Court Upholds "Show Your Papers" Provision of Illegal Immigration Law

In June 2011, a federal judge halted two significant provisions of 2011’s controversial Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act, which originated as House Bill 87. This week, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed part of the ruling by upholding the provision allowing local law enforcement officials to request documentation of citizenship of people they find suspicious.

This provision, Section 8 of the act, is known as the “Show Your Papers” provision by those who oppose the law and say that it would lead to racial profiling.

The court’s decision comes a month after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Arizona’s immigration law, known as SB 1070.

SCOTUS upheld SB 1070’s “Papers Please” provision, which requires police to question people’s immigration status if the police suspect they are in the country without legal documents.

The distinct difference of this provision in Georgia’s law is that police are not required to question citizenship status, but will now have the power to do so if they choose to use it.

The 11th Circuit appellate court also struck down the other provision, Section 7, which was originally halted in 2011 by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Thrash last year. The Section 7 provision would have punished people who knowingly gave rides to or harbored undocumented individuals.

Attorney General Sam Olens stated in a release on Monday, “I am pleased that the the 11th Circuit has reversed the lower court’s injunction and allowed Section 8 of HB 87 to stand. While I disagree with the Court’s decision on Section 7, after over a year of litigation, only one of the 23 sections of HB 87 has been invalidated. We are currently reviewing the 11th Circuit’s ruling to determine whether further appeal would be appropriate at this stage of the case.”

The lawsuit was filed by the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, Dream Activist.org, the Taskforce for the Homeless and other human rights organizations against Gov. Nathan Deal, who signed the act into law in May 2011.

Members of those organizations had mixed feelings about the ruling.

Dulce Guerrero, a DREAM activist and undocumented Mableton resident, said, “It wasn’t a surprise. (The SCOTUS ruling) basically gave permission to other states to replicate this… It’s going to lead to racial profiling. I hope police don’t drive around and act like ICE agents, which isn’t their job. This law gives them permission to do so.”

Azadeh Shahshahani, Immigrants' Rights Project Director of the ACLU of Georgia, helped file the lawsuit against Deal in 2011.

She said she was pleased the court struck down section 7 and was “disappointed” that it upheld the “Show Your Papers” provision.

“I hope law enforcement will not engage in racial profiling,” Shahshahani told South Cobb Patch. If police are found “inflicting abuse and discrimination on the community, we will challenge it.”