laws,” said Karen Tumlin, a lawyer for the National Immigration Law Center.
GA Attorney General Sam Olens said in a statement his office plans to appeal the court’s ruling. He said he was pleased that parts of the lawsuit were dismissed.
The law’s main sponsor, Republican state Rep. Matt Ramsey, called the judge’s ruling a temporary setback.
The judge also was concerned about the wider implications of the law on trade and diplomatic relations, which were laid out by Mexican officials in court documents.
”The conflict is not a purely speculative and indirect impact on immigration. It is direct and immediate,” he wrote.
The federal judge also accused the state of ”gross hypocrisy” in its argument that Georgia’s crackdown would prevent the exploitation of illegal immigrants.
”The apparent legislative intent is to create such a climate of hostility, fear, mistrust and insecurity that all illegal aliens will leave Georgia,” he said.
”Curiously, the court writes ‘all illegal aliens will leave Georgia’ if the law is enforced, as if it is appalled at the thought of people attaining visas before coming to our nation,” said Brian Robinson, a spokesman for Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal.
Similar laws elsewhere have met similar fates. A federal judge has blocked the most controversial parts of the law in Arizona, where Gov. Jan Brewer has said she plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In Utah, a federal judge temporarily blocked that state’s law last month. A hearing is set for mid-July to determine if the law can go into effect. And on Friday, a federal judge blocked parts of Indiana’s law.
On Friday, many parts of the law will take effect. Among them is one that makes it a felony with hefty penalties to use false information or documentation when applying for a job. Another creates an immigration review board to investigate complaints about government officials not complying with state laws related to illegal immigration.
Starting Jan. 1, businesses with 500 or more employees will have to use a federal database to check the immigration status of new hires, a requirement that will be phased in for all businesses with more than 10 employees by July 2013. Also starting Jan. 1, applicants for public benefits will have to provide at least one state or federally issued ”secure and verifiable” document.
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