Update: GA House Education Committee passed the bill to ban undocumented students from colleges. We need an onslaught of calls and signatures now to stop the bill from passing in the House!

It seems banning undocumented students from the top five universities in Georgia is not enough. Certain Georgia lawmakers want to go further and eliminate immigrant students who cannot provide proof of citizenship from the entire public university system. If George Wallace was still alive, he'd be quite proud.

A new bill (HB-59) introduced in the Georgia legislature would require the 35 public universities in Georgia to conduct citizenship verification for all students. That means several millions spent conducting regular witch-hunts to ensure that no undocumented student gets access to higher education. It also means millions lost in future productivity as immigrant students and families move out of the state. But more than that, it means cultivating a culture of fear in the South and hundreds of lives cast aside in the shadow of that fear.

Photo Credit: Picket the Board of Regents