Carlos Santana blasts new Georgia law on illegal immigration
Staff photo by Curtis Compton
Carlos Santana, in town this weekend for an event at Turner Field, blasted Georgia’s new law cracking down on illegal immigration.
“I represent the human race,” said Santana, who was born in Mexico. “The people of Arizona, the people of Atlanta, Ga., you should be ashamed of yourselves.”
HB 87 is meant to combat illegal immigration by increasing enforcement powers and requiring many employers to check the immigration status of new hires.
Santana, who received the “Beacon of Change” award at Sunday’s MLB Civil Rights Game, called the legislation, signed by Gov. Nathan Deal on Friday, “anti-American.”
Here is a link to the full story on Santana’s remarks.
Were you at Sunday’s game? Do you agree with Santana or Gov. Deal?
- Jennifer Brett/The Buzz/jbrett@ajc.com
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© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
412 comments Add your comment
joe t
May 16th, 2011
12:50 pm
What does Georgia or Arizona have to be “ashamed” of?
We (America) has the best immigration policies of any country. However our politicans of both parties in DC refuse to enforce our laws.
Congratulations and thank you to our state legislatures for having the spine to do what’s right.
kerryb
May 16th, 2011
12:50 pm
Now remind me, why did we have this nimrod here giving him an award and who decided to do that. Was it because he can play the guitar good? A lot of people can do that. Stick to playing the guitar Carlos. No one cares what you have to say.
little mommy
May 16th, 2011
12:52 pm
To Mr Santana and all other born in other countries if you want to be treated like a citizen of the USA then become one. Learn to speak the language and adapt to our cultures, we don’t need to adapt to yours as we are not visting your country. If language is a barrier then enroll in one of the many FREE programs available to you to learn English, we don’t need to know how to speak any other languages.
jesse jackson killed MLK!
May 16th, 2011
12:52 pm
are you people serious? F! carlos santanna! tell him to pay to make all illegals legal and we wont have to be so F’n ashamed! man F! U! hell he might be illegal somebody needs to check his a$$ out!
kerryb
May 16th, 2011
12:53 pm
Did the Braves have him here because they have several latin players and felt like they had to give an award to a latin person? Wish they had not done that. Bad decision. I guess the Braves will have Hugo Chavez here next year to give him an award.
WOW
May 16th, 2011
12:53 pm
“The US took have of mexicos land ”
There’s a remedial English class with your name on it, Gump. Oh, and while you’re at it, take a history class as well.
SteveK
May 16th, 2011
12:54 pm
I might be too “brown” for most of the folks on here but I am in the US legally. If an officer approaches me for my brownness, I swear I’ll sue the entire State of Georgia! The effective way to enforce immigration is to use evidence and go directly into factories and farms and arrest the illegals AND THE EMPLOYERS. The folks on here prefer harassing brown people.
WOW
May 16th, 2011
12:54 pm
What has Santana done for civil rights in America?
Sharon
May 16th, 2011
12:55 pm
David…..The difference in immigration of yester year and the illegals that come here now is massive. The original immigrants came here to work had and there were no social programs at every street corner. These illegals, however, come here and form gangs, sell drugs, create crime, rape our kids or worse, destroy property, get on every social program they can once that baby gets here, puts our hospitals in the red, destroys the integrety of our school systems and so on. Yet they pay no taxes for all the US gives them.
I do believe that the immigration laws in this country are set in stone and that our government is letting every American down by standing by illegals of a foreign country against the hard woking americans that they were elected to protect and serve. It is not like this country does not have a immigration program, they just choose to ignore it and so does the government. I AM FOR IMMIGRATION, but I am NOT FOR ILLEGALS. There is a difference.
PS,,,, Santana and all the other musicans, actors and so forth. If you speak out against Americans for stopping illegal activity, dont expect me to spend my money to support you. You can’t support America and our laws then I wont support you. Your just not worth my time.
The SITUATION
May 16th, 2011
12:55 pm
Pincho
Huh? Did you mean half?
LA VERGA
May 16th, 2011
12:56 pm
WOW, BLOW ME…….PENDEJO.
WOW
May 16th, 2011
12:56 pm
“If an officer approaches me for my brownness, I swear I’ll sue the entire State of Georgia!
You’ll waste taxpayer dollars losing that case.
“The folks on here prefer harassing brown people.’
If brown people didn’t rape, rob, kidnap and destroy our economy, you wouldn’t have a problem.
truth
May 16th, 2011
12:56 pm
lol I have only had one speeding ticket in 8 yrs of driving
But I started to carry a camera with me in my car. If I ever get stopped, I will record the encounter with police.
Just inforce our laws
May 16th, 2011
12:57 pm
Maybe Santana should go fix his own country so illegals wont have to come here. If hes so important then maybe, just maybe, Mexico should be where he puts his effort and leave America alone. I am not ashamed of fighting for OUR country and will never stop fighting for OUR country even though our government seems to want us to become MEXICO.
The SITUATION
May 16th, 2011
12:57 pm
SteveK
It’s real simple. If you aren’t doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.
Willie
May 16th, 2011
12:57 pm
I think Carlos is the racist. Why should he attack Americans for wanting to enforce their borders? Mr. Obama says that it is his responsiblity as the President of the united states to have secure borders so that only those who are legally approved may cross. Does that make Mr. Obama a racist too?
If we don’t get the border problem fixed it will only get worse later.
Diaz
May 16th, 2011
12:58 pm
Who are you calling “illegal,” Pilgrim? America will be a non-white majority nation by 2050 and that has folks in Georgia and elsewhere terrified. Legislate all you want – the influx of black and brown folks is inevitable. People need to embrace it and realize that immigrants, “undocumented” and otherwise, are the lifeblood that keeps this nation vital.
kerryb
May 16th, 2011
12:58 pm
I just want to know who decided on recognizing and awarding some of these people because some have gone down on record being Anti-American.
Keith Helms
May 16th, 2011
12:58 pm
Being in the USA illegally should carry a wanted dead or alive warrant. Supporting these illegal invaders who are worse than the Chinese and North Korean armies combined is even a sorrier offense to the USA. these traitors should be hunted down and killed.
jimintn
May 16th, 2011
12:58 pm
Ask yourself one question ..If One million Mexicans lined up at the border and wanted to cross all at one time, would you let them? If your answer is no, well dang…CNN estimated that “7 – 20 million people were “living in this country illegally”.
kerryb
May 16th, 2011
12:59 pm
Enter your comments here
Only in America
May 16th, 2011
12:59 pm
Can the “rights” of people who aren’t even citizens be defended. ONly in America can people who are not even citizens get free education and free insurance (at the expense of actual taxpayers).
Only in America.
FedUp
May 16th, 2011
12:59 pm
No, the link will also have a video sneak peek showing an investigative report of illegals and imported workers taking high price labor over Georgians, showing the employers never even look at US resumes and applications. See the video link in the right corner.
Griffin
May 16th, 2011
12:59 pm
illegals immigrants do PAY for taxes. Their employers are required to take out federal taxes from their paycheck…. If the illegals were paying taxes through their employer, how would they do that. They have no SSN (therefore illegal) and if the employer takes taxes out from them then he is commiting tax fraud. Really. Think before you open you mouth.
Bert
May 16th, 2011
12:59 pm
Overpopulatoin! That’s the real issue. Should we continue to allow people (legal or illegal) to immigrate to this country? Wake up! We are running out of resources. Where is all the garbage going? ( well I see a lot of it on the streets). Will we have enough clean water? ( sure that has been a lot of rain, but that isn’t going to cut it). What about the energy needs required to sustain the population currently living here? This system of ours is completely absurd and unsustainable. We don’t need more people in this country. Oh sure, who is going to pay for social security? Let’s get real, We couldn’t import enough people to pay into the system to keep it viable. Of course no one thinks about the agricultural land all these people will take. Yes, that’s right. We are losing valuable land daily to development of homes for this growing population. Ever notice how many more children immigrants have in this country than in their homeland? Gee, I wonder why? Is it because we pay for their services and they wouldn’t even think to in their homeland? Just food for thought.
WOW
May 16th, 2011
12:59 pm
“America will be a non-white majority nation by 2050″
Right, and the ice age will hit America in 1993.
Laurie
May 16th, 2011
1:00 pm
I find it funny how farmers and some small businesses bring up how this bill will be disasterous for economy. Wasn’t that the same arguement used to fight the anti slavery movement?
Ken
May 16th, 2011
1:00 pm
Manny said: Illegals pay taxes. They just don’t pay income tax. Like people with hardly any money. And people with a lot of money. I always laugh when people say that other people pay no taxes.
Manny, I agree they pay sales tax, but they don’t pay social security tax, federal or state income taxes, they don’t pay the medicare tax, they don’t have unemployment paid for them. They do use hospital emergency rooms like a doctors office, causing hospitals to have to raise their fees for the rest of us to cover it. The do fill our schools causing higher cost for the rest of us to pay for schools. They are here illegally, they broke the laws of this country by entering illegally, and are a slap in the face for those who do things right and enter this country illegally. Carlos Santana is a great guitarist, but claiming that it is racist to remove people who broke this countries laws is in itself racist and ignorant. As for people with a lot of money not paying income tax. If it is income then they pay tax on it. If they have it and have already paid tax on it, then why should they pay tax on it again. Besides that the top 10% of wage earners in this country pay something like 75 or 80% of the federal income tax. So your statement there is ignorant.
Illegal? Get your ass out of my country!
May 16th, 2011
1:00 pm
Who gives a sh*t what this jerkoff Santana says.
truth
May 16th, 2011
1:01 pm
Ken,
EMPLOYERS are REQUIRED TO take Medicare, SOcial Security from your paycheck.
Casey Stinkle
May 16th, 2011
1:01 pm
So Carlos, you have no problem with an illegel wondering into an emergency room, running up a 10,20,30 thousand dollar medical bill, and just skating away from it?
R Truth
May 16th, 2011
1:02 pm
Hey Carlos Santana, you don’t like it here you don’t have to live here.
nowthanks
May 16th, 2011
1:02 pm
same old comments from the angry mob – the racists and childish entitled brats who have no problem using the services, buying the products made by undocumented workers worldwide are the biggest loud mouths about what is legal and what is not…
Carlos is right – if I were him I would ban major leagure teams from using his music during all games, sports talk shows, and all the “anry mob radio jerks” who use his stuff to sound cool.
truth
May 16th, 2011
1:02 pm
Ken,
You know most of these kids getting education are legal US Citizens right? You argument could have been used 10+ years ago. This is a new generaton, alot of kids were born in the US.
WOW
May 16th, 2011
1:03 pm
“Wasn’t that the same arguement used to fight the anti slavery movement?”
No.
Oh Please!!!
May 16th, 2011
1:03 pm
truth
May 16th, 2011
1:01 pm
Truth, not if they just pay them in cash.
truth
May 16th, 2011
1:04 pm
oh Please,
that goes both ways. I bet if you look nationwide, that happens everywhere, legal and illegal.
CP
May 16th, 2011
1:04 pm
I have one questions. If I went to Mexico ILLEGALLY what would happen to me??? If I broke their laws how understanding would the Mexican goverment be to me? If I am correct I would be in Jail with little or no understanding / sympathy at all.
So why are so many people upset about the US doing what every other country does. Enforcing our laws..
If someone choose to come here illegally and they get caught they should exptect to pay the penalty for breaking the law. I am confused, are the law for some people but not others?
If your child does something wrong do you not punish them?
kerryb
May 16th, 2011
1:07 pm
If the Braves and MLB are going to bring Anti-American people like this to Atlanta, award them, then let them talk trash about us, the crickets need to out number the people next year during this game. That then will be the last time we have this game here.
PJ
May 16th, 2011
1:07 pm
I started a new job in January, and my employer required that I show proof of my right to work in the US on my first day of employment. I filled out an I-9 and showed them my US passport as proof of citizenship. They put copies of both in my employee file as proof that we are both abiding by the law. I was not offended by this — certainly didn’t see it as racism. What’s wrong with verifying that someone has a right to work before you hire them?
truth
May 16th, 2011
1:07 pm
We should be more outrage at all the US COMPANIES that outsource to China and India. All the $ those workers make STAY IN THEIR COUNTRY.
At least illegals contribute some of the money back into the economy.
WOW
May 16th, 2011
1:09 pm
“What’s wrong with verifying that someone has a right to work before you hire them?
Nothing, just like there’s nothing wrong with having to show ID to vote in an election. The only reason left wingers complain is because that’s where a lot of their votes come from.
Democrats are the party of illegal votes. See: convicted felons, illegals and dead people.
Madame X
May 16th, 2011
1:09 pm
JT they are provided free medical care by going to Grady Memorial Hospital and county clinics. Remeber back in the day when Grady was considered the poor people’s hospital for blacks? Well if you went there now you would think you were in Mexico. In fact, there are more mexicans/latinos there than any race
Oh Please!!!
May 16th, 2011
1:09 pm
I don’t recall the State of Georgia asking a has-been, average guitarist his ideas on solving the ILLEGAL immigration problem. And that’s a good thing.
truth
May 16th, 2011
1:10 pm
what they need to do is find all the homeless ppl downtown and around georgia.
and ship them to Canada
kerryb
May 16th, 2011
1:10 pm
CP: The answer to your question is that the political parties are courting the hispanic vote. They do not care one bit about the law if they can get the votes of a certain block of people that vote legally and illegally.
James
May 16th, 2011
1:12 pm
For all the people that say otherwise, let’s get this clear. Illegal immigrants don’t pay income taxes. Yeah, they sometimes pay sales taxes, but that covers very little. And they do take the jobs we are willing to do. My teenage son wants a job, but every fast food restaurant in my area has about ten working in them, so there are no jobs for him. They also allow the employers to pay less for jobs. Janitors use to make good wages, now because of cheap labor from Illegal immigrants no one can live on what they pay unless they don’t pay taxes on the money they make and share an apartment with 10 other people.
truthpaste
May 16th, 2011
1:13 pm
I bet the same ons railing against the illegal Latinos have no problem with the illegal Asians in the massage parlors on Buford Hwy. or the illegal Russians that sneak in here under the pretense of marriage. As much as I agree that our immigration problem needs serious restructuring and our borders needs real patrolling, I’m not going to stand with “rill Murikins” on this one. I bet most of you don’t even realize that they are area on the border to the north that is manned by nothing other than a orange cone? And it’s not just Canadians coming through.
truth
May 16th, 2011
1:15 pm
First blacks then Asians (WW1) now Latinos
Thats how America works.
GTVegas
May 16th, 2011
1:15 pm
I went to one of his concerts in Las Vegas just because I had a friend who worked at MGM and the tix were free. That was back when Bush Jr. was President. I left about half way through the concert because I was so offended by what Santana had to say about Republicans in general. He did not single Bush out, but rather specifically included “all republicans, including those in the stand here tonight”. I vowed never to support that fool, ever. I turn off his songs when they come on the radio and certainly do not allow my kids to listen to that fool.
As for the law, I have no problem with it as it is meant for “illegals”. As many have said look up the definition. Do I think there should be an easier road to becoming legal, probably. The biggest problem is that many illegals do not want to become legal. They strain our resources while not paying for them. They pay no taxes as illegals.
One of two things needs to happen. Either provide an easier pathway to legalization and tax them/treat them like any other American, or charge them for the educational and medical services they take advantage of at a fully burdened rate.
The real problem is that we, as a country, have put them in the middle and they are taking advantage of that. They pay no taxes, but take advantage of all the things our taxes pay for. That can not continue.