ATLANTA — Some lawmakers and Latino organizations in Georgia are worried about the fear they say President Donald Trump’s immigration policies are causing in their communities.
Channel 2′s Richard Elliot was at the Georgia State Capitol, where groups and lawmakers also said the opposite, that the new policies are just what the United States needs.
Conservative organizations and lawmakers spoke Tuesday at the Capitol, saying the policies the Trump administration is putting forward are good for the country.
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On Wednesday, other lawmakers and Latino groups at the Capitol for a Latino Day celebration shared their concerns about what the policies are doing to their communities in the state.
“This isn’t just upsetting, this is wrong,” Daniela Rodriguez of the Migrant Equity Southeast organization said.
She joined other speakers at the Wednesday event, where those gathered spoke about the contributions and voting strength of Georgia’s 1.1 million Latinos, while others spoke about how Trump’s policies are affecting immigrants and citizens living in their communities.
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“Mothers are scared of being separated from their children,” Rodriguez said. “Families are living in fear of ICE raids and unfair policies.”
Atlanta Democratic State Senator Rashaun Kemp was there as well, disagreeing with Trump’s policies.
“Donald Trump’s recent action to mobilize ICE against Latinos across the country disgusts me,” he said.
However, the Latino Day gathering on Tuesday struck a very different tone.
The head of the Georgia Hispanic Construction Association, Jefferson Dominguez, said the policies were having an impact on worker turnout, but he was still supportive.
“I have to admit that there’s some people that are afraid, because of misinformation that they see on some platforms, that they see on some platforms that is not true,” Dominguez said.
Loganville Republican State Rep. Rey Martinez also supports the president’s immigration policies. He told his constituents not to worry.
“They want to get rid of the bad apples first. They want to get rid of, first, the people who are here illegally, obviously, they broke the law,” the state representative said.
Still, both groups agreed on one thing: the growing political strength of Georgia’s Latino community. There are more than half a million registered Latino voters in the state.
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