted by the Board of Regents. It is unwise to burden a great number of school administrators as well as students with authorized status with additional verification requirements in an attempt to exclude a small number of students who are otherwise qualified and paying their own way.

 In addition, allowing undocumented students to enroll in public colleges and universities in Georgia poses no additional cost to the state. These students are already paying out of state tuition which covers more than the cost of instruction

Download the Fact Sheet

Lawmakers Need Accurate Information About Long-Term Savings Potential of Proposed Bills

States are missing opportunities to pass legislation that would reform criminal justice systems and help alleviate budget shortfalls because legislators are not getting accurate information about how much money the bills would save, according to a new American Civil Liberties Union report released today.

The process of evaluating the fiscal impact of proposed legislation needs to be overhauled, the report finds, because too often states fail to provide legislators with information about the long-term savings potential of bills and instead focus only on up-front costs.

“States are needlessly spending billions of dollars incarcerating people even in the face of research proving that there are far cheaper and more effective solutions to crime,” said Inimai Chettiar, ACLU legislative policy counsel who co-authored the report along with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “It is imperative that lawmakers get full and complete budget analyses of proposed legislation aimed at reducing our prison populations so that they can see how these laws will help balance their budgets while continuing to protect public safety – and then take action to enact these laws.”

According to the report, it costs states between $18,000 and $30,000 per prisoner per year, and of the 2.3 million people incarcerated nationally, the vast majority are housed in state prison systems. Over the past 25 years, state corrections spending has grown 674 percent, according to the report, outpacing the growth of other government expenditures and making corrections the fourth-largest category of state spending. The report also finds that since the late 1980s, 14 states have doubled their spending and 30 states have increased their spending by half.

“Accurate and complete information about the budgetary costs and savings of criminal justice reforms will help states reduce this exorbitant spending while protecting communities and combating the vast racial disparities that plague the nation’s criminal justice system,” said Chettiar.

Some 40 percent of the legislation proposed in statehouses across the nation does not receive any sort of fiscal analysis. Without an official certification that a bill would save money, legislators are less inclined to vote for it, the report says. And even when states do analyze the fiscal impact of bills, the majority of them fail to analyze that impact beyond a year or two.

Compounding the problem, the methodology used to arrive at fiscal impact conclusions is often not made clear, which hampers the ability of lawmakers and the public to decide how accurate a given conclusion is.

A full copy of the report, “Improving Budget Analysis of State Criminal Justice Reforms: A Strategy for Better Outcomes and Saving Money,” can be found at:  www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/improving-budget-analysis-state-criminal-justice-reforms-strategy-better

ACLU Blog  - Downsizing Incarceration is Good for Fairness, Safety, and our Wallets

The Obama administration announced today that it will keep in place a proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services that determines which essential services are covered by new health insurance plans. The administration resisted heavy pressure from the United States Conference on Catholic Bishops and other groups to permit a broad range of religiously affiliated organizations to deny contraception coverage to their employees.  The administration’s decision will ensure effective birth control will be more affordable for millions of women.

“Virtually all women from all religious backgrounds use contraception at some point in their lives to protect their health and plan their families and their lives,” said Laura W. Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office. ”With today’s action, the administration refused to give religious employers the right to discriminate.”

 Have you noticed how some candidates pursuing the presidency are bending, twisting and misconstruing our precious Constitution to fit their personal views?  The ACLU has taken note, and with our mission of protecting the Constitution, we’re not happy about it.

That’s why we’ve launched ACLU Liberty Watch 2012. While other people will focus on flip-flopping and political maneuvering, ACLU Liberty Watch is the one and only initiative solely focused on how candidates of all parties discuss the Constitution and the fundamental laws and liberties of our country.

Join ACLU Liberty Watch 2012 today by following us on Twitter and Facebook.

The ACLU is determined to make sure civil liberties, freedom, justice and equality are at the heart of campaign discourse and that they are represented fairly and accurately.

As a non-partisan organization, the ACLU does not endorse any candidate, but we still have a role to play in this election. Through ACLU Liberty Watch 2012, we’re monitoring what all the candidates are saying about our constitutional rights and setting the record straight when they play fast and loose with our civil liberties. We’re even assembling a report card to rate the candidates on their civil liberties track records.

Help us watch the candidates and hold them accountable. Follow ACLU Liberty Watch 2012 on Twitter and Facebook.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Forum: Human Rights, Race and Immigration

Columbus Public Library

3000 Macon Road

6:00-8:00pm

Speakers:

Adelina Nicholls, Georgia Latino Association for Human Rights

Nathaniel Sanderson, Columbus NAACP

Ruby Nell Sales, Spirit House Project

Azadeh Shahshahani, ACLU of Georgia

Moderator:

Florence Wakoko, Columbus State University, Associate Professor of Sociology

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Workshop: Building Black/Brown Unity

Noon-5:00pm

Black and Latino activists will gather to collaborate on ending racial profiling. Anton Flores of Lagrange and Theresa El-Amin of Columbus will co-facilitate the workshop.

Space is limited. Participants must register by December 9.

To register, send email to PSSARN@aol.com

ACLU Filed Amicus Brief that Argues University Can Hold
CounselingStudents to Professional Ethics Standards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 29, 2011

ATLANTA – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is slated to hear arguments today in the case of a graduate student seeking reinstatement in the Augusta State University (ASU) counseling program. The student, Jennifer Keeton, seeks a court order allowing her to participate in clinical training even though she insists on a right – rooted in her religious beliefs – to counsel lesbian, gay and bisexual clients that being gay is immoral. Keeton had aspirations to become a guidance counselor working with students in grades K-12.

ASU’s counseling program requires its graduate students to adhere to the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics, which prohibits counselors from discriminating based on sexual orientation, among other characteristics, and requires them to avoid imposing their values on their clients. Keeton previously asked a district court to require the university to allow her to participate in the university’s counseling program without agreeing not to tell gay clients that being gay is immoral. The district denied her request. The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Georgia filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting ASU’s right to insist that its students comply with these professional standards when counseling clients.

“We’re all entitled to our own religious beliefs, but counselors cannot use their religion to discriminate against students who come to them for help,” said Louise Melling, deputy legal director for the ACLU. “This is especially important for LGBT students in crisis, who may have already faced rejection and judgment from their community, and who may not have any other trusted adult to talk to.”

KATE BRUMBACK  Associated Press
November 18, 2011

A year ago, Pedro Guzman was inside a federal detention center in southwest Georgia as his wife, mother-in-law and young son joined an annual vigil at the gate. This year he was outside, participating in the rally Friday, and said it felt amazing.

Guzman, a Guatemalan native who was brought to the U.S. when he was 8, spent 18 months in the Stewart Detention Facility in southwest Georgia before his release six months ago. He’s now a legal permanent resident and was happy this year to be on the other side of the gates.

“It just feels really amazing to be here,” he said. “I’m just blessed to be out, but a lot of people are still in there.”

It was the fifth annual vigil organized by Georgia Detention Watch, a coalition of civil liberties and immigrant rights groups. The vigil focused on the impact of detention on the families of detainees, especially the children. Organizers also want to protest the remote location of many immigration detention centers, far away from advocates and lawyers, said Azadeh Shahshahani of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

“But we still go there frequently, and once a year we have this convergence to show CCA and ICE that we will still come there, no matter how far it is, and also to show our support for the immigrants,” she said. Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, is a private company that runs the detention center for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

“It is time to close this for-profit detention center and end the mandatory detention of immigrants,” said Anton Flores-Maisonet, one of the event’s organizers.

About 270 people attended the vigil, said Flores-Maisonet. Following the vigil, one man decided to commit an act of civil disobedience as a symbolic gesture, crossing under the line of yellow tape that was stretched across the entrance to the detention center property, where he was arrested, Flores-Maisonet said.

“It was very emotional because we were able to all be together as a family and walk up to the detention center and show them that we’re not going to stop fighting for immigrant rights,” Emily Guzman said. “It’s been amazing to have Pedro back with us. But we’re looking back because we know there are people who were left behind in that detention center.”

As one of eight people arrested during last year’s vigil, Flores-Maisonet walked up to the line with the man and gave him a hug in solidarity but did not cross the line himself, he said. After the vigil was over and nearly everyone had left, a sheriff’s deputy walked up to Flores-Maisonet, who had stayed behind to give interviews, and said that he had crossed the line and was under arrest, Flores-Maisonet said by phone from the sheriff’s office.

Flores-Maisonet was released a short time later after video of the incident revealed that he had not crossed the line, Stewart County Sheriff Larry Jones said.

A spokesman for ICE said the agency didn’t have a specific comment on Friday’s vigil. Stewart is the largest immigration detention facility in the country.

“ICE fully respects the rights of all people to voice their opinion without interference,” the agency said in a statement. “The agency continues to prioritize the health and safety of detainees in our custody while increasing federal oversight and improving the conditions of confinement within the detention system.”

Guzman said the six months since his release from Stewart have passed quickly.

“It’s unbelievable how fast time moves when you’re not behind bars,” he said.

He’s returned to Durham, N.C., where he lives with his U.S. citizen wife, Emily, and their 5-year-old son, Logan. He’s been working as a contractor and he and Emily are expecting a daughter in March, he said.

At last year’s vigil, Emily Guzman had planned to cross the police line at the entrance to get arrested, but decided not to because she figured it would be too hard on her son so her mother got arrested instead. This year the family attended the vigil together.

“It was very emotional because we were able to all be together as a family and walk up to the detention center and show them that we’re not going to stop fighting for immigrant rights,” Emily Guzman said. “It’s been amazing to have Pedro back with us. But we’re looking back because we know there are people who were left behind in that detention center.”