ATLANTA — Some quiet changes to a bill that was intended as a simple fix for unintended consequences of a 2011 crackdown on illegal immigration have turned the bill that originally had pretty universal support into a rallying point for activists on all sides of the immigration issue. The bill sponsored by state Rep. Dustin Hightower, R-Carrollton, was presented as a solution to complaints from several state agencies that Georgia’s 2011 law was creating extra work and delays in processing public benefits, including professional licenses. It was an almost purely bureaucratic measure that neither those in favor of tighter controls on illegal immigration nor immigrant rights advocates had paid much attention to.
Immigration bill becomes rallying point for all sides of issue