Human rights groups threaten Georgia boycott
The National Day Laborers Organizing Network and others call on Gov. Deal to veto
- Joeff Davis
- A recent rally in opposition to Georgia’s anti-illegal immigration legislation
With Arizona-style bills coming out of both the House and the Senate, it appears that Georgia’s going to see illegal immigration legislation pass in one form or another.
A few human rights organizations — the National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON) and Turning the Tide among them — are preemptively threatening to “boycott” the state if Nathan Deal doesn’t veto the measures.
In a press release a NDLON spokesman said:
“We are currently prepared to contact all conventions, organizations, companies, cities, counties, and states that participated in the Arizona boycott to advise them of the current status of Georgia’s legislation and tell them to be ready to change plans, divest, and/or issue travel alerts to avoid the state of Georgia.”
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force — worried that the bills open the door to “identity policing” — is already threatening to move the 2013 Creating Change Conference, which was scheduled to take place at the Atlanta Hilton. According to that group, their 2010 conference generated $4 million in revenue for host city Dallas.
And the negative economic impact could get worse. A study commissioned by the Center for American Progress showed that Arizona stands to lose $750 million in convention revenue following the passage of their immigration legislation. In late 2010, their convention business was already down $45 million from the previous year.