GA immigration law trips up doctors, nurses

Hundreds of healthcare workers in Georgia are losing their licenses to practice because of a problem created by a new immigration law in the state. The law requires everyone—no matter where they were born—to prove their citizenship or legal residency to renew their professional licenses. With too few state workers to process the extra paperwork, licenses for doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals are expiring. Enactment of the law coincided with budget cuts that reduced the office staff by 40 percent. Kelly Farr, Georgia's deputy secretary of state, says 600 nurses alone have fallen through the cracks.