McClatchey News Service: #GALEO’s anti-enforcement judge, Dax Lopez, asked Georgia governor to veto illegal immigration legislation
State Court Judge and GALEO board member (circa 2011) Dax Lopez. Image: Twitter
From the Charlotte Observer, Feb 2016.
“Two years earlier, while Lopez was in private practice and a treasurer with the Latino association, he wrote then-Gov. Sonny Perdue, requesting a gubernatorial veto of two pieces of legislation, House Bill 978 and Senate Bill 350. Both measures were believed to disproportionately affect Georgia’s growing immigrant community.
Gov. Perdue did veto HB 978, which authorized the impounding of vehicles from operators who had no valid driver’s licenses. But he signed Senate Bill 350 into law, making a fourth conviction for driving without a license a felony.
The measure also requires police to determine the nationality of anyone jailed after being convicted for driving without a license. The Latino officials association opposed the measure, saying it would create tension between immigrants and law enforcement while making crime victims and witnesses less likely to contact police.”