Obama Criticizes Georgia Immigration Bill

The President came out swinging against state-level immigration bills at one of his many scheduled interviews.

That’s not really headline worthy; he’s raised the tone and volume of his immigration remarks in the past weeks. What was noteworthy about this interview is that he got specific and he did it on a TV station based in Atlanta.

President Obama was interviewed by WSB-TV when he was asked about the immigration bill set to be signed by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal. Obama said:

“It is a mistake for states to try to do this piecemeal. We can’t have 50 different immigration laws around the country. Arizona tried this and a federal court already struck them down.”

If that wasn’t a shot across Governor Deal’s bow…

The Georgia bill is eerily like Arizona’s SB1070 – they share many of the same fear-based traits. But the Arizona law has yet to take effect. It’s held up in federal court and making its way to the US Supreme Court. The delay has come at the hands of the the Obama Administration’s Justice Department. So this wasn’t just empty taunting.

So the headline-worthy thing is that the President was in the heart of Georgia when he pointed to Arizona and said, don’t do that.

And for good measure (or to hedge his bet, whichever you prefer) he added:

“The truth of the matter is that we’ve done more on enforcement than any previous administration. We have more border patrols. We have been engaging in serious crackdowns on employers who are hiring undocumented workers.”

Is he playing both sides against the middle?

He is a politician, and that’s hardly a headline.

Follow Victor Landa on Twitter: @vlanda