DHS Secretary Napolitano: U.S. Justice Will Decide Whether to Challenge Georgia Immigration Reform

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano side-stepped whether the White House will challenge Georgia’s new immigration law in federal court when she spoke to an Atlanta Press Club luncheon on Saturday, but the secretary left no doubt President Barack Obama has no interest in state-by-state immigration reform.

“Those legal determinations will be made in consultation with the Department of Justice, but I think these efforts at the state-by-state level, first of all, they are predicated on a falsity,” Napolitano said at The Commerce Club.  “The falsity is that there has been nothing done and the border somehow is out of control.  That is incorrect,” she said in response to a question.

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Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s office says he will sign House Bill 87 which is similar but not identical to the Arizona legislation.  Georgia legislation was passed by the General Assembly this year as a statement that state legislators are tired of waiting for federal immigration reform.

The Department of Homeland Security says Georgia has 480,000 illegal immigrant residents.

Napolitano told the Atlanta Press Club, “This is what the President has said and what I’ve been saying.  State by state won’t cut it.  It’s got to be a federal reform of immigration laws if we are really going to deal with this issue.  Look at the way our system is set up.  Read the case law.  Read the Constitution and you will realize immigration is fundamentally a federal issue.”

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