News Americas, LOS ANGELES, CA, Weds. July 20, 2011: The son of Cuban immigrants and 30-year-old chart-topper, Pitbull, is among the latest Latino celebs weighing in on the controversial immigration laws of the U.S.
The singer, born Armando Cristian Perez, told CNN in an interview Tuesday that the immigration laws in the U.S. are contradictory.
“When it comes to immigration laws in the United States of America, I think that it’s very contradicting to everything that this beautiful country stands for,” said the Miami-born singer.
Asked specifically how he feels about anti-immigration legislation in states like Arizona and Georgia Pitbull, whose “Give Me Everything” featuring Ne-Yo, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart recently, said: “This is a country that’s been built by immigrants. Native Americans, yeah, but as far as everybody else, we came here. If we start pushing people out or not allowing them in or not allowing them to indulge in at least feeling what it’s like to have freedom and maybe in their own way to live out the American dream, I think it’s very contradicting to everything that the Constitution stands for.”
H.B. 56, a new immigration law approved in the state of Georgia has become one of the toughest in the nation to date. Signed by Gov. Robert Bentley earlier this month and seemingly fashioned after Arizona’s infamous S.B. 1070, the law now makes hiring, harboring or transporting undocumented immigrants in the state illegal. It allows police to arrest anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant if the person is stopped for some other reason and it criminalizes dealing with falsified identification documents and requires businesses to verify employees’ immigration status through the federal E-Verify system, a federal law that is already on the books.
H.B. 56, which goes into effect on September 1, will also require schools to determine the immigration status of every student at enrollment, with lawmakers insisting justifies the requirement as a way to keep track of just how much money the state is spending to educate the children of undocumented immigrants.
