Immigration Politics Georgia

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D.A. King

Hit & Run: Brunswick woman killed on her way to work – perp has ICE hold

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The below from the Brunswick News. We are investigating the story further and will have more soon.

A Brunswick woman died Friday when she was struck by a vehicle in a hit-and-run crash while riding her bike along U.S. Highway 17.

Amanda Jorgensen, 37, of Brunswick, was riding near the U.S. 17’s intersection with Belle Point Parkway at around 4 p.m. Friday when a pickup truck struck her bike before driving away from the scene of the crash, the Georgia State Patrol said.

Jorgensen died at the scene, the state patrol said. According to posts by co-workers on social media, Jorgensen worked at Publix and was on her way to work as traffic lights throughout the county were inoperable due to lack of power after Hurricane Helene.

The driver of the truck, Israel Alonzo Garcia, 39, of Brunswick, was arrested a short time later and charged with vehicular homicide in the first degree, hit and run, DUI, driving with an open container, driving while license suspended and not maintaining a safe distance while overtaking a bicycle.

The State Patrol’s Serious Crash Reconstruction Team is investigating the crash.

Read the entire story here.

GA AG opinion on SB 497 requirement that employers in Apprenticeship Program swear to “lawful presence” OCGA 50-36-1

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(Bold emphasis in the below copy is mine – dak)

From: Jordan Watson <JWatson@law.ga.go>
Date: September 23, 2024 at 7:15:46 PM GMT+3
To: Jesse Petrea <jpetrea@>, jesse.petrea@house.ga.go
Subject: SB 497

 

Dear Chairman Petrea,

Thank you for your letter regarding the impact of SB 497.  While our office generally represents executive branch agencies and does not typically represent the General Assembly, I did ask some of our attorneys to take a look at your letter and wanted to provide you with our office’s informal analysis of the issue you raised.

For background, our understanding is that the High Demand Apprenticeship Program allows an employer to apply with the State to offer an apprenticeship program.  We understand that the employer then enters into a contract with the Technical College System of Georgia to perform the requirements of an apprenticeship program in exchange for a contract completion award of $5,000 per apprentice.

In response to your question of whether the addition of “Apprenticeships” to O.C.G.A § 50-36-1 applies to the employer offering the apprenticeship program, the short answer appears to be yes.  Because the employer is the applicant in the context of O.C.G.A § 20-4-15, he or she must verify his or her lawful presence in the United States under federal immigration law as part of applying to participate in the apprenticeship grogram.  TCSG’s High Demand Apprenticeship Program Policy (available at https://www.tcsg.edu/HDAP/ ), in turn, requires that the potential apprentice provide proof of his or her lawful eligibility.  Specifically,  TCSG’s Procedure B.5(B) of the Policy requires that a proposed apprentice provide proof of lawful presence in the United States to the employer to be eligible for an apprenticeship under the program.  TCSG’s policy further provides that the apprentice’s lawful status must be verified before the apprenticeship can begin and before any payment is made to the employer.  Finally, under the policy, “[a]ll apprentices supported through the High Demand Apprenticeship Program must be eligible to receive public benefits and verified through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.”

I hope this is helpful and answers your questions regarding O.C.G.A. § 50-36-1.

 

 
Jordan Watson
Dir. External Affairs & Policy
Office of the Attorney General Chris Carr
Executive Office
(404) 458-3492
jwatson@law.ga.gov
Georgia Department of Law
Atlanta, Georgia

COBB COUNTY SHERIFF CRAIG OWENS IS A DANGEROUS MAN

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Craig Owens invited a mariachi band to play at his gala announcment event hosting far-left extremists against immigration enforcement 

 

 

 

  •  Related reading: Georgia law requires all jailers to report incarcerated illegal aliens to DHS – but it’s not enforced

 

“It may be historic in that it’s likely the first time a Cobb County sheriff has moved to protect drunk driving child rapists in our country illegally.”

So says Jon Ferre of Cobb’s Democrat Sheriff, Craig Owens. Ferre was Senior Advisor to the Director and later Chief of Staff at ICE under the Trump administration. Owens is well-known for inviting a mariachi band to play at a gala event in which he proudly announced he had ended the Cobb jail’s lifesaving 287(g) agreement with ICE shortly after taking office in 2021.

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Signed into law by then President Bill Clinton, 287 (g) authorizes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform limited, specified immigration officer functions under the agency’s direction and oversight. It is primarily used in jails and deals with illegal aliens already arrested for additional crimes.

As this writer observed when he was elected,Sheriff Craig Owens is a dangerous man. He is also defiantly arrogant. He has announced that he will not obey new state law on immigration enforcement.

The mariachi band Owens invited to play at his event announcing the end of 287(g) in the Cobb jail.

Owens has pledged to ignore a clear mandate in HB 1105 (“The Georgia Criminal Alien Track and Report Act”) passed in the 2024 General Assembly. In part, it requires all sheriffs to apply for 287 (g) authority if they are not already authorized.

From the AJC: (“Whiplash in Gwinnett, Cobb as new law on immigration enforcement takes effect) “Owens says he was not going to apply for 287(g) again because he can’t spare the deputies to investigate  immigration cases or do the administrative work.” Sheriff Owens is depending on public ignorance on the reality of the ICE program. But even the AJC quotes Lena Gerber, a leftist activist at the “Immigrant Legal Resource Center” when she correctly points out that “…the agreements on their own don’t require deputies to go out of their way to investigate immigration cases.”

Ferre, the former ICE official agreed. “Asking a jailed individual a few questions about citizenship and alienage obviously doesn’t amount to an investigation.” Now at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington D.C., Ferre produced required reading on Cobb’s Sheriff (Georgia Sheriff Misleads on 287(g) Program) in June.

I asked various pro-enforcement Georgians about Owens announcement….

Please read the rest here,

“LIMITED TERM” drivers license: Non-citizen ID not excluded from use as “proper ID” at GA’s polls

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A suggestion for voters who actually go to the polls and cast a vote in person: When the poll worker asks you for I.D and you pull out your drivers license, ask them if they would have accepted your license if it read “LIMITED TERM” across the top.

Spoiler: The answer will be “yes, we accept all Georgia drivers licenses.”

Because that’s the law.

“Section 21-2-417 – Presentation of proper identification to poll workers; “…each elector shall present proper identification to a poll worker at or prior to completion of a voter’s certificate at any polling place and prior to such person’s admission to the enclosed space at such polling place. Proper identification shall consist of any one of the following: (1) A Georgia driver’s license which was properly issued by the appropriate state agency…”

There is nothing in Georgia law that excludes the “LIMITED TERM” drivers license or state ID card from being regarded as “proper identification’ at the polls.

What are the LIMITED TERM drivers licenses and official state ID Cards?

They are the driving/ID credentials issued to non-U.S. citizens by Georgia’s Dept. of Drivers Services (DDS). This includes students here on temporary visas, Mercedes Benz executives on visas – and illegal aliens who are still benefitting from the protections of deferred deportation proceedings illegally conferred by Barack Obama in 2012 as part of his pandering re-election campaign.

There have been several attempts under the Gold Dome to rectify this needless lapse in common sense and security. None of them were allowed to pass.

LIMITED TERM GA drivers license as proposed in HB 228 (2021 session)
GA’s Current LIMITED TERM drivers license.

 

The most recent try was in 2021 with HB 228 sponsored by Cherokee County Republican Rep. Charlice Byrd and an impressive list of powerful cosponsors. The bill was well-written and simple. It would have added wording to the law that excluded drivers licenses and ID Cards issued to foreigners. The bill would have added words across the top of the credentials that read: ‘BEARER NOT A U.S. CITIZEN — NOT VOTER ID’.” For mail in voting protections the legislation would have required DDS to create a document numbering system in which all non-citizen’s document numbers began with “NC” alerting all concerned to the non-citizens status of the bearer.

Readers may remember the climate of the nation, state and legislative session in 2021 after the 2020 election results. The short end of this story is that HB 228 was not allowed so much as a vote in the House Special Committee on Election Integrity. We had to fight to even get an abbreviated, Friday PM hearing. Taking a goofy talking point from the far-left, Republican opponents told us the change would be branding non-citizens with a “Scarlett Letter.”

The bill died after much push back by Ryan Germany, then General Counsel at the Georgia Secretary of State office.

  • Related reading: That’s not accurate, Mr. Germany: Fact checking Ryan Germany, General Counsel to Georgia’s SoS on his testimony on HB 228  

Voters may want to ask their Republican legislators to reintroduce the bill and easily solve a needless – and mindless – lapse in security.

I end by suggesting readers check out the star in the righthand corner of the current LIMITED TERM drivers license issued in Georgia. That denotes it is REAL ID Act compliant. It’s not only U.S. citizens who are given that status on their licenses.

REAL ID Act approval allows the bearer to enter nuclear power facilities, federal buildings and to board airliners in the post- 9/11 America. Google it.

Stolen Valor: GA state Senator Shawn Still does not want to talk about his false claim of being a military veteran

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State Sen. Shawn Still. (Twitter/X)

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“Tori, don’t, don’t ever say that to me again. I am too. I’ve served proudly, and you don’t need to throw that in my face.” Republican state Senator Shawn Still on veteran status to Senate District 20 Republican Primary candidate and former U.S. Marine Tori Branum in a recorded May, 2024 telephone conversation.

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In several May, 2024 posts, we focused on a claim by Georgia state Senator Shawn Still (R- Norcross) that he is a military veteran. He isn’t.

GA Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R), President of the Senate.

While the political right correctly goes after Democrat Tim Walz for his shameless stolen valor remarks, as far as we can see there is silence from Georgia Republicans on Shawn Still. That includes Georgia Republican Party leadership, Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp, the president of the Senate, Lt, Governor Burt Jones, Still’s Senate colleagues and Republican voters – even voters in Still’s home district in Gwinnett County.

You can read about Freshman Sen. Shawn Still here and here and here. There is a lot more information linked into the posts.

Shawn Still Senate bio here.

 

For political insiders who do more than read “the news” it may help to explain Senator Still’s approach to policy by pointing out he was named the 2023 Freshman Senator of the Year by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. That reminds us: Don’t forget to remember the date of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce 2024 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Summit.

Heads up: Still has made it clear to this writer that he does not want to talk about the stolen valor topic.

SMH

 

Barbara Jordan’s wisdom is needed in today’s immigration debate

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Barbara Jordan

The Hill

Brian Lonergan

1/17/18

The Trump administration declared today to be Barbara Jordan Day, the 22nd anniversary of the legendary former Texas congresswoman’s passing. Presidents often make such declarations to honor heroes from our country’s past. However, Jordan was no relic from a bygone era. She was a trailblazer on many issues, not the least of which was immigration policy. Our country would greatly benefit if more of the players in the current immigration debate shared her vision.

Jordan was an icon and a pioneer, but didn’t fit into the neat categories of the modern political landscape. She is primarily known for a series of firsts: First African-American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction, first Southern African-American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and the first African-American woman to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. She also gave a memorable opening statement at the House Judiciary Committee hearings during impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon.

With that resume, and by today’s politics, one would assume Jordan would be an open borders advocate who endorsed all the Democratic Party’s platform positions on border security, sanctuary cities, chain migration and the visa lottery. That assumption would be wrong. Jordan was a staunch proponent of an America-first immigration policy that sought to have new arrivals be a benefit, not a burden, to the country.

{mosads}Though a lifelong, loyal Democrat, Jordan staked out positions on immigration that would today make her a pariah in her party. As the chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform from 1994-1996, Jordan advocated for increased restriction of immigration, and increased penalties on employers who violated immigration rules. Her rhetoric was ahead of its time considering the pro-enforcement sentiment that swept Donald Trump into the White House in 2016.

Under her leadership, the commission conducted a sweeping, bipartisan review of U.S. immigration policy. In that report, informally known as the Jordan Commission, she debunked concepts of illegal immigration that have found support today.

“For immigration to continue to serve our national interest, it must be lawful,” she wrote. “There are people who argue that some illegal aliens contribute to our community because they may work, pay taxes, send their children to our schools, and in all respects except one, obey the law. Let me be clear: that is not enough.”

As Republicans and Democrats wrangle over the future of immigration policy, some Jordanian common sense should be applied. Namely, we need to ask those opposed to reform why they do not support policies that would protect American lives, prosper Americans, and improve the upward mobility of legal immigrants and the vulnerable. Should the priority of our elected leaders be to improve the lives of American citizens, or allow corrupt regimes to export their poverty problem to us?

While she was chair of the commission, Jordan argued that “it is both a right and a responsibility of a democratic society to manage immigration so that it serves the national interest.” Rarely will you hear a more succinct and relevant statement on immigration than that.

We need to make immigration work for Americans. Allowing a mass influx of low-skilled foreign nationals to violate our laws is a bad proposition. Bad for American citizens, who see their wages driven downward and are vulnerable to a dangerous criminal element; bad for legal immigrants, who played by the rules and saw that effort mocked by others who essentially cheated and were rewarded; and bad for the new arrivals, many of whom are ill-equipped to assimilate into American life and face the prospect of grinding poverty and long-term government dependence… please read the entire essay here.