Well, now we’ve gone and done it. Georgia is joining other front-running states getting serious about criminal illegal invaders coming across the Mexican border. We now join Arizona and Utah who both have their own stringent anti-illegal immigration laws on the books.

And, as expected, we got a bit of “celebrity” outrage expressed this weekend in Atlanta. Apparently Carlos Santana has his thong in a bunch over this new law, as well as Arizona’s. He was at the Braves-Phillies game, and used this opportunity to admonish us both, saying “The people of Arizona, and the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourselves.” Of course this event was baseball’s annual Civil Rights game, so that explains Carlos’ attendance, I guess. But we should be ashamed of ourselves why, Carlos? For trying to enforce the laws that the Federal government won’t? Do we not have the right to try and protect our own State here in Georgia, Carlos?

Here’s the breakdown of the new legislation and the dates the provisions of Georgia House Bill 87 will take effect, from the AJC:

Beginning July 1st of this year:

• Local and state police will be empowered to arrest illegal immigrants and take them to state and federal jails.
• People who use fake identification to get a job in Georgia could face up to 15 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.
• People who — while committing another crime — knowingly transport or harbor illegal immigrants or encourage them to come to Georgia could face penalties. First-time offenders would face imprisonment for up to 12 months and up to $1,000 in fines.
• A seven-member Immigration Enforcement Review Board will be established to investigate complaints about local and state government officials not enforcing state immigration-related laws.
• Government officials who violate state laws requiring cities, counties and state government agencies to use E-Verify could face fines up to $10,000 and removal from office.
• The state Agriculture Department will be directed to study the possibility of creating Georgia’s own guest-worker program. Some Georgia employers have complained the federal government’s guest-worker program is too burdensome and expensive.

Provisions that take effect January 1st, 2012:

• State and local government agencies must start requiring people who apply for public benefits — such as food stamps, housing assistance and business licenses — to provide at least one “secure and verifiable” document, which could be a state or federally issued form of identification. Consular matriculation cards will not be accepted. The state attorney general’s office is required to post a list of acceptable documents on its website by Aug. 1.

Additionally:

Georgia businesses will be required to use the federal E-Verify program to determine whether their new hires are eligible to work legally in the United States. Businesses with 500 or more employees must start complying with this provision Jan. 1. Businesses with 100 or more employees but fewer than 500 must start complying with this provision July 1, 2012. This requirement applies to businesses with between 11 and 99 employees starting July 1, 2013. Businesses with 10 or fewer employees are exempt.

Carlos is just the first of what I’m sure will be a long line of race-pimps of all colors, trying to tell us here in Georgia how to manage our own state. This will become another cause celebre for all the usual suspects, but I hope we can keep Lady GaGa out of Georgia. We don’t need her nasty self opining either. Hopefully many other states will get busy and get on with the business at hand in handling this criminal illegal invasion, because obviously this is one area “Daddy Government” doesn’t want to get involved in. It’s time to TCB, folks.

By the way… Thank you, Governor Deal. I’m glad I supported and voted for you. GOOD JOB!