“The Governor shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed and shall be the conservator of the peace throughout the state.” Section ll, Paragraph ll of the Georgia Constitution.
Another month, another column, and another reminder that Georgia has a significant illegal immigration problem. And that nobody in state government is checking on compliance with laws put in place to fight that organized crime.
There is an old saying that “no good deed goes unpunished.” It is difficult to convey the level of frustration this writer has experienced in the process of simply trying to warn the Carroll County Board of Commissioners and the county attorneys that they are in violation of state laws aimed at protecting public benefits, tax dollars and deterring illegal immigration.
I started my Carroll County project early in 2022. As I write on November 29, they are still in violation.
To review, the simplified, short version is that the state legislature has put in place multiple laws over the years that essentially require applicants for public benefits to swear under penalty of felony false swearing that they are not illegal aliens. And offices that administer these benefits collect the standardized paperwork on which these oaths are given along with “secure and verifiable ID” from the potential benefit recipient.
Some business owners are supposed to swear to use of the no cost federal E-Verify system before they are issued or renew a business license as are public contractors who want to bid on taxpayer-funded jobs. Carroll County isn’t following the law.
Yes, I am aware of how dull a topic all of this can be. The alternative to having a system in place to try to keep illegals from accessing the jobs and benefits meant for legal residents creates a place that looks a lot like California. Voters who don’t want to press their state officials to audit and enforce these laws should get accustomed to Georgia becoming more and more like that declining state out west.
Last month I described the fact that Carroll County had sent me a completely unrelated document when I filed an open records request to see a sample of a contractor E-Verify affidavit. Later in the month I received an email note from a county attorney, Ms. Stacey Blackmon, along with a different form she said was actually what the county was using. It was wrong as well. It was taken from a 2007 format and version of the law that has been changed four times since 2007. She said she has been using it since 2016.
Ms. Blackmon’s note and my reply can be read on the ImmigrationPolicitsGA.com website under “Article roundup – Carroll County government in violation of state laws on illegal immigration/public benefits.” My previous columns on this are also posted there for readers who want to catch up.
As I have written here before, I have filed a complaint against the BOC with Sheriff Langley and asked him to forward it to the GBI. I am told he sent it to the District Attorney, Mr. Herb Cranford. We’ll see what happens. While we wait, let’s all make a list of the laws we are allowed to violate without any consequences repeatedly and publicly.
I close by repeating my educated warning to voters from my previous columns on this topic: While the District Attorney for Carroll County may prosecute this case, there will be no meaningful change in the attitude of “business first” state officials on auditing compliance and enforcing the many illegal immigration – related state laws unless and until voters raise their voices to their state legislators and the governor. The powerful anti-enforcement lobby under the Gold Dome has seen to that fact.
I have complied a long list of these laws that are ignored by Gov. Kemp. There is more of this coming.
D.A. King is an authority on illegal immigration matters and has assisted state lawmakers with related legislation under the Gold Dome since 2005. This column went to press on November 29, 2022.
