2023 Senate Resolution 14

Whereas, In 1936, Barbara Jordan was born in Houston, Texas and became a lawyer, educator, and politician. Jordan was the winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994; and

Whereas, Jordan was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after the Reconstruction era and the first southern African American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives; and

Whereas, Jordan found inspiration and purpose in the phrase she often invoked, e pluribus unum, our national motto, which expresses the aspiration to forge a unified national community. Jordan believed that her country’s great unifying force was the consensus that everyone must play by the democratically established rules; and

Whereas, In 1993, seven years after the one-time immigration amnesty of 1986, President Bill Clinton appointed Jordan to chair the Commission on Immigration Reform; and

Whereas, In Jordan’s initial 1994 report to the United States Congress she wrote, “The Commission decries hostility and discrimination against immigrants as antithetical to the traditions and interests of the country. At the same time, we disagree with those who would label efforts to control immigration as being inherently anti-immigrant. Rather, it is both a right and a responsibility of a democratic society to manage immigration so that it serves the national interest”; and

Whereas, Jordan added a pointed assertion of the need to stop illegal immigration in 1994 when she said, “Our patience is growing thin toward those attempting to overwhelm the will of the American people by acts that ignore, manipulate, or circumvent our immigration laws. Unless this country does a better job in curbing illegal immigration, we risk irreparably undermining our commitment to legal immigration”; and

Whereas, Jordan was equally firm when she told the Washington Post’s David Broder, “Any nation worth its salt must control its borders”; and

Whereas, According to most recent estimates from the United States Department of Homeland Security, only six U.S. states are home to more illegal aliens than Georgia. Illegal immigration presents lasting and devastating damage to our rule of law, our budget resources, our public safety and is inherently threatening to the rich tradition of orderly and legal immigration into the nation and our state; and

Whereas, In the interest of unity, and love of our nation and state, we honor the life and words of Barbara Jordan and endorse her 1994 advice to Congress: “As a nation of immigrants committed to the rule of law, this country must set limits on who can enter and back up these limits with effective enforcement of our immigration law”; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate, That the members of this legislative body honor, praise, and remember the steady leadership and extraordinary life of Barbara Jordan during Black History Month; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the members of the Georgia congressional delegation, the President of the United States, and the Governor of Georgia.