<–The photo on the left is the HB 228 -proposed new DL for foreigners in Georgia. The photo below is the current drivers license issued to foreigners – illegal aliens with DACA status included. Which drivers license would you rather see used as “proper identification” at GA polls?
* UPDATE: HB 228 was never allowed a committee vote and died in 2021. Rep Rich lost her seat that year.
ELECTION INTEGRITY REFORM – TWO COMMON SENSE STEPS IN HB 228
1) We hope to amend current law to clearly exclude non-citizen ID and driving credentials from the list of “proper identification” acceptable for voting purposes. This bill should be regarded as a simple housekeeping bill, as we assume the absence of similar language was an oversight in previous legislation effecting vote security.
2) We also propose to change current law to require DDS to add the phrase “BEARER NOT U.S. CITIZEN – NOT VOTER ID” to all drivers licenses and ID cards issued to foreign nationals.
In numerous occasions, it has been illustrated by curious citizens that poll workers are not aware of the LIMITED TERM credentials now issued by DDS to foreign nationals and are trained to accept “any Georgia-issued drivers license/ID…” as proper ID at the polls.
We are not saying we have direct knowledge of non-citizen voting, only that in today’s troubled times, the legislature should employ both a belt and suspenders to increase voter confidence in the entire system and eliminate room for error and confusion.
**We are also making it clear that the Motor Voter system of voter registration can and has allowed non-citizens to register to vote around the nation. According to the Associated Press and NPR and the Pew Center, Motor Voter registration is far from perfect.
Pew: “California’s rollout of automatic voter registration didn’t go as planned.
It seemed like a good idea: Cut the bureaucracy by adding voters automatically and welcome more residents to political participation. Since April 2018, when California residents go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to register a car or get a license, they are added to the state voter rolls — unless they opt out.
But DMV officials later found more than 100,000 registration errors in the first year, including some voters registered to the wrong party. And at least one noncitizen (state officials still are investigating how many in total) was accidentally signed up — a significant error since noncitizens aren’t allowed to vote.”
It is our intention to stay far away as possible from mistakes made in California and other states concerning illegal voting. This legislation is a timely, commonsense and easy safeguard. We look forward to answering objections to these two simple steps to voter security reform in Georgia.
Please that Georgia issues the same drivers license to all non-citizens – including, as reported by the Associated Press, illegal aliens with deferred action on deportation.
Oh, my! The Feb 4, 2021 headline in the liberal AJC’s “Get Schooled” blog “OPINION: Open door to higher education for immigrants” tells us the door to higher education is closed to immigrants! Can you imagine how horrible the state of Georgia must be?
But wait, the sub-headline is “Bill introduced by Republican legislator would restore in-state tuition for young immigrants.”
Ah, so maybe it’s not that immigrants cannot get a college education in the Peach State after all. Maybe the AJC’s problem with Georgia is that young immigrants must pay out-of-state tuition – at public universities?
Nope, that isn’t true either.
Actually the state’s taxpayer funded University System of Georgia is ruled by the autonomous Board of Regents and that body has a policy offering instate tuition rates to immigrants. But – and here is the real problem the AJC and the people who wrote the opinion column have with Georgia – the benefit is for legal immigrants. And refugees. And asyleees. Pretty mean, eh?
Legal immigrants, also known as Lawful Permanent Residents have what are widely referred to as ‘green cards.” The Regents policy does not allow illegal aliens to access instate tuition.
It’s right there in the Board of Regents Policy Manual
4.3.1 Out-of-State Enrollment & 4.3.2 Classification of Students for Tuition Purposes
4.3.2.3 Non-Citizens
“A non-citizen student shall not be classified as in-state for tuition purposes unless the student is legally in this state and there is evidence to warrant consideration of in-state classification as determined by the Board of Regents. Lawful permanent residents, refugees, asylees, or other eligible noncitizens as defined by federal Title IV regulations may be extended the same consideration as citizens of the United States in determining whether they qualify for in-state classification.
International students who reside in the United States under non-immigrant status conditioned at least in part upon intent not to abandon a foreign domicile shall not be eligible for in-state classification.”
The liberal AJC headline is over an opinion column from two advocates, Sofia Bork and Munir Meghjani. They seem very confused about the regents policy.
“Unfortunately, Georgia’s growing immigrant community has been locked out of the system that could propel them to reach their full potential, benefiting both their community and our state’s workforce. We have seen scores of family and friends struggle to make ends meet to afford the same education we received” they tell us.
If you have already guessed that the column is really about promoting state legislation to give illegal aliens instate tuition, you are on the right track.
The bill being sold is House Bill 120 from Republican Rep Kasey Carpenter of Dalton. Carpenter – and his mostly Democrat co-sponsors – want to provide illegal aliens with the much lower instate tuition rate than the regents allow U.S. citizens and legal immigrants from most other states to pay.
In liberal parlance, it’s fairness to “immigrants.”
Rep Carpenter says his bill is all about illegal aliens with DACA status. It’s not. DACA is not mentioned anywhere in the bill. But that isn’t part of the advocate’s column in the AJC. Rep Carpenter says illegal aliens with DACA are somehow ‘lawfully present’ in the United States. The 11th Circuit Appellate Court says DACA does not provide lawful presence. We wrote it up here.
None of that is in the opinion column in the liberal AJC. It’s worth a read if you aren’t already convinced the editors at the AJC are driven by an open borders agenda and they are quite willing to smear real immigrants to push that cause.
AJC Get Schooled editor Maureen Downey. Photo: Twitter.
The AJC “Get Schooled” blog is run by AJC editor Maureen Downey who we suspect wrote the headline.
A former reporter at the liberal Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper known for multiple, unapologetic accuracy blunders is apparently now a “Communications Associate” at the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA). GMA is the powerful lobbying entity for Georgia’s more than five hundred cities and towns. We hear the job change was effective January 1, 2021.
We were happy to take the time to post two requests for correction sent to the AJC editors last year stories created by Coyne and approved by her editors. Maybe it paid off?
Last February Coyne reported on a silly, but simple bill from anti-enforcement Democrats (apologies for the repetition) in the Georgia House that was virtue signaling against use of the term “illegal alien” (also “alien” and “illegal”) that we were proud to have helped install in multiple state laws. Through Coyne, the AJC reported that under the legislation, “illegal alien” would be replaced with the term “unauthorized immigrant”. One problem with the story was that “unauthorized immigrant” was not anywhere in the text of the bill. Apparently Coyne wished it or just made it up. Her yarn left out the changes to the other icky words – “illegal” and “alien.”
Kevin Riley, AJC Editor-in-Chief. Photo: Red & Black.
In November 2020, another Amanda Coyne story on the application process for poll workers in Gwinnett caught our eye. Coyne and her editors managed to muck it up by telling readers that the I-9 form is a “tax form.” It’s not.
The yarn, headlined “Application process stymies 200 + plus would-be poll workers in Gwinnett”explains at length that people who wanted to work at Gwinnett County polls have not been contacted after completing an application. The Gwinnett application is online and requires an easy and quick registration if you want to see it.
Amanda Coyne. Photo: MuckRuck
From the liberal AJC via reporter Amanda Coyne:
“Gwinnett County’s human resources department requires potential poll workers to submit an I-9 form before their application is moved over to the elections department. The I-9 is a tax form that allows the county to pay poll workers. Applicants are supposed to get an automated email after submitting their application with instructions on how to submit the tax form, country spokesman Joe Sorenson said. Nothing in the job posting or application indicates the I-9 is necessary to move forward.”
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the people who administer the I-9 form describe it as the ‘employment verification’ form that it has been since 1986.
From the USCIS I-9 website:
Use Form I-9 to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. All U.S. employers must properly complete Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and noncitizens. Both employees and employers (or authorized representatives of the employer) must complete the form.”
Alas, as is usually the case with the agenda-driven editors at the AJC, they did not run a notice of correction as requested. But after our post, they did change the online copy to reflect the actual purpose of the I-9 form, but again, as usual, there was no note of the correction. This is a near daily practice for the AJC staff for whom the internet seems to mean never having to say you’re sorry…
We see from Linkedin that Amanda Coyne, the new communications associate at GMA, was editor-in-chief of University of South Carolina’s The Daily Gamecock and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in women’s and gender studies.
Rep Kasey Carpenter (R-Dalton) blasts his home county Republican party at the Georgia Capitol. Photo: Screenshot, Georgia House/FYN
“A 2019 11th Circuit Appellate Court decision ruled that DACA does not provide lawful status and denied a group of DACA recipient’s lawsuit demand for admission to the three public-funded public Georgia universities that do not allow illegal aliens to attend at any tuition rate.”
Rep. Kasey Carpenter revolts against local GOP to defend his in-state tuition bill for DACA recipientFebruary 2, 2021
Dalton’s Republican state Rep. Kasey Carpenter (R-Dalton) denounced his home GOP on the House floor in defense of his legislation (HB 120) to grant illegal aliens in-state tuition rates. The bill would allow undocumented international students living in Georgia to pay less tuition than Americans and legal immigrants from most other states in Georgia’s public universities and the technical college system.
“As far as DACA recipients receiving in-state tuition rates, These individuals are here thru no fault of their own. They are or will be taxpayers in the state of Georgia. I am interested in creating more givers than takers to our economy. Affordable College education is a step in that direction. The state pays the same rate whether that student pays in-state or out-of-state tuition. It is the university or college that takes the hit. Many take that hit on students from surrounding states. The federal government has failed America in regard to immigration. Unfortunately, we have to come up with the best solutions with the situation we have been handed. Making lemonade out of lemons,” Carpenter told FYN.
For the academic year 2019-2020, the average tuition & fees for Colleges in Georgia is $4,721 for in-state and $16,879 for out-of-state, according to collegetuitioncompare.com.
Last week Rep Carpenter made a short speech to the Georgia House blasting his bill’s opponents, lamenting the period in history when the U.S. had “a show-up” immigration policy, verbally merged ‘immigrants’ with illegals – and with an audible groan from an off-camera House member, cited the biblical story of Joseph and his family in ancient Egypt to defend his tuition legislation.
The now growing controversy began when the Whitfield Republican Party sent out an email opposing the legislation shortly after its introduction. The email read, “Carpenter is renewing his attempts to make Georgia a magnet for a new wave of illegal.” Rep Carpenter responded with a Facebook post saying his tuition bill was crafted for DACA recipients and would “only apply to individuals considered lawfully present in Georgia as of 2013, aka DACA.”
Carpenter had the following to say about Whitfield GOP, “My problem with our local GOP is they sent out miss information about this bill without even calling beforehand. Sometimes local parties have individuals involved with their own agenda. It doesn’t speak to the entire party but A select few.”
A 2019 11th Circuit Appellate Court decision ruled that DACA does not provide lawful status and denied a group of DACA recipient’s lawsuit demand for admission to the three public-funded public Georgia universities that do not allow illegal aliens to attend at any tuition rate.
DACA is a 2012 executive amnesty program put in place by then-President Barack Obama that grants deferred action on deportation along with a work permit and Social Security Number to illegal aliens. Georgia issues driver’s licenses and official state ID Cards to DACA recipients as well as other “public benefits.”… There is more here from FYN.com
Editors change source of inaccurate information on pending legislation from sponsor to…the AJC.
We posted a detailed piece last week on Republican state Rep Kasey Carpenter’s instate-tuition-for-illegal-aliens bill (HB 120) and the fact that he is selling it as a bill to provide instate tuition to DACA recipients only. He may change the language to put some reference to DACA in the legislation, but it isn’t there now – (LC 49 0327/a) and it wasn’t there when he introduced the bill. We cited a Carpenter quote from the uber-liberal and often fake news-spewing Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) promo coverage (Georgia lawmaker to reintroduce in-state tuition bill for young immigrants) that went :“Carpenter said his bill would apply to participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.”
The AJC didn’t put the second string on this one. The byline belongs to Jeremy Redmon, the AJC’s longtime immigration reporter (they removed that label several years ago, but he is still that guy). Redmon is pretty well-versed on immigration law as well as legislation and the fact that DACA is not in the HB 120 bill would not have gone unnoticed. Which is why the AJC had the qualifier “Carpenter said his bill…” (italics mine).
Jeremy Redmon reads our stuff. Amusing side note: Redmon has me blocked on Twitter. He knows the bill is in trouble and like the management and editorial staff of the AJC, he has an agenda.
Fast forward a few days to the January 31, 2021 Sunday edition in which the AJC ran a new blurb on the same bill on the “Capitol Recap” page (A-4) in which the liberal AJC is now telling readers (including irresponsibly ignorant Republican state lawmakers) that the legislation “would apply to participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.” Again, that is false. All anyone need do is to read the bill to see it is false. This is typical of the AJC. They are now beyond merely promoting the scam legislation, and are now misrepresenting its contents. It is far from the first time.
The AJC is not to be trusted, but there are still people who will accept total lies because “I read it in the newspaper…”
Image: A.F. Branco – In 2016 three Georgia residents, all illegal aliens who had graduated from Georgia high schools, went to court with the contention that their deferred action on deportation status as DACA recipients somehow provided “lawful presence” in the U.S. Further, they said DACA should allow them to attend the universities the Board of Regents has placed off limits to illegal aliens.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against them 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.”
The court noted the obvious (even the liberal AJC reported it): illegal alien students are still subject to deportation proceedings. “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.”
Updated: Typos corrected 5:32 PM 28 January, 2021. **Updated 9:15 AM 29 January, 2021 with note on lack of criminal restrictions for eligibility.
UPDATE FEB 19, 8:47 PM – THERE IS NOW A SUBSTITUTE BILL (LC 49 0393S) WITH A SLIGHT CHANGE IN LANGUAGE DESIGNED TO CREATE FAKE NEWS.IT IS WORKING. MORE SUNDAY.
Instate tuition for illegal aliens in Georgia – House Bill 120 sponsored by Republican Rep Kasey Carpenter of Dalton
Carpenter has three Republican co-signers and five Democrat co-signers. Without ever using “DACA,” the hoped-for contention is that DACA provides “lawful presence.” It doesn’t.
See bottom for a list and contact info of cosponsors.
Rep Kasey Carpenter’s legislation, HB 120, would change Georgia law to allow illegal aliens to access instate tuition rates in Georgia’s public university and technical college systems. Three schools would be exempt because they do not admit illegal aliens at any tuition rate.
Rep Kasey Carpenter Photo: GA General Assembly
These instate rates are much lower than out-of state tuition (what non-residents pay). For academic year 2019-2020, the average tuition & fees for Colleges in Georgia is $4,721 for in-state and $16,879 for out-of-state.
This would mean illegal aliens would pay a lower rate than Americans and legal immigrants from Michigan or Nebraska (for example).
The bill is being promoted in the liberal AJC in a way that makes it sound like it would only apply to illegal aliens with Obama’s illegal DACA action. Here is a quote from an AJC article before the bill officially dropped:
“ (Rep Kasey) Carpenter said his bill would apply to participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.”
The reality is that “DACA” is not mentioned anywhere in Carpenter’s state tuition amnesty bill. Carpenter, along with his far-left, Atlanta-area Democrat co-sponsors has structured the measure so that nearly any ‘youngish’ illegal alien living in Georgia, DACA or not, can pay much less tuition in Georgia taxpayer-funded post-secondary schools than Americans and legal immigrants from most other states *if they meet the bill’s guidelines. *(updated 3:19 PM, January 28, 2021)
Note: Read a well written explanation of what may happen to DACA in the near future from Regulatory Review.
______________________
Requirements for instate tuition for illegal aliens in Carpenter’s bill:
* Student must have graduated from a Georgia High School or obtained a Georgia GED.
* Claim domicile in Georgia since January 1, 2013 or be a dependent “child” of a parent (including illegal alien parents) who claims Georgia domicile since January 1, 2013.
* Be younger than 30 at time of initial application to a Georgia post-secondary school. This appears to mean the illegal alien who is older than 30 now could have applied in the past and been rejected but can use the date of that original application. (We have not done the math).
* Has not been issued a temporary (non-immigrant) visa to enter the U.S.A. by the federal government.
*The bill says student must be “lawfully present in this state” and present evidence of that status – and that the regents may not allow instate tuition to non-citizens who are not “lawfully present.”
All italics mine.
**UPDATE: January 29, 2021 – DACA has guidelines for eligibility regarding criminal records and convictions. In HB 120 we see no such limiting language. This bill is a separate, state level illegal alien tuition amnesty that should be rejected out of hand by responsible lawmakers.
_______________________
The term “lawful presence” (different from “legal status”) seems to be the rock Carpenter, his Democrat co-sponsors and his foreign labor backers are tying themselves to. Congress, and only congress, makes the determination of immigration status. According to a 2019 appellate court decision discussed further down, “lawful presence” is not defined anywhere in the Immigration and Nationality Act that regulates immigration. Illegal aliens with DACA for example, do not have “lawful presence.”
Carpenter says he is trying to educate more workers. In a pandemic. With high unemployment. A move that will lower wages for Americans if successful.
Carpenter and his Democrat co-sponsors seem to be trying hard to allow the state of Georgia to create its own amnesty for tuition rates. By using the “DACA” label in talking points, but leaving it out of the bill language, they could allow perhaps thousands more illegal aliens to obtain this immigration amnesty for special treatment on tuition than the 21,000 or so illegal aliens that actually currently have DACA status.
We expect the argument to be that illegal aliens with a Georgia drivers license can use it to demonstrate “lawful presence” in Georgia to pay less tuition than legal immigrants.
Associated Press: “Some illegal immigrants get licenses in Georgia.”
llegal aliens with deferred action on deportation (DACA or no DACA) can and do qualify for a Georgia drivers license because of federal law (REAL ID Act) – this special treatment applies to obtaining drivers licenses and official ID cards only.
The House never allowed the bill to see a hearing and the bill died. We are forever grateful to former state Senator Josh McKoon for his courage and determination.
Drivers license issued to non-citizens in Georgia, including illegal aliens with deferred action on deportation. Photo: DDS.
Carpenter and his Dem pals may be trying to use the drivers license as a way to get illegal aliens instate tuition. The effort seems to be to use the DACA amnesty as a way to confuse lawmakers and voters on Carpenter’s tuition amnesty bill, it should be noted that illegal aliens with DACA have already lost their case in federal court – twice – when they tried to claim “lawful presence.”
“Illegal aliens who have been awarded deferred action on deportation proceedings through the DACA amnesty by both the Obama and Trump administrations are illegal aliens and do not have “lawful presence” says the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The decision was handed down March 6, 2019.
The ruling was in response to a suit brought by several illegal aliens in Georgia who were challenging the Board of Regents policy that requires lawful presence for instate tuition purposes and admittance to some USG universities.
The Eleventh Circuit rejected all of the students’ claims. The court noted that ““lawfully present” is not a stand alone immigration classification, and it is not defined anywhere in the (Immigration and Nationality) Act*(opinion here).
We wrote it up here, with a link to the court’s opinion.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. Photo: Twitter.com
Georgia Attorney General, Chris Carr:
“We have continuously and clearly taken the position in ongoing legal cases that DACA does not confer legal status…” from the liberal WABE news.
The bill seems to depend largely on lawmaker’s ignorance of the issue and the slanted promotional and inaccurate headline coverage in the media.
In a January 22 post, my colleague Jessica Vaughan analyzed a 100-day immigration enforcement moratorium put in place by the Biden administration, in one of its first acts. The memorandum laying out that moratorium all but eviscerates immigration enforcement in the United States, as Vaughan noted. It is a dangerous — but perhaps inevitable — gambit, as the new administration pushes a massive amnesty for almost every alien unlawfully present in the United States.
To recap that memorandum announcing a 100-day “pause”, beginning February 1, there will be just three “priorities” for immigration enforcement generally: national security threats, aliens who crossed the border illegally on or after November 1, 2020, and aliens convicted of an “aggravated felony” who are “are determined to pose a threat to public safety”.
That applies not just to removals (aliens who do not fall within one of the priorities will not be removed as of January 22), but to arrests and detentions of aliens who are not a “priority”, as well. That means that nonimmigrant overstays (who make up the majority of aliens illegally present in the United States), aliens who have received due process and are under final orders of removal, and criminal aliens who are not a “priority” will get off scot-free, at least for the next three-plus months, and likely longer.
In other words, in all but the most extreme cases, there will be no immigration enforcement in the United States at all.
But as my colleague Mark Krikorian explained recently, there are no immigration reforms in the proposed amnesty, either. What gives?
Usually, at least a window-dressing of enforcement precedes an amnesty proposal. Why were there almost 370,000 removals in FY 2008? Then-President George W. Bush wanted an amnesty. Why were there almost 410,000 removals in FY 2012? Then-President Obama wanted one, too.
The legislative strategy traditionally has been to show that you are serious about enforcement, and then argue for amnesty for aliens brought to the United States as minors, or for parents of children born here, or for “otherwise law-abiding” aliens illegally present.
Perhaps the Biden administration has decided that this was not a winning tack (there was no Bush or Obama amnesty), and opted to go in the other direction. I am not privy to its deliberations and tactics, but if it has opted to use enforcement (or more precisely, a lack thereof) as a bargaining chip to get a massive legalization bill passed, it will likely backfire.
I have worked on Capitol Hill, and drafted and negotiated legislation that has become law, so I would like to think that I have a certain level of expertise in the crafting of proposals into laws. No one wants to negotiate with a gun to their head, and some Democrats facing tough re-election campaigns in the 2022 off-year elections may have to take a walk on this one.
That said, the Biden administration may have felt that it had no choice except to halt almost all immigration enforcement. If you plan on giving status to everyone except a handful of aliens illegally present as of an arbitrary date, it is inconsistent to arrest — let alone remove — them before that amnesty takes effect.
Why? Because that means that the legislation will either exclude those removed or expressly let them back into the United States (or worse, have the American taxpayers pay to fly them back). In legislative terms, the “optics” of such returns are bad, and hard to defend.
But again, the Biden non-enforcement strategy is risky. Some crimes are victimless in the abstract, but there are a lot of victims of the crimes for which those aliens will not be removed.
Consider, for example, DUI, which is not actually a ground of removability and would — except in the most extreme cases — not fall within one of the new “priorities” for removal. I would regularly see respondents on my docket as an immigration judge who had entered illegally (and therefore were removable) and come to ICE’s attention after a DUI arrest, however. Read the rest here.
Despite notching several critical legal victories this year, including one at the U.S. Supreme Court, supporters of a federal program that protects Dreamers—immigrants brought to the United States as children—must put the celebrations on hold yet again.
In the latest chapter of a nearly decade-long legal battle, the fate of that program—called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)—now lies in the hands of a federal judge in Texas who immigration advocates fear will terminate the program.
DACA began in 2012 when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a memorandum making Dreamers eligible to obtain legal status that would defer potential immigration proceedings. This relief, which can be renewed every two years, shields Dreamers who meet stringent criteria from deportation and allows them to obtain work authorization among other benefits. Since its enactment, DACA has protected 800,000 noncitizens from deportation and more than 1.3 million other immigrants remain eligible for the program.
For years, DACA had enjoyed wide bipartisan support. But in 2017 the Trump Administration attempted to rescind the program, claiming that it was “an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch.” In response, multiple plaintiffs challenged the rescission as “arbitrary and capricious” in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. This summer, the Supreme Court agreed with the plaintiffs, upholding the program against the Trump Administration’s effort to disband it—a major victory for the program’s beneficiaries and immigration advocates.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, a federal judge ordered DHS to restore the program to its original form after the agency refused to do so. The judge specifically required DHS to resume reviewing and approving new DACA applications and work permits immediately, marking another victory for the program’s supporters.
But ongoing litigation in Texas threatens DACA supporters’ winning streak.
This case began in 2018 when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and several other states filed a lawsuit arguing that DHS exceeded its authority by creating DACA without the consent of Congress. Because this case is the only one that directly challenges DACA’s legality, an adverse decision in this litigation could permanently end the program—an outcome that became more likely when the case was transferred to Judge Andrew S. Hanen, according to some advocates.
Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Hanen is perhaps best known for his 2015 decision to enjoin two other Obama-era immigration initiatives closely related to DACA. The first initiative sought to expand DACA to include an additional 330,000 people. The second initiative aimed to offer DACA-like protections to undocumented parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.
In that litigation, 26 states challenged the two initiatives in Southern Texas, knowing they were likely to come before Judge Hanen, whose earlier rebukes of President Obama’s immigration policies “made him an inviting decision-maker.” When the case was indeed assigned to Judge Hanen, one commentator concluded that the plaintiff states had “already won the first round in court.”
As predicted, Judge Hanen enjoined the two initiatives, holding that President Obama exceeded his authority when he enacted them. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit—perhaps the most conservative federal appeals court in the country—upheld Judge Hanen’s decision. On further appeal, the Supreme Court—with only eight justices after Justice Antonin Scalia’s untimely death—was evenly divided on the issue, which meant Judge Hanen’s initial injunction remained in place. Although the ruling had no effect on DACA itself, it effectively terminated the two related initiatives.
When the Texas attorney general and other plaintiff states mounted the 2018 challenge to DACA’s legality, they relied heavily on the reasoning Judge Hanen employed when he enjoined the two DACA-related programs. But, in a decision that surprised some observers, Judge Hanen declined to halt DACA at the outset of litigation. Although the judge believed the program was likely illegal, he explained, “the egg has been scrambled,” and thus it did not make sense to “put it back in the shell,” at least until he could consider the parties’ arguments in full.
In 2020, shortly after the Supreme Court rejected the Trump Administration’s rescission attempt, Judge Hanen directed the parties to bring their claims before him once more, suggesting he might be prepared to put the eggs back in the shell….read the rest here.
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.
<–The photo on the left is the HB 228 -proposed new DL for foreigners in Georgia. The photo below is the current drivers license issued to foreigners – illegal aliens with DACA status included. Which drivers license would you rather see used as “proper identification” at GA polls?
Image: A.F. Branco – In 2016 three Georgia residents, all illegal aliens who had graduated from Georgia high schools, went to court with the contention that their deferred action on deportation status as DACA recipients somehow provided “lawful presence” in the U.S. Further, they said DACA should allow them to attend the universities the Board of Regents has placed off limits to illegal aliens.
