Last Call

The "smaller government" GOP in Georgia would turn small businesses like taxi, limo and bus companies into de facto immigration police under the state's new immigration law.

Several taxi companies and more than 2,000 cab drivers have filed their own lawsuit against the law. Their grievance has to do with a specific provision which would make it a misdemeanor to transport fewer than seven undocumented immigrants and a felony to drive any more than that. The cab drivers claim that this would burden them with the responsibility of checking the immigration status of each and every one of their passengers. (Not to mention the potential invasion of privacy that the law would inflict on their customers). The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports:

On Monday, an Atlanta attorney Quinton Washington of the law firm Bell & Washington LLC, WXIA reporter Jeff Hullinger there are unintended consequences of the law that could affect passengers. Washington said if a cab or limo drivers is pulled over for speeding, or for a broken taillight, police have the right to ask for proof of citizenship of passengers. [...]

A concern is that many immigrants use cabs to buy groceries and run other errands, and cab drivers don’t want to be responsible for asking all of them for documentation paperwork.

“It is our hope that the legislature and local law enforcement authorities would not seek to penalize drivers for simply taking people from point A to point B,” stated Washington.

If companies are in violation of the law, they could face serious penalties including steep fines and jail time.  So who in their right mind in Georgia would give a cab ride to a Latino    Republicans like smaller government...except when it comes to using its power in making things as miserable as possible for those groups they don't like.  Then it's all about throwing civil liberties out the door in order to go after whomever disagrees with them.