“Georgia issues drivers licenses to illegal aliens. Illegal aliens do not have ‘lawful presence.’”
*Update: Several days after we sent the below letter we received a phone call from a high-ranking official at TCSG acknowledging the errors and informing us that the related website (s) were being corrected and that no illegal aliens had been granted admission to any TSCG school.
20 August 2021
Dr. Tavarez Holston
President – Georgia Piedmont Technical College
495 North Indian Creek Drive
Clarkston, GA 30021
Re: Your use of Georgia driving and ID credentials as validation of ‘lawful presence’ for instate tuition purposes.
Dr. Holston,
It is my educated opinion that there exists a serious flaw in your system for allowing students to validate ‘lawful presence’ for purposes of receiving instate tuition. I intend to see this apparent breach of security and compliance corrected and that any student who is not eligible for instate tuition and is currently paying that rate is charged the out-of-state scale. I assume this will require an audit of your past records.
On your ‘new student’ page at the school’s website you have a section on ‘Provide Verification of Lawful Presence in the United States’ that clearly allows students to present a Georgia drivers license and/or a ID card as “validation” of lawful presence:
“Effective January 1, 2012, all students applying for in-state tuition must provide validation of lawful presence in the United States. The following documents will serve as proof of lawful presence in the United States and documentation will be required before you are eligible for consideration of in-state tuition:
- A current Driver’s License issued by the State of Georgia after January 1, 2008
- A current ID issued by the State of Georgia after January 1, 2008…”
Georgia issues drivers licenses to illegal aliens. Illegal aliens do not have ‘lawful presence.’
As one example, reports from DDS tell us more than 20,000 illegal aliens who are recipients of the illegal DACA program have been issued these driving and ID credentials. States are fully within their rights to issue drivers licenses and ID Cards to whomever they choose, but these documents in no way demonstrate, validate, prove or indicate ‘lawful presence.’
As someone who has worked on the illegal immigration crisis in the Georgia Capitol since 2004, I am appalled but not surprised to see this “validation” practice in a taxpayer-funded college.
I am sending this letter electronically so as to more efficiently provide your office with needed information for your education.
Directed only at the aforementioned DACA recipients, here are some quotes from other educated sources, which I hope will expand on my claim. To be clear: Deferred action on deportation does indeed make an illegal alien eligible for a Georgia driving and or ID credential. It does not in any way bestow or validate ‘lawful presence.’
* The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against DACA recipient student’s claims of ‘lawful presence’ in Georgia in 2019. On page 26 of the March 2019 11th Circuit opinion the court wrote: “As explained above, appellants are not lawfully present in the United States.”
* “As DACA recipients, they simply were given a reprieve from potential removal; that does not mean they are in any way ‘lawfully present under the (INA) act.” (11th circuit court in the same opinion as above).
* “We have continuously and clearly taken the position in ongoing legal cases that DACA does not confer legal status…” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr to WABE News, July, 2017.
* “Illegal immigrants who are granted permission to stay in the country under an Obama administration policy that was announced in June will be eligible for drivers’ licenses in Georgia the state’s attorney general wrote in a letter to the governor.” The Associated Press (writer Kate Brumback) 2012, via the Augusta Chronicle.
In the interest of space and time I will limit my citations to the above for the present time.
It is my contention that if your institution has awarded instate tuition rates to DACA recipients because they were deemed “lawfully present,” you are acting in conflict with state law. I urge you to remove the instructions to students cited above and to adjust your policy and correct any incorrect tuition rates now being granted.
I trust you will regard this heads up as the well-intentioned effort from a concerned taxpayer it is meant to be. I respectfully assure you we will follow up on this very disturbing matter. Please call on me if I can be of any further assistance.
I would be grateful for a reply.
Sincerely,
D.A. King
President, the Dustin Inman Society – for the board
Marietta, GA. 30066
Cc: Greg Dozier
Commissioner, Technical College System of Georgia
