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Welcome to Straight Talk with Scott Ryfun listeners! – State Rep contact info here! Yes on HB 136!
Welcome to Straight Talk with Scott Ryfun listeners!
Please tell your state Rep “YES!” on HB 136.
- Thank you to Savannah Republican Rep Jesse Petrea for sponsoring this transparency bill.
- Thank you to Camden County Rep Steven Sainz and Glynn County Rep Rick Townsend for being cosponsors!
Phone calls to your Reps’ staffer and emails to their House address needed now and over the weekend – and Monday!
The legislature is not in session today. We hope they will vote on HB136 on Monday.
Please contact your sate Rep ASAP to ask that the House passes HB136 Monday!
- HB 136 will require the Dept. of Corrections to post a public, quarterly report telling taxpayers how many criminal illegals are in the state prison system, their crimes and where they come from.
“We want to know how much money we are paying to incarcerate “undocumented workers.” What comes have they committed? Where do they come from? Please vote YES on HB 136!”
* Click here to find contact info for your GA state Rep! Please call or email now or as soon as you can?
I’ll wash your car!
Scott Ryfun is a Great American!
GA Chamber of Commerce and DEI
“School choice” and illegal immigration in Georgia: A pro-enforcement look at SB 233
Education for state legislators
- Update, 8:15PM: After posting this today and sending it to the Republican members of the Senate and House, I learned there was a (surprise!) 2:30 PM hearing on the below bill. I hurried to Downtown Atlanta and made it to the hearing room before the Senate Education and Youth committee meeting began. I was the first person to sign up to speak on the bill. The chairman of the committee is Senator Clint Dixon, Republican, Buford. Knowing that I would spill the beans on the bill, Dixon began calling names to speak from the bottom of the list.
- When he got to number two on the list, Dixon told the room “I know the audience is not going to like this. We are under extreme time constraints and we are going to end the public comment now.”
- I was prevented from speaking and offering an experienced and educated analysis of the phony immigration part of the legislation. I was cancelled by the Chamber of Commerce Republicans. The Republicans passed out the bill. Senator Ed Setzler made the motion “do pass.” It should be noted that Dolezal was careful to avoid any mention of illegal immigration in his presentation.
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We judge the bill to be un-American in its current iteration.
Georgia Promise Scholarship Act (2023 version) Senator Greg Dolezal, lead sponsor. See cosponsors here.
SB 233 LC 49 1349
Note: All of the obvious problems outlined below can easily be resolved by using already offered language that clearly and openly limits benefits for, access to and authority over the use of state funds for K-12 scholarships to U.S. citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents (green card holders) who have submitted documents proving that status. I was asked for this draft language in 2022 and sent it to senior House members then. I received no reply. I have since traded emails with Sen. Greg Dolezal on that draft language and know that he has read it and finds “language like this “appropriate.” He has declined to respond to two requests for a meeting. Coming soon: Sen. Dolezal and his campaign promises on “sanctuary cities.” dak
- Related: New “school choice” bill in GA Senate would provide state benefit to Biden’s illegally paroled, inadmissible “migrants” – formerly known as “illegal aliens” SB 233
State funds are deposited into a consumer directed account on behalf of a participating student to be used for qualified expenses and distribution is ordered by “parents.”
“Parents”
Parents of the participating K-12 student submit the application (line 84) for the state to send funds to an account set up for the student and ‘promise’ (line 77) to only use the state funds for qualified services – which are basic education of the student.
“Parents” include legal guardians, custodian or “other person” (line 30) with legal authority to act on behalf of the student of the student living in Georgia.
The above definition of “parent” does not exclude illegal aliens.
Georgia media does not usually report that the Biden administration has been shipping “UACs” into the interior of the United States and puts them into the custody of illegal aliens – including in Georgia.
- Related: Fake Families: “Overrun, How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History
According to the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, only six states have a larger population of illegal aliens than Georgia (table 3, page 5). The anti-enforcement GBPI has passed on stats that show we have more illegal aliens than green card holders (pie chart).
The above fact should point out the very real likelihood that if this all becomes law, we will watch as authority to request $6000.00 per year in taxpayer dollars is turned over to illegal alien ‘parents’ who have been awarded the power to order up dispersal of those funds with the ‘promise’ it will be done within the guidelines of the Act.
This brings up another “Act.” The federal Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that illegal aliens defy. Here we also mention a long list of state and federal laws that illegal aliens violate literally every day – including employment laws and use of false or stolen ID and Social Security numbers. There is no reason to believe the illegal aliens won’t happily take advantage of the lack of security in the current version of SB 233.
Oversight
“Parents” also make up a review committee (line 193) that would have authority to determine the validity of expenses paid for by the “parents” on behalf of the student. Again, we see the likelihood that illegal aliens could easily be deciding what constitutes an eligible expense and how state funds are used.
“Students”
A “student” is eligible if his “parents” reside in Georgia (line 73).
Considering illegal immigration, when we drill down through the bill’s references to various code sections students are ineligible (lines 74-76) for the new state benefit under the same guidelines created for Title IX circa 1972 when the world, the U.S. and Georgia were very different places. Title IV noncitizen eligibility here.
The fact that the Biden administration has compromised the integrity of the Title IX eligibility guidelines should not be a reason for Georgia legislators to do join in and do the same in the name of “school choice.”
- Fact on parole: “While individuals who receive a grant of parole are allowed to enter the United States, they are not provided with an immigration status nor are they formally “admitted” into the country for purposes of immigration law.”
These parameters make hundreds of thousands of inadmissible aliens from all over the planet who have been illegally granted blanket “parole” by the Biden administration and herded into the U.S. eligible for the proposed “Promise Scholarship” benefits provided by Georgia taxpayers in this version of “school choice” in SB 233. The Biden “parole” scam is ongoing.
As is, SB 233 creates the scenario in which illegal alien/paroled parents can be in charge of dispersing state funds and determination of the eligible use of those funds for payment of private school tuition for paroled (otherwise illegal alien students) eligible.
Statistics taken from official Border patrol reports show that in the period Oct 2021 – Sept 2022 (FY 2022) about 380,000 otherwise illegal aliens were released into the nation under Biden’s (illegal) parole program. Immigration watchdogs are asking “How Long Does Biden’s DHS Wait to Put Paroled Border Migrants into Removal Proceedings?” (see Parole `+ATD in table).
I am working on cobbling numbers together to reflect the number of “parolees” created by Biden from what were previously known as “illegal aliens” in the first five months of FY 2023, but we anticipate those numbers will be similar to FY 2022. Georgia is already a very popular state for illegal “migration.” Offering private school tuition to paroled parents and students will only increase that attractiveness.
Twenty GOP states are challenging Biden’s illegal border parole hustle in a Texas federal court – GA is not one of them.
Appropriations (?)
Unless I have overlooked it, there is no mention of any caps, limits or “subject to appropriations” disclaimer in the bill. This was not the case in some previous measures aimed at “school choice.” It can be assumed that the intent and expectation is that the state budget will always include provisions to accommodate funding for all eligible students.
At least one previous bill included a lottery system to determine winners and losers in the event there was not sufficient funding to benefit all eligible applicants. We hope this possibility is made clear to legislators and voters as that scenario creates a possibility of illegal alien ‘parents’ and or paroled students winning that lottery while American students and parents watch them access state benefits that are unavailable to the citizen families.
Updated, March 2, 2023, 5:45 PM. Removed my personal opinion of Senators Dixon and Dolezal. Added copy on top that SB 233 did not come out of Rules committee.
The Georgia Chamber for Commerce – a reminder from 2021
“Workforce EXCELeration” – GA Senate Passed Legislation Creating New Adult Ed Benefit for Illegal Aliens – SB 112 #JasonAnavitarte
To be an eligible student, an individual shall: “Reside in this state; be 21 years of age or older; and have not attained a high school diploma.”
- “Workforce EXCELeration:” – Another proposed new state-funded benefit – illegal aliens included – Republican Sen. Jason Anavitarte lead sponsor.
*According to Sen Anavitarte, SB 112 would “…expand educational opportunities to Georgians which would in turn, create more jobs across the state.”
*We note that federal law prohibits employment of illegal aliens.
* State law prohibits illegal aliens from accessing taxpayer-funded Adult Education
*Only one Republican voted “NO” on the bill in the senate.
- There is a companion bill in the House, HB 313
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Explainer, the short version : The GA state Senate has passed a bill (SB 112) that creates a new Adult Education pilot program aimed at “Workforce EXCELeration” (get it?) that sends ‘the undiploma-ed’ Georgia residents aged twenty-one and over to the state technical college system for classes that result in a high school diploma.
The bill says existing state laws that prohibit this goal may be waived – federal laws too.
If there is an exclusion for illegal aliens, we don’t see it (there isn’t). You may want to ask your state senator to direct you to the line number that contains that exclusion. I sent an email to my own state senator, Dr. Kay Kirkpatrick, asking that question.
Her response to me:
“Don’t see it. Better talk to Senator Anavitarte because he’ll present it on House side. I can mention it to him too.”
The bill is pushed by lead sponsor, Senator Jason Anivitarte (R – Dallas). You can see the bill’s other sponsors here. SB 112 was passed out of the senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee, Sen. Brandon Beach, Chairman.
- Related: Former Dem candidate and board member on anti-enforcement immigration lobby group wins GOP primary for Georgia state senate — Jason Anavitarte
The video of the twelve-ish minute committee hearing is here, (see 2/13/23). It’s the first bill heard. The bill passed committee unanimously and has been passed by the full senate. Only one Republican voted against the bill.
Vote record here. And below.
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*Related: The Georgia Chamber of Commerce is pushing this bill. See also Goodwill Industries.
From SB 112:
Establish High School Diplomas for Adult Learners Program
”…relating to vocational, technical, and adult education, so as to provide for a pilot program whereby qualifying private nonprofit entities provide instruction and other services for eligible students 21 years of age and older to attain a high school diploma; to provide for program requirements; to provide for waivers and variances; …”
(Line 28) “It is the intent of the Georgia General Assembly that by empowering Georgians to obtain their high school diplomas and obtain industry recognized certifications, they can excel in the workforce and improve the life trajectory for themselves and their families.”
“Chapter 4 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to vocational, technical, and adult education, is amended by adding a new article to read as follows…”
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More details
To be an eligible student, an individual shall: “Reside in this state; be 21 years of age or older; and have not attained a high school diploma.”
The Technical College System of Georgia is authorized to establish a pilot program to allow eligible students to qualify for enrollment in the High School Diploma Program for Adult Learners. Students would be awarded a high school diploma upon completion. The goal is to judge the feasibility of implementing a state-funded program for individuals residing in this state who are 21 years of age or older and who have not attained a high school diploma to enroll and participate in a program.
There would be no cost to the participating students. We see no provision that excludes illegal aliens – who are prohibited by state law from accessing Adult Education and by federal law from employment…even if the senate goal is “Workforce EXCELeration.”
The TCSG would be authorized to provide funds appropriated by the General Assembly for the implementation of the pilot program to private nonprofit entities to instruction to the “adult learners.”
The “pilot program” would run for six years. Two years after Brian Kemp is out of the Governor’s office.
The bill contains language that allows the TCSG and the State Board of Education to “waive or provide variances to state laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures…” that may be necessary to meet the measure’s goals. Ditto for federal laws that get in the way.
Nine Republican states have filed in federal court to shut down the illegal DACA program – GA not participating #BrianKemp #ChrisCarr
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on filed a new motion in the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court late last month asking the court to rule the latest version of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals unconstitutional and to end it all together. Eight other Republican controlled state joined the effort.
Georgia is not listed on the lawsuit.
The states that joined Texas’ bid to terminate DACA were Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi. They have argued that DACA is an illegal overreach of executive power, and that only Congress has the authority to grant unauthorized immigrants federal benefits
DACA has repeatedly been ruled illegal but allowed it to remain in place for existing DACA recipients.
According to a 2019 11th circuit appellate court decision, DACA does not change the illegal status of recipients except to delay deportation proceedings. Both sides of the debate expect the DACA program to be euthanized altogether by the Supreme Court after another loss for supporters in an October 5, 2022, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals finding. The court upheld an earlier ruling in Texas that DACA is not a lawful program.
- Related: Twenty GOP states are challenging Biden’s illegal border parole hustle in a Texas federal court – GA is not one of them
- Related: GOP-Led States Ask SCOTUS to Restore Prohibition on Encouraging Illegal Immigration – GA Stands Back, Again
Gov Kemp’s office phone number at the state Capitol is 404-656-1776.
Twenty GOP states are challenging Biden’s illegal border parole hustle in a Texas federal court – GA is not one of them #BrianKemp #ChrisCarr
Biden’s new “border plan” is not reducing the number of illegal aliens detained at the border; it is concealing the number of illegal aliens released into the country through a “parole” scam.
Twenty GOP states are challenging Biden’s illegal parole hustle in a Texas federal court.
Georgia is not one of them. As usual, we have media silence.
Read more about the parole program here.
- Related: GOP-Led States Ask SCOTUS to Restore Prohibition on Encouraging Illegal Immigration – GA Stands Back Again
- Related: Nine Republican states have filed in federal court to shut down the illegal DACA program – GA not participating
25 GOP-Led States Ask SCOTUS to Restore Prohibition on Encouraging Illegal Immigration – GA Stands Back, Again #BrianKemp #ChrisCarr
With Georgia hosting more illegal aliens than Arizona and more illegals than green card holders, Gov Kemp and AG Carr remain silent. Again.
Documentedny.com
Feb 7, 2023
“Twenty-five Republican-led states told the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday that an appeals court should not have ruled that a federal law — which makes it a crime to encourage illegal immigration — violated free speech rights. They’re asking the Supreme Court to reverse the judgment of the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court and restore the law — something the court was already considering doing.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s office led the amicus brief, which was joined by AGs of states including Florida, Alabama, Arizona, and Georgia.
Last year, the Ninth Circuit had said the law barring encouragement of illegal immigration was too broad. “An overly broad statute may chill the speech of individuals, including those not before the court,” noted arguments in the case.
But in the amicus brief, the Republican-led states argue that “statutory terms like ‘encourage’ and ‘induce’ carry well-understood criminal-law meanings that the panel simply ignored.” They called the Ninth Circuit’s analysis of immigration speech “anemic” and asked the Supreme Court to reject it.
A decision in the case is expected by June, while further arguments in the case are set for next month, March 27.
Read the entire report from there left here.
Retired Border Patrol agent and USINS agent Robert Trent sent a letter on HB 131 to Rep Chuck Martin
Mr. Bob Trent in St Mary’s is a subscriber to the Dustin Inman Society action alert email list (sign up!) and read about HB 131 there. Mr. Trent sent a letter to the Republican Chairman of the House Higher Education committee Rep Chuck Martin about that legislation today and copied us. He also sent it to all Republican committee members. We post his letter on the bottom.
The bill from Dalton Republican Kasey Carpenter would lower the current tuition rate for illegal aliens in Georgia with a deferral on deportation resulting from Obama’s illegal 2012 DACA proclamation. This would be done by creating a new tier of tuition called “Opportunity Tuition” and it would only be available to the illegal aliens with the illegal DACA status.
Americans and immigrants whose families came to the U.S. according to our immigration laws who live in other states would not be eligible for the greatly reduced tuition rate.
Rep Chuck Martin gave a short speech to the committee on HB 131 last week telling members, attendees and at least one reporter from the liberal AJC that “…this does not put people that are in the country illegally in front of others.” That is not true.
You can see a three minute video of Rep Martin’s speech on Youtube below. You can see some numbers on tuition as related to HB 131 and cosponsors here. You can see another letter from Bob Trent published by the Brunswick News here.
Here is Bob Trent’s letter. He copied us on each separate email sent to Martin and all of the Republican members of the committee. Thank you, sir.
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(received here 1:03 PM today)
Feb 9, 2023
Rep Chuck Martin
Chairman, House Higher Education Committee
Cc. All Republican committee members
Re: HB 131
Chairman Martin,
I recently watched the video record of your February 1st speech to the members of the committee on HB 131. I write to make it clear that I can see how wrong you are about the contents of the bill and to express my own outrage at your misrepresentation. While I am not a lawyer, I have more than a little experience in reading and understanding statutes and the wording of legislation that creates them. I am having a great deal of trouble accepting that you don’t understand the bill yourself.
What you told the committee members is not true. HB 131 would grant a significant reduction in college tuition costs to illegal aliens living in Georgia who are rightfully now charged out-of-state tuition. It would not reduce that tuition cost for my friend’s American grandson in Iowa who cannot afford to come to college in any of Georgia’s public universities. It would indeed put illegals in front of Americans and lawful immigrants. I think you already know that.
HB 131 is merely a contrived and slightly altered Orwellian version of HB 120 from several years ago. It is not just a bad bill, it is un-American. I am active member of the Camden County Republican Party, and I plan to inform our legislators that a vote in favor of HB 131 would create a lot of ill will here.
I am a retired Senior Special Agent of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (USINS). I have served on metropolitan area drug, and organized crime task forces for many years and have supervised special agents assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force. In addition, I spent ten years as a uniformed border patrol agent assigned to both the northern and southern borders. My final assignment was as the Assistant Director, Enforcement Training, U.S. Immigration Officer Academy, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Glynco, GA.
I wrote to you and most of your committee members in 2021 when Rep Kasey Carpenter tried to pass the instate tuition rates for illegal aliens. DACA recipients are illegal aliens. I pray HB 131 will not become law. I also hope you will apologize to the people who may believe what you said.
Robert Trent
St. Mary’s
(912…….)