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Retired Immigration Agent’s Angry Letter to Gov Brian Kemp On His Pick for Insurance Commissioner #GALEO #JohnKing

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Left: Newly appointed Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King with GALEO Executive Director, Jerry Gonzalez. Image: Facebook, GALEO.org

Retired Immigration Agent’s angry letter to Gov Kemp on his pick for Insurance Commissioner

 GALEO is a clear enemy of enforcement. John King is an active friend of GALEO. My own opinion of you as governor has been greatly and permanently diminished.”

A follow up to our recent column (Georgia Governor Appoints Replacement Insurance Commissioner With Ties to Anti-Enforcement Immigration Lobbying Group)  alerting readers to Governor Brian “I have a big truck” Kemp’s choice for his appointment to state wide office as Insurance Commissioner.

We explained that the appointee, John King, is a friend of the notorious GALEO Corp. and speaker for least one fundraiser for that anti-enforcement group. The fact that Doraville Police Chief John King was helping GALEO while GALEO was smearing King’s fellow law enforcement officers – including several county sheriffs – with false accusations of “racial profiling” because they assisted in immigration enforcement seems to have been lost on Gov. Kemp.

In 2014 GALEO – with the help and friendship of Police Chief John King – boasted on it’s website of their role in convincing Fulton County to end cooperation with federal ICE agents on holding criminal illegal aliens. GALEO Executive Director Jerry Gonzalez put out a press release with the following statement:

On behalf of GALEO, I would like to commend Fulton County Commissioners’ leadership and resolution urging the Fulton County Sheriff to stop honoring the ICE hold requests in order to keep families together but to also enhance public safety. We urge the Fulton County Sheriff to move forward quickly and implement the recommendation.

Since Fulton County is the first jurisdiction in the state with such a recommendation, GALEO would also like to encourage other jurisdictions in the state to adopt similar policies and stop honoring the hold requests from ICE.”

The entire media release can be read here.

We think it is educational to share a few letters from Georgians that have been sent to Gov Kemp regarding his “historic” appointment of GALEO’s John King to constitutional office.

Here is a recent letter from Mr. Robert Trent, a retired federal immigration agent, to Kemp:

 “June 17, 2019

Governor Kemp,

I am Robert M. Trent, Senior Special Agent, USINS (Ret.). My final assignment was at the U.S. Immigration Officers Academy, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Glynco, GA. . I served as the Assistant Director for Enforcement Training.

 Having spent most of my life fighting for public safety through enforcement of our immigration laws, I am shocked and extremely disappointed to learn that in your recent appointment of John King to Insurance Commissioner, you have chosen to elevate a friend of the notorious GALEO organization to a position of power in our state government. John King has served as a valuable assistant in GALEO’s fundraising.

 GALEO’s Executive Director, Jerry Gonzalez is giddy in his excitement over King’s appointment and boasting of the friendship and connection with your choice for an appointment to constitutional office. Like most conservatives, we expected to this happen only after the Democrats gained control of our state government.

 I have also just learned that you have lent your own prestige to a GALEO fundraiser with your attendance in the past.

GALEO is shamelessly dedicated to stopping enforcement of the immigration laws I swore to uphold and has a verified history of opposition to literally every tenant of commonsense policy that conservatives elected you to implement. If you have even mentioned illegal immigration since you took office it hasn’t filtered down to our attention here in South Georgia.

 Like many of my friends and colleagues, I am outraged beyond the words I send you today. This appointment and your association with GALEO is a memorable mistake on your part and it is obviously far away from your campaign promises on illegal immigration in Georgia.

GALEO is a clear enemy of enforcement. John King is an active friend of GALEO. My own opinion of you as governor has been greatly and permanently diminished.

 Robert M. Trent

Saint Mary’s, GA 31558″

 Other letters to Kemp on the appointment, including from legal immigrants who do not share GALEO’s anti-borders views on immigration and enforcement can be seen on the Dustin Inman Society blog page here.

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Georgia Governor Appoints Replacement Insurance Commissioner with Ties to Anti-enforcement Immigration Lobbying Group, GALEO – Brian Kemp

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Left: Newly appointed Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King with GALEO Executive Director, Jerry Gonzalez. Image: Facebook, GALEO.org

 

Note, due to today’s funeral of our friend Billy Inman, this is a rush write up that will be expanded on soon. UPDATED AND FINAL – June 14 – 8:50AM

 

Yesterday, Georgia Republican Governor, Brian Kemp, announced his appointment of a metro-Atlanta police chief, John King, to be the replacement for the now-suspended elected Insurance Commissioner, Jim Beck. In Georgia, Insurance Commissioner is a statewide, constitutional office.

Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of the corporate-funded, anti-enforcement lobbyist group, GALEO, was quick to send out a media release praising the “historic” appointment and boasting that King had assisted the activist group as keynote speaker at a GALEO breakfast fundraiser several years ago.

“Congrats to Chief King, close friend of @GALEOorg !” was the much-repeated celebratory post on the GALEO Facebook page.

Kemp’s Insurance Commissioner appointee has no background or experience in the insurance industry.

Kemp’s appointment of the GALEO-connected police chief to Insurance Commissioner comes as a shock to many Republican voters in the state. Georgia’s conservative U.S. Senator David Perdue stopped the Obama nomination of a one-time GALEO board member, Dax Lopez, to a federal bench seat in 2016 because of his concern with the GALEO relationship.

DeKalb State Court Judge Dax Lopez. Image: Daily Signal

Perhaps unknown to most Republican voters, in addition to marching in the streets of Atlanta against enforcement of existing federal laws on immigration, GALEO and its director are well-known in the state Capitol for lobbying against state legislation aimed at reporting criminal aliens to federal authorities and establishing an official database of illegal aliens serving time in the state’s prison system.

GALEO lobbies against voter ID, official English and local jails honoring ICE detainers. Executive Director Gonzalez is known to verbally attack female legislators when he does not approve of speeches or positions on illegal immigration. In 2011, Gonzalez posted this angry explanation of being asked to leave the Georgia Capitol when he lashed out at state Senator Renee Unterman for a speech she made on the floor of the senate.

GALEO online poster opposing 2018 legislation to improve reporting of illegal aliens to federal authorities

In 2011, GALEO’s Gonzalez was escorted out of a Rome, Georgia luncheon that featured a panel discussion on immigration when he began yelling at diminutive state Rep Katie Dempsey as reported by the Rome News Tribune.

State rep. Katie Dempsey. Image: Georgia General Assembly

Gonzalez is a former lobbyist for the radical MALDEF corporation. GALEO founder, former state Senator Sam Zamarippa was a MALDEF board member. MALDEF founder Mario Obledo is best remembered for his promise that “California is going to become a Hispanic state and if anyone doesn’t like it they should leave. They ought to go back to Europe” on the Tom Likus radio show in 1998.

According to the left-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than green card holders.

Kemp ran on a platform that included his now famous “I got a big truck, just in case I need to round up criminal illegals and take ’em home myself,”

Kemp and a GALEO fundraiser – Advice from a liberal AJC political blogger 

Republicans are learning that before he was elected governor, then Secretary of State Brian Kemp also gave GALEO a fundraising boost when he attended the annual GALEO Power Breakfast fundraiser in 2015.

On GALEO, the liberal AJC political blogger Jim Galloway informed readers today  that the Republicans will need to court the illegal alien lobby group as a necessary first step to “court Hispanic votes in the future” which ignores thirty years of election results since the Republican immigration amnesty of 1986.

All this creates a simple question: Does appointee John King agree with the GALEO agenda? He is due to be sworn in in the next few weeks, somebody should ask.

Governor Brian Kemp’s office can be reached at 404-656-1776 and Brian.Kemp@georgia.gov 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GEORGIA LT GOV GEOFF DUNCAN HAS APPOINTED STATE SENATOR CHUCK PAYNE TO COMMITTEE CHAIR “…politics is best and high standard of Moral Turpitude in law.”

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Photo: Dustin Inman Society

Including this post, the full DIS “Chuck Payne” file here.

From the Office of Lt. Governor, Geoff Duncan:

Senate Announces New Committee Chairs

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

Today, Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan and the Senate Committee on Assignments announced new standing committee chairs for the first session of the 156th Georgia General Assembly.

“These committee chairs are uniquely qualified to develop real and lasting solutions aimed at building a better Georgia,” said Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan. “The Senate will continue to prioritize diligent committee work and sound public policy, and I look forward to working closely with each one of our chairs, and their committee members, as we work to enact policies that advance both the lives and livelihoods of all Georgians.”

The following members were named to chair standing committees:

Sen. Larry Walker (R – 20) will serve as chair of the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee.

Sen. Blake Tillery (R – 19) will serve as chair of the Appropriations Committee.

Sen. Matt Brass (R – 28) will serve as chair of the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee.

Sen. Bruce Thompson (R – 14) will serve as chair of the Economic Development and Tourism Committee.

–>Sen. Chuck Payne (R – 54) will serve as chair of the Education and Youth Committee.

Sen. Max Burns (R – 23) will serve as chair of the Ethics Committee.

Sen. Chuck Hufstetler (R – 52) will serve as chair of the Finance Committee.

Sen. Marty Harbin (R – 16) will serve as chair of the Government Oversight Committee.

Sen. Ben Watson (R – 1) will serve as chair of the Health and Human Services Committee.

Sen. Lindsey Tippins (R – 37) will serve as chair of the Higher Education Committee.

Sen. Dean Burke (R – 11) will serve as chair of the Insurance and Labor Committee.

Sen. Donzella James (D – 35) will serve as chair of the Interstate Cooperation Committee.

Sen. Brian Strickland (R – 17) will serve as chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Tyler Harper (R – 7) will serve as chair of the Natural Resources and the Environment Committee.

Sen. John Albers (R – 56) will serve as chair of the Public Safety Committee.

Sen. John F. Kennedy (R – 18) will serve as chair of the Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee.

Sen. Bill Cowsert (R – 46) will serve as chair of the Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee.

Sen. Randy Robertson (R – 29) will serve as chair of the Retirement Committee.

Sen. Jeff Mullis (R – 53) will serve as chair of the Rules Committee.

Sen. Greg Dolezal (R – 27) will serve as chair of the Science and Technology Committee.

Sen. Jennifer Jordan (D – 6) will serve as chair of the Special Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Lee Anderson (R – 24) will serve as chair of the State and Local Governmental Operations Committee.

Sen. Ed Harbison (D – 15) will serve as chair of the State Institutions and Property Committee.

Sen. Frank Ginn (R – 47) will serve as chair of the Transportation Committee.

Sen. Lester Jackson (D – 2) will serve as chair of the Urban Affairs Committee.

Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick (R – 32) will serve as chair of the Veterans, Military, and Homeland Security Committee.

A comprehensive list of committee appointments can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U2QQpTlfaf1NvGpKoHNEGK6eYnWgrgWARBPqVqmctfA/edit?usp=sharing

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Press Contact:

Macy McFall

Deputy Chief of Staff &

Director of Communications

Macy.McFall@ltgov.ga.gov

Office: 404-463-1380

 

Georgia Gets in Ballot Trouble with Rule Changes – IAG

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Photo: IAG

“Previously, the signature on the absentee ballot had to match the signature on eNet, a computer database that maintains Georgia’s voter registration and absentee ballot information. If the signature on the ballot didn’t match, it was thrown out.”

Insider Advantage Georgia

November 11, 2020

By Phil Kent

Criticism of poor management and decision-making by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger continues, coupled with GOP voter fraud lawsuits that have been filed or will be filed. The controversy and lawsuits are partially spurred by changes in state election laws. One change, agreed to by the Republican secretary of state last March, is especially stunning. And it leads to a big question: Why did he agree to a settlement that smuggled in a major change to mail-in voting?

John Daniel Davidson, writing in The Federalist, has researched and written about Raffensperger’s incredible cave-in involving a settlement in federal court with the Georgia Democratic Party, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee which had sued the state over for absentee voting rules.

The settlement introduced “ballot curing” to Georgia law. Ballot curing, as Davidson describes it, is when voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected for some reason— the signature on the ballot doesn’t match the one on file, the ballot is missing certain voter information, etc.— are notified and given a chance to correct or “cure” their absentee ballot. “Under the settlement, state election officials agreed to contact voters whose ballots were rejected within three business days. If an absentee ballot is rejected in the 11 days before Election Day, officials agreed to contact the voter in the next business day,” Davidson writes.

But here’s where it gets worse. Because more than 8,000 absentee ballots were rejected in Georgia’s 2018 general election, this provision in the settlement got the most media play. Yet the most important one is a crucial change to the rules for accepting absentee ballots in the first place. Consider Davidson’s findings:

“Previously, the signature on the absentee ballot had to match the signature on eNet, a computer database that maintains Georgia’s voter registration and absentee ballot information. If the signature on the ballot didn’t match, it was thrown out.

“In a cleverly worded section of the settlement, Georgia election officials agreed to a subtle but profound change…, we hope you read the rest here.

 

DOJ: 94 Percent of Foreign Nationals in U.S. Federal Prison Are Illegal Aliens

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Image: John Moore/Getty Images – via Daily Wire.

“Because of the greater number of prisoners received into USMS custody … total detention housing costs increased by approximately 1.9 percent … from $159 million to $162 million,” the DOJ report states.

Breitbart News:

Broken down, more than 53 percent of foreign nationals in federal prison last year were ordered deported before they were locked up for crimes. Another 36 percent of foreign nationals in prison were under investigation by federal immigration officials, and more than seven percent are being adjudicated as illegal aliens.

About 3.5 percent of foreign nationals in federal prison were legal immigrants being either adjudicated or shielded from deportation.

The average cost to American taxpayers to house foreign national convicts in just USMS facilities, not including BOP facilities, last year was $88.19 per prisoner every day.

“Because of the greater number of prisoners received into USMS custody … total detention housing costs increased by approximately 1.9 percent … from $159 million to $162 million,” the DOJ report states.

The DOJ report also detailed various cases such as one involving 30-year-old Colombian national Fredis Valencia Palacios. In 2016, he and c0-conspirators organized a human trafficking scheme where they arranged to smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S.

Three Cuban illegal aliens paid Palacios and his co-conspirators for the smuggling scheme, but when the illegal aliens were put on a boat headed for Miami, Palacios’ co-conspirators raped and murdered a female passenger and murdered a male passenger. The DOJ report states:

One of the co-defendants threw the male passengers overboard, anchoring them with rope to the inside of the boat. The surviving male victim reported that he heard the co-defendants sexually assault the female victim before cutting her throat and murdering her. The surviving victim also heard the co-defendants cut the other male victim’s throat, killing him. The survivor managed to escape by swimming and was subsequently rescued by the Colombian Navy.

Palacios was convicted in December 2018 and sentenced to 180 months in federal prison for his role in the smuggling scheme.

Read the rest here.

 

Data: New Foreign-Born Voters in Swing States Exceed 2016 Margins of Victory

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Image: Getty, via Breitbart News

“In Michigan, for instance, Trump won the state in 2016 by 10,704 votes against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Between 2014 to 2018, nearly 64,700 new foreign-born voters have entered the electorate in Michigan — including more than 13,500 Iraqi immigrants.”

Breitbart News

September 2, 2020

John Binder

The number of new foreign-born voters, naturalized since 2014, exceeds the 2016 margins of victory in a number of swing states, new data reveals.

Analysis from the National Partnership for New Americans finds that in swing states such as Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, the total number of foreign-born voters who have entered the electorate since 2014 exceeds the margins of victory from the 2016 presidential election.

The margins are large in Florida, a key swing state, as well. In 2016, Trump beat Clinton by less than 113,000 votes. Between 2014 to 2018, nearly 415,500 new foreign-born voters have entered the electorate in Florida, almost triple Trump’s margin of victory.

In other swing states like Arizona, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, the margins are increasingly close and could be surpassed come election day.

For instance, in Wisconsin, Trump won the state by less than 23,000 votes in 2016. Between 2014 to 2018, more than 19,000 new foreign-born voters have entered the state’s electorate. By 2020, researchers estimate that number could be closer to almost 30,000.

Similarly, in Minnesota, more than 41,200 new foreign-born voters have entered the electorate — primarily from Somalia, Ethiopia, and Mexico. Clinton won the state by almost 44,600 votes. By 2020, the total could be more than 76,000.

The margins would likely be even larger on November 3 if not for a slowdown in naturalizations. Foreign nationals waiting to become naturalized American citizens is growing as the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency grapples with a backlog spurred by the Chinese coronavirus crisis.

The Washington Post interviewed a number of foreign nationals hoping to vote in the 2020 election — nearly all suggesting they will cast their ballot for Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden:

“I decided to become a citizen for my voice to count and for the Latinos and all the minorities to be counted, and to be one more in this country,” said Rutilia Ornelas, 65, who applied for naturalization 20 years after becoming a permanent resident in hopes of voting for the Democratic nominee this November. [Emphasis added]

…

But with his application stalled, Muhammad said he is finding other ways to make his voice heard. Inspired by the recent Black Lives Matter protests and the push to fight systemic racism, he has marched alongside protesters with a homemade sign carrying quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. and donated to racial justice groups. He said he has begun to see grass-roots activism as a powerful way to speak out — perhaps even more powerful than electing any one politician into office. [Emphasis added].. More here from Breitbart.

Reminder: Georgia AG Chris Carr in 2017: “We have continuously and clearly taken the position in ongoing legal cases that DACA does not confer legal status…”

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Chris Carr, Attorney General for Georgia. January 18 2016. Photo: Law.com

 

“As Attorney General, I take seriously my duty to defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of Georgia. We have continuously and clearly taken the position in ongoing legal cases that DACA does not confer legal status,” Carr said. “It is important to remember that it is properly the role of Congress to address immigration issues from a legislative perspective. I am aware that this is a complex and emotional issue, and I would prefer to give the new Administration — which has been vocal about this issue — appropriate time to consider any additional actions that should be taken.”

 

Georgians React To Uncertain Future Of DACA Program
ELLY YU • JUL 17, 2017

Photo:Elly Yu/WABE DACA recipients are shown at a rally to demand in-state tuition in Georgia.

 

The future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is uncertain.
CREDIT ELLY YU / WABE

The future of a program that protects young immigrants from deportation is uncertain. Last week, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told a group of lawmakers that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, will likely not stand up in the courts.

That has Jessica Colotl concerned about what’s next.

Earlier this year, Coltol, 29, briefly lost her deportation protection status. She later won in court and got her DACA reinstated, but the program itself is up in the air.

The program was created by President Barack Obama through executive action in 2012. If DACA ends, she worries she and others could face deportation.

“It’s scary,” she said. “It would basically paralyze the lives of Americans at heart. We’re talking about people who came to the United States as young as 2 or 3 months old.”

Jaime Rangel, 26, was brought to the U.S. when he was an infant. He agreed the uncertain future of DACA scared him, but he said he’s also hopeful of a more permanent solution for the nearly 800,000 immigrants in the United States protected by DACA. About 23,000 DACA recipients are in Georgia.

“We’ve got to see this as somewhat of an opportunity to try to pass bipartisan immigration reform because, at the end of the day, I think every DACA recipient in this country knew that sooner or later DACA would cease to exist,” he said.

The Trump administration has so far left the DACA program intact, and President Donald Trump has said he’d treat DACA “with heart.”

Meanwhile, attorneys general in 10 states, led by Texas’s attorney general, have sent a letter to the Trump administration saying they would sue the administration if it doesn’t end DACA. Georgia isn’t part of that letter.

In a statement, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said he’d prefer to give the administration time.

“As Attorney General, I take seriously my duty to defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of Georgia. We have continuously and clearly taken the position in ongoing legal cases that DACA does not confer legal status,” Carr said. “It is important to remember that it is properly the role of Congress to address immigration issues from a legislative perspective. I am aware that this is a complex and emotional issue, and I would prefer to give the new Administration — which has been vocal about this issue — appropriate time to consider any additional actions that should be taken.”

Georgia was one of 26 states that sued the Obama administration over the expansion of DACA and DAPA – Deferred Action for Parents of Americans. The Supreme Court deadlocked on the issue, leaving a lower court decision to block the program from being implemented.

Polly Price, a professor of law at Emory University, said while the Supreme Court now has nine justices, it’s hard to predict how they would rule.

“It’s not clear yet how they would have ruled if they’d been presented with DACA itself,” Price said.

Republican State Sen. Josh McKoon said he’d like to see Georgia join the letter led by Texas asking the administration to end DACA.

“I think state governments need to act,” he said. “Texas and other states have said, ‘We’ve been living with the program now for years, and now is an appropriate time to seek judicial relief, and I think that could trigger action by the administration.’”    *There is more. Read the rest here.

 

Reminder: A whole New DACA Generation Is Waiting in the Wings

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DACA illegal aliens in a rally for permanent amnesty. Photo: Breitbart.

Center for Immigration Studies

Probably a million children soon enough will be seen and heard

Soon, the nation will know the fate of the so-called “Dreamers”, the 800,000 or so recipients of President Barack Obama’s 2012 DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) work-permit program. As my colleague John Miano discussed earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on a legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s revocation of the DACA protections for these hundreds of thousands of illegally present adults who came to the U.S. before age 16.

The DACA generation at issue is all grown now, acculturated to life in America with their DACA work permits and finding fairly broad sympathy, some of it quite bipartisan. About to become front and center again on the national stage are great political, moral, and policy questions as to whether the Dreamers will be cut a special path-to-citizenship break or sent packing to countries some may not remember.

But lost in the discussion of the old DACA generation is the brand new DACA generation, just imported, that almost no one has acknowledged as the spinning political football it is heading fast and hard into Washington. Today’s policy-makers, political candidates, and advocacy groups that don’t appreciate DACA ought to be thinking ahead about what to do about them, while they are still children, if Democrats win power in November. To even start to do that, acknowledgement is the prerequisite.

The mass-migration crisis of 2018-2019, when more than a million mostly Central Americans crashed the southern border, was largely fueled by media-powered mass discovery of the previously obscure “Flores Settlement” loophole, by which adults knew that crossing with at least one child entitled them to be quickly released into the United States, where they could permanently join the nation’s illegal immigrant population.

Children poured in, hundreds of thousands of them. No one seems to have measured the parameters of this next DACA generation. But U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehension data shows that, at the very least, 722,700 children crossed into the United States in fiscal years 2018, 2019, and through April 2020.

I say “at the very least” because that 722,700 number is the sum of unaccompanied minor aliens sent over the border and family units. CBP defines family units as “the number of individuals (either a child under 18 years old, parent or legal guardian) apprehended with a family member by the U.S. Border Patrol”. I’m only counting one minor per family. So the 722,700 figure would balloon considerably if, say, half of the 622,692 families came in with a second child. Many more came through at ports of entry as “inadmissibles”, for example 53,430 family units in just 2019.

It’s safe to say that the next DACA generation is well over one million.

Governor Kemp breaks silence on illegal immigration

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Image: Dustin inman Society

 

Despite campaign promises, Kemp is mostly mum

 

 In a twenty-minute press conference in his office Wednesday morning, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp formally announced his pick to replace retiring Senator Johnny Isakson. It is notable that in his introduction speech for businesswoman and political trainee Kelly Loeffler, Kemp broached the topic of border security and illegal immigration.

As far as we can tell, this is Kemp’s first public remark related to illegal immigration since the 2018 election. We offer a no-cost, hand car wash to anyone who can accurately cite a quote or remark from Kemp on the issue since then.

“Senator Loeffler will fight to strengthen our immigration laws and finish the Border Wall so we can stop Mexican drug cartels from flooding our streets – here in Georgia – with drugs, weapons, violence, and fear” said Kemp.

According to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than green card holders. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security ranks the Peach State ahead of Arizona in its population of “undocumented workers.”

Kemp’s silence and blatant disregard for the issue is in defiance of his detailed campaign outline for a state “track and deport plan” in which he pledged to “create a comprehensive database to track criminal aliens in Georgia.” “He will also update Georgia law to streamline deportations from our jails and prisons” and to create a criminal alien database” went the promise.

Still shocked by his inaction on illegal immigration in his first year, pro-enforcement political insiders paying attention to legislation in the Georgia Capitol are carefully watching to see if Kemp will put the power of his office – and begin to honor his campaign promises – by pushing for a simple bill that was held up in the Republican-ruled House in the 2019 session. HB 202 from Rep Jesse Petrea would require the state Department of Corrections to post a quarterly, public report citing the number of foreigners in the prison system, their immigration status, home nation and crimes for which they are serving time.

The measure was stopped in the House Rules Committee and must now begin the hearing process from the beginning, according to the House Clerk’s office.

While it does not begin to approach the tough-talk promises of action on criminal aliens from candidate Kemp, the end result of the Petrea’s HB 202 becoming law would be that Georgia taxpayers would have access to hard, official, indisputable data on at least one part of the cost of illegal immigration – which is one reason the bill was smothered last year by business-first Republican leadership.

A simple one-pager, HB 202 is still alive and has the votes to pass. As this writer noted elsewhere, Kemp could have ordered the DOC to begin the data sharing last year. But he didn’t.

Image: Brian Kemp -National Review/Reuters

 Illegal immigration is still an issue for Georgians

We make the same no-cost car wash offer to anyone who can cite any comment from Governor Kemp on any of the above examples.

“I got a big truck”

Perhaps most obvious to voters who can remember back to last year is candidate Kemp’s “yep, I just said that…” campaign ad shtick that involved his “I got a big truck” (video) and the possibility of his personally rounding up “criminal illegals.”

Asking about the current whereabouts of the truck seems a fair question for Governor Kemp from the faithful GOP voters.

From here, we will begin to produce regular updates on Governor Kemp’s campaign promises, his silence – or any actions – on the illegal immigration crisis in Georgia

Stay tuned.

*Note: Here is a link to Gov. Brian Kemp’s contact page, but unless my vision is worse than usual, it seems he has removed the phone number from the page. If so, here it is: 404-656-1776

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Is DACA? Is it a rule or is it prosecutorial discretion?

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DACA illegal aliens protesting for permanent t amnesty. Photo: The Independent.

Center for Immigration Studies

Janet Napolitano’s DACA memorandum states that DACA is an “exercise of our prosecutorial discretion”..Prosecutorial discretion is not judicially reviewable.”

What Is DACA?

Is it a rule or is it prosecutorial discretion?

By John Miano on November 15, 2019I previously wrote about how the elite media has totally ignored the legal issues in its coverage of the DACA case before the Supreme Court. I thought I would fill in some of the gaps left by the press’s gross malpractice here. My only real interest in DACA is over the alien employment issue. However, more mundane issues of administrative law are likely to dominate the Supreme Court’s opinions.

A key question for the Supreme Court is “What is DACA?” The New York Times answers that question this way:

The program was introduced in 2012 by President Barack Obama as a stopgap measure that would shield from deportation people who were brought into the United States as children. The status is renewable, lasting two years at a time. The program does not provide a pathway to citizenship.

Participation in the program comes with a range of benefits. Along with permission to remain in the country, recipients can also get work permits, through which many have obtained health insurance from their employers.

To make this description complete, one needs to add that the alien has to file an application and pay a $495 fee.

In any event, this describes what DACA does, not what DACA is. So what is DACA? The answer to that question should drive the case, but the parties have tried to avoid the issue.

Janet Napolitano’s DACA memorandum states that DACA is an “exercise of our prosecutorial discretion”.

Prosecutorial discretion is integral to our system of law. Assume you are riding a crowded bus in Florida and you need to get past someone in order to get off. So you tap that person lightly on the shoulder to attract their attention. In doing so you have committed the crime of battery and could go to jail absent prosecutorial discretion not to prosecute such cases. At the same time discretion can be abusive, as in the Jeffrey Epstein matter.

If DACA is an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, the case before the Supreme Court is simple. Prosecutorial discretion is not judicially reviewable. Faced with that established law, the University of California argued before the Supreme Court that when the prosecutorial discretion involves a large number of people it becomes reviewable. Justices Alito and Gorsuch (twice) asked the obvious question: What rule should the Supreme Court adopt to distinguish between prosecutorial discretion that is not reviewable and that which is. The answers were:

It’s a composite — in this case, it’s a composite of principles, a determination that — a categorical determination involving a substantial number of people …

and

Well [] — there — as I said, it’s a combination of factors which include the government inviting people to rely upon and make decisions based upon that policy, the provision of benefits connected with it, individuals making choices, and — and then — and the Heckler case — [] specifically.

These are non-answers. It is surprising the University of California did not prepare a proposed rule for the court to adopt.

Going back to Napolitano’s original memo, it states:

This memorandum confers no substantive right, immigration status or pathway to citizenship. Only the Congress, acting through its legislative authority, can confer these rights. It remains for the executive branch, however, to set forth policy for the exercise of discretion within the framework of the existing law.

The memo from John Morton, director of ICE, ordering the implementation of DACA in his agency said:

As there is no right to the favorable exercise of discretion by the agency, nothing in this memorandum should be construed to prohibit the apprehension, detention, or removal of any alien unlawfully in the United States or to limit the legal authority of DHS or any of its personnel to enforce federal immigration law. Similarly, this memorandum, which may be modified, superseded, or rescinded at any time without notice, is not intended to, does not, and may not be relied upon to create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law by any party in any administrative, civil, or criminal matter.

Napolitano as plaintiff argues that DACA created reliance on the program while her memo directing the creation of the program disclaims that is creates anything to be relied on and ICE made it clear that DACA could be rescinded at any time. (I refer to the respondents as the plaintiffs because that usage is likely clearest to most readers.)

At this point, it is time to stop calling a “spade” a “gardening tool”. DACA is not an exercise in prosecutorial discretion and Napolitano’s DACA memo was just a subterfuge. To participate one has to file an application. One has to file a $495 fee. DACA has a two-year duration. One gets a work authorization. DACA does not reflect the agency looking at individual cases and deciding whether they should be prosecuted.

The chief justice picked up on exactly that:

the whole thing was about work authorization and these other benefits. Both administrations have said they’re not going to deport people. So the deferred prosecution or deferred deportation, that’s not what the focus of the policy was. Yes, the other statutes provided that, but it was triggered by — by the memo.

The University of California correctly notes that the employment under DACA came from “under other unchallenged laws [i.e., regulations]”.

Indeed, that is because neither party had any incentive to question whether the regulations granting work authorizations were lawful. DACA recipients were never going to argue that the regulations that allowed them to work were unlawful. The immigration bureaucracy within DHS was not going to question whether its own regulations were lawful. When several states challenged the related DAPA program, the ability to confer work authorizations was addressed in an adversarial context.

This issue is one where amicus briefs stepped in. Four of the seven supporting the government raised the employment authorization issue that the government had neglected to raise. (See here, here, here, and my own, here.)

Unless the Supreme Court changes the rule that agency enforcement discretion is not judicially reviewable, the DACA rescission cannot be reviewed.

In any event, to be reviewed for being arbitrary and capricious, it has to be a reviewable agency action. That means a rule, order, license, sanction, relief, or the equivalent or denial thereof, or failure to act.

Logically, the rescission of DACA has to be the same type of agency action that created it. If it is not, that opens another string of legal argument beyond what I can address here. To that end, the courts below rejected the argument that the DACA program, created without notice and comment, had to be rescinded with notice and comment.

Which of these is the DACA? We know it is not a failure to act. License and sanction are easy ones to take off the table. An order means “a final disposition” so that one can go as well. Relief is a:

(A) grant of money, assistance, license, authority, exemption, exception, privilege, or remedy;

(B) recognition of a claim, right, immunity, privilege, exemption, or exception; or

(C) taking of other action on the application or petition of, and beneficial to, a person.

The granting of a DACA application could be relief but does not describe the DACA program.

That leaves a rule, which is:

The whole or a part of an agency statement of general or particular applicability and future effect designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe law or policy or describing the organization, procedure, or practice requirements of an agency and includes the approval or prescription for the future of rates, wages, corporate or financial structures or reorganizations thereof, prices, facilities, appliances, services or allowances therefor or of valuations, costs, or accounting, or practices bearing on any of the foregoing.

If we call DACA a “rule”, which is certainly its most accurate description, that creates a whole new set of issues. The courts differentiatebetween substantive rules and interpretive rules.

Read the rest here.