Geogria Gov. Brian Kemp gives the State of the State speech at the Capitol in Atlanta on Jan. 25, 2023. (Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS)
ATLANTA — Georgia senators spent more than 90 minutes Monday debating a resolution condemning what Republicans call President Joe Biden’s ineffectiveness in controlling the U.S. border with Mexico and backing Gov. Brian Kemp sending troops to Texas.
The GOP-controlled Senate voted 31-15 on a party-line vote to approve Senate Resolution 543. Kemp is holding a press conference Tuesday to make an “announcement on border security.”
Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, said the resolution sends a “strong message” to Congress and the White House that something must be done to stop illegal immigration.
“You may think, ‘Now, that’s a federal issue, we really don’t have any business here talking about that today,’ ” said Gooch, who sponsored the measure. “We’re not going to pass a bill today that’s going to move the needle in the large way, but what we are going to do today is we’re going to take a position on this issue.”
The resolution states that “the members of this body condemn President Joe Biden’s executive actions relating to the southern border.” The resolution urges him to reinstate a Donald Trump-era executive order on immigration that sought to increase deportations of unauthorized immigrants and orders the Department of Homeland Security to strip federal funding from any municipality that is considered a “sanctuary city.”
Democrats called the resolution “election-year politics” seeking to grab attention less than a week after Republicans in Congress voted to block a bipartisan immigration bill.
“This measure really does nothing more than seek headlines and not resolutions,” said state Sen. Jason Esteves, an Atlanta Democrat. “It’s clear, based on the language in the resolution, this is more about political points and not about securing our borders or solving our immigration crisis.”
Similar legislation, House Resolution 1019, passed the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee last week.
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