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HB 999 & HB 60 from Rep Wes Cantrell and the Cato Institute (via the Federation for Children) are as dead as Pancho Villa

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March 18, 2022. These bills are officially dead.

Update: Feb 25: Hold the Happy Dance.

In two days, radio talker and part time conservative Erick Erickson has flipped from condemning the Federation for Children for sending the below mentioned flyer attacking Republicans who opposed the “school choice” HB 999 to doing exactly that himself. He is now urging voters to call Reps to revive the bill that does not actually exclude illegal alien students or illegal aliens parents from participating in the $6 k a yr K-12 scholarship. Neither is he telling listeners that it was the Cato-tied Federation for Children who supplied the model language for Cantrell’s bills.

 

 

Happy Dance here!

With special “thanks for the help!”” to Christy Riggins and Cory DeAngelis

More tomorrow. But HB 999 is dead and so is HB 60. To see our educational work on these bills use the search box and bill numbers on this website. An even more extensive list of groups that lobbied for these bills and cosponsors coming soon as well.

Related: More on Rep Wes Cantrell’s HB 60 & HB 999 – his secret verification system will not work

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An “educational” lobbying group killed their own legislation through direct mail, according to the AJC.

“A national advocacy group promoting school vouchers bombarded conservative Georgia voters with glossy mailers tying their Republican state legislator to Stacey Abrams and other “radical left” figures. It backfired in spectacular fashion.

Just days after the American Federation for Children financed the mailers in about 16 Republican-controlled legislative districts, House Speaker David Ralston told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the voucher proposal the group sought to pass is dead for the year.”

 

Popular “no-brainer” election integrity legislation, HB 228, apparently dead under the Gold Dome

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Republican GA state Rep Bonnie Rich. Photo: GA General Assembly website.

Legislation would add verbiage“BEARER NOT U.S. CITIZEN – NOT VOTER ID” to Georgia drivers licenses and official ID Cards issued to foreigners

Gwinnett Republican Rep Bonnie Rich leads the opposition to HB 228

It was to be an easy fix to a needless gap in election integrity. Unless Republican voters take to the phones and email, it appears to be dead. Rep Charlice Byrd (R-Woodstock) tells us her House Bill 228 has nearly zero chance of seeing even a committee hearing in 2022. The bill has an impressive list of cosponsors and is wildly popular with conservative voters. That is not the case with establishment Republican leaders who are under the thumb of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

State Rep. Charlice Byrd, HB 228 sponsor.

HB 228 is a simple, “belt and suspenders” bill that addresses voter ID security and the drivers licenses and ID Cards Georgia issues to foreigners here as immigrants, guest workers, foreign students – and about twenty thousand illegal aliens with DACA protection. The credentials I mention are labeled “LIMITED TERM” and almost exactly the same as the ones commonly issued to U.S. citizens. Not many people, including most legislators, have any clue what “LIMITED TERM” means. Explanation: the valid term of the credential is timed to expire when the holders visa or “green card” runs out or renews.

HB 228 corrects the startling fact that there is nothing in state law that says these ID documents are excluded from acceptance as “proper identification” for voting purposes.

Which version would you rather see in place in November? Top: Current LIMITED TERM GA. drivers license. Bottom, as proposed in HB 228.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related: Rep Byrd’s most recent column from Insider Advantage on HB 228

Senior Republicans have been told to keep this bill from passing.

Last year the most vocal Capitol opponent of Rep. Byrd’s legislation was Republican Rep. Bonnie Rich (Suwanee).  As a sub-committee Chair in the House Special Committee on Election Integrity she refused to allow a hearing on the bill. We hear rumors Rich has primary opposition in May. We hope that’s true. Then chairman of the full committee, Rep. Barry Fleming, was a hero to voter security advocates when he decided to preside over an abbreviated hearing for HB 228 himself. There was no vote and the amount of ignorance displayed and misinformation put out by Georgia officials in that hearing was amazing even to this long-time denizen of the Gold Dome.

Fleming has since been removed from his leadership of the committee and Republican Speaker David Ralston has installed a freshman to preside as Chairman. I haven’t taken the time to count, but I am told there are more House Reps serving as Chairmen who were elected in 2020.

The heated objections to Byrd’s bill from Rich were that it was unnecessary because “non-citizens cannot register to vote” – so there is no need to add wording to state law making foreigner’s drivers license or ID Card ID ineligible as voter ID. Rich’s absurd assertion is contradicted by NPR, the Associated Press and reports from Michigan on the Motor Voter registration process also used in Georgia.

We doubt it will change Rich’s attitude, but voters need to know that last year a woman who is not a U.S. citizen was fined for voting illegally in Georgia in 2012 and 2016 according to the liberal AJC in January.

Related: Written testimony in support of HB 228 from an immigrant, U.S. Army veteran

HB 228 also requires the warning “BEARER NOT U.S. CITIZEN – NOT VOTER ID” to be added to the front of the LIMITED TERM credentials. Also, as mail-in vote security, the Department of Driver Services would begin a system in which the first two characters of the drivers license/ID Card numbers be “NC” on the cards issued to non-citizens. We would catch up with Alabama on that one.

Rep. Rich says adding that wording to the ID credentials given to foreigners in Georgia is unreasonable and would be a modern day “scarlet letter.” House Republicans recently elected Rep Bonnie Rich Majority Caucus Chair.

Why are senior Republicans told to keep this bill from a floor vote where it would surely pass? Because it deals with drivers licenses and is seen as a step away from the goal of increasing the number of foreigners with legal driving ability to get to work to make Georgia “number one for business” for another year. Just ask the leftist Georgia Budget and Policy Institute – and Democrat Secretary of State candidate, Rep Bee Nguyen.

For those who want to try to save this no-brainer bill, we provide contact information for House Boss Speaker Ralston.

We can’t help but note that there is plenty of time for this same voter security language to be passed in the Senate but that no Republican there has dropped such a bill. Somebody please send up a flare if you hear anything about this bill from the newly created state Freedom Caucus?

 

Transcript GA Gov Brian Kemp on the Martha Zoller radio show – Feb 18, 2022

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Video above from Kemp’s 2018 campaign

 

Georgia Gov Brian Kemp on the Martha Zoller radio show Feb 18, 2022. Transcription by Rev.com

Martha Zoller: (00:06)
It is the Martha Zoller show. Shaun [inaudible 00:00:08] here with me, and Governor Brian Kemp is here with me today. As he travels around Northeast Georgia, he’ll be, uh, heading over to Avocado’s today at 10:30 for a meet and greet and then you’ll be all over North Georgia today. Welcome, governor.

Brian Kemp: (00:24)
Hey, good morning, Martha.

Martha Zoller: (00:25)
So how-

Brian Kemp: (00:26)
It’s a great day to be in Northeast Georgia.

Martha Zoller: (00:28)
It is a great day to be in Northeast Georgia. So, um, how is the session going from your perspective?

Brian Kemp: (00:35)
Oh, I think it’s going great. You know, we were off and running with our agenda. A lot of other good things the legislature’s doing, whether it’s more work to go after street gangs in our state through funding at the Attorney General’s office and in the GBI. You know, mental health reform with Speaker Ralston has rolled out. Working on a just incredible budget to continue to support our educators and men and women in law enforcement and just a lot of other great things that we’re doing.

Martha Zoller: (01:02)
So I do have a concern about the level of spending. And while I know we don’t spend more than what we have, okay, I, I, I get concerned that on the other side of this high we’re on, which, you know, there will be another side at some point in time, d-… are… do you feel comfortable that we’ve got enough in the rainy day fund, and that we’re gonna have enough reserves, if anything, you know, if the economy… if we were to go to war with Ukraine and the economy tanks, who knows?

Brian Kemp: (01:32)
Well, that’s why we’re giving you back 1.6 billion, Martha. You know, the government’s got more than it needs right now. Is why I said in my state, the state, that we’re gonna return $1.6 billion to the taxpayers. Every taxpayer that paid taxes last year is gonna get at least $250 back. If you filed as a family, you’ll get 500. Uh, our fund balances are as full as they’ve ever been. Our reserve funds are as full as they’ve ever been, at the highest limit that the law allows.

Brian Kemp: (02:02)
Uh, you know, and we’re, we’re, we’re restoring austerity like for the university system of Georgia, but in return for that, they’re gonna waive a $500 semester fee that Georgia parents and Georgia students have been paying. So, we’re making, you know, substantial investments in the future of our state. But I’ll, I’ll remind you, when you take out high our education in Georgia, we still have the same number of state employees that we had in 2008. So we’re not growing government, we’re making it more efficient. We’re doing more with the people we got. We’re obviously having to pay them more in this market. That’s just the world that we’re in. Uh, but they’re also doing more. So they’re deserving of that.

Martha Zoller: (02:42)
You know, I know, and in your first election you talked a lot, we talked a lot about immigration reform and the things that needed to be done. And I, I don’t think that anybody could deny that, that the direction of all that has changed because of what’s been happening almost af- after, on the last 15 months at the border. So what is, you know, what should people expect as far as immigration reform in the state right now?

Brian Kemp: (03:09)
Well, I think the best thing that I can tell people is, look, we are in the fight at the Southern border. We’ve had national guard troops there, well over 100, over 200 at one point for well over a n-… year now. I’ve been there four different times, getting brief, briefs, investing with our troops that are doing a great job of supporting the border patrol. The problem is, the federal policy, as you know, right now is just a disaster. Uh, it’s gone from an immigration crisis to a mass migration, you know, this trauma event, quite honestly.

Brian Kemp: (03:43)
I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s terrible what’s happening. I mean, they’re using children down there as passports, the drugs cartels are. And, and is, you know, it’s really bad when drug cartels are moving people as much as they’re moving drugs, because they’re making just as much money doing that. And it’s all ’cause the Biden and, you know, abandoned president Trump’s policies [inaudible 00:04:05] working down there. Like building the wall, you know, returning people back to where they came from and making sure we had the proper number of, you know, personnel down there on the border. And that’s just not [inaudible 00:04:17] are right now. It’s the Republican governors that have been pushing back against that and doing everything that we can to help stop it.

Martha Zoller: (04:23)
So you and, you and Marty-

Brian Kemp: (04:26)
[crosstalk 00:04:26] airports.

Martha Zoller: (04:26)
Go ahead. Sorry. Governor?

Brian Kemp: (04:30)
We’ve been in-

Martha Zoller: (04:31)
Yeah, there you are. Are you there governor? Governor Kemp?

Brian Kemp: (04:39)
Yeah. Sorry. I got in a little bad spot.

Martha Zoller: (04:40)
That’s okay. I know the road very well (laughs). Listen-

Brian Kemp: (04:42)
Yeah. My apologies.

Martha Zoller: (04:42)
Uh, no, no worries. I wanted to also… you, you alluded to it about children coming across the border and, and also women coming across the border. You and, and Marty have been working very hard on, uh, the human trafficking issue and, and really, I think it’s slavery for the 21st century, this, this human trafficking issue that we’re dealing with. Um, tell us a little bit about that.

Brian Kemp: (05:09)
Well, we have been… I hope I still got you, Martha.

Martha Zoller: (05:11)
Yes.

Brian Kemp: (05:11)
Uh, Marty’s been doing as much as anybody in the country at the state level to end human trafficking and also support the victims. And we’ve done six, seven pieces of legislation now. We have, uh, the one we’re working on this year that will allow, that when these folks are arrested, they can’t just get out on any kind of bail. There has to be a superior court judge that will set to fail for that. No catch and release and, you know, just allowing people to get out, go right back to trafficking and, and doing modern day slavery, as you said. It’s horrible, uh, what’s going and on out there.

Brian Kemp: (05:42)
And it’s a lot more, uh, there’s more presence there than people realize, but the state of Georgia is really leading the country and the policy initiatives to end it, but also not only that, but helping support the victims like it’s expunging their records and other things, ’cause they’ve been forced into crimes, uh, in no fault of their own. And um, it’s good work we’re doing. And we got more to do in this session. We’ll, we’ll be continuing that.

Martha Zoller: (06:07)
So just give us an update on the campaign governor, and, and really what’s what it’s like traveling around the state, what you’re no stranger to. I mean, you’ve been traveling around this state for 15 years.

Brian Kemp: (06:19)
Well, it’s awesome. We’re going to, you know, Gainesville, Cornelia, Clayton and Cleveland today. Uh, we started out in Athens at a… did a great new habitat, humanity house on the official side of things. We’re on the campaign trail. The rest of the day I’ve got Marty, Amy Porter and the Lucy’s gonna be joining us later, and we’re just working extremely hard. We’re honored to be serving. We’re getting great feedback out there ’cause Georgians know that I’ve done exactly what I told them I would do. You know, I fought for life at the heartbeat. We’ve done adoption reform, foster care reform. We’re supporting our men and women in law enforcement.

Brian Kemp: (06:55)
We make government more efficient. You know, we’ve cut taxes, we’re supporting the military and our veterans with a veteran’s tax cut this year. And just, you know, continuing to do, we’re working on constitutional carry. You know, that’s something that I have campaigned on, and we’re just gonna continue doing what I promised people I would do. And, uh, you know, hadn’t even mentioned the economy, it’s as red hot as it’s ever been in Georgia. Lowest unemployment rate history of our state, uh, lowest of the 10 most popular states. And last year in a record year, we did projects and, you know, meeting counties around our state. 74% of the deals that we did were outside of the 10 Metro counties, making sure that places like Northeast Georgia and the hardworking folks there have great opportunity in this state.

Martha Zoller: (07:41)
Absolutely Governor Brian Kemp, good luck to you. And um, I won’t be able to come down because I’m on the air, but I will look forward to seeing you soon.

Brian Kemp: (07:51)
Thanks, Martha, [inaudible 00:07:53].

Illegal immigration in Georgia & SB 448 – perhaps the most, um… ‘incomplete’ bill for 2022 in the Georgia state senate #ButchMiller

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Sen. Butch Miller, SB 448 sponsor. Photo: Ga General Assembly

We like the concept! But SB 448 looks like a campaign bill to me. While it calls for a “citizenship status” check to determine if a “detained” and/or arrested individual is “lawfully present” in this country, it doesn’t go any further in explaining exactly how the law enforcement officer would go about that status check. Not even by saying the documents on the subject’s person should be used. I struggle not to type “poorly written.” Oops.

Maybe the sponsors could refer to this? See also 8 USC 1304

We again feel compelled to remind all concerned that “lawfully present” is a term that is not defined by congress in the INA.

The 11th circuit court of appeals of appeals weighed in on that in 2019.

But…what, exactly does the LEO do with the information if it looks like the subject is an illegal alien? Maybe nothing?

And why would we watch as yet another law like this is even discussed when OCGA 42-4-14 is ignored? 

Progress would be to actually add a written penalty to OCGA 42-4-14.

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“SB 448  ( LC 28 0368 )

Law Enforcement Officers and Agencies; peace officer in this state who lawfully arrests an individual with or without a warrant or as the result of a traffic stop shall check such individual’s citizenship status; provide”

“First Reader Summary

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 35 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions regarding law enforcement officers and agencies, so as to provide that each peace officer in this state who lawfully arrests or detains an individual with or without a warrant or as the result of a traffic stop shall check such individual’s citizenship status to determine if such individual is lawfully present in this country; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
“BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:  
SECTION 1.  
Chapter 1 of Title 35 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions regarding law enforcement officers and agencies, is amended by adding a new Code section to read as follows:  
  
“35-1-24.  
Each peace officer, as such term is defined in Code Section 35-8-2, in this state who  
lawfully arrests or detains an individual with or without a warrant or as the result of a  
traffic stop shall check such individual’s citizenship status to determine if such individual  
is lawfully present in this country.“

Sponsors

No.Number in list Name District
1. Miller, Butch 49th
2. Mullis, Jeff 53rd
3. Gooch, Steve 51st
4. McNeill, Sheila 3rd
5. Payne, Chuck 54th
6. Hickman, Billy 4th
7. Burns, Max 23rd

Gallup: 58 percent of all Americans are dissatisfied with current immigration levels.

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Image: Wikimedia Commons

”Level is the highest ever recorded by Gallup, and a significant jump from 2021, when only 19 percent of Republicans said they were dissatisfied with current immigration levels.”

The Hill

Feb 14, 2022

Dissatisfaction with current immigration levels spiked in January as dissatisfaction among Republican respondents surged in Gallup’s periodic Mood of the Nation poll.

According to the poll, 58 percent of all Americans are dissatisfied with current immigration levels.

Of that group, 35 percent of respondents want immigration levels decreased, 9 percent say they want levels increased and 14 percent say they are dissatisfied with current levels but they don’t want immigration levels to increase or decrease.

The number of respondents who said they want decreased immigration rose sharply from 2021, when only 19 percent of respondents said they wanted reduced immigration, the lowest level since Gallup started asking the question in 2001.

January’s 35 percent number is the highest since 2017, which followed a peak in anti-immigration sentiment in 2016.

The rise in immigration dissatisfaction was almost entirely driven by Republican respondents, 87 percent of whom said they are dissatisfied with current levels of immigration.

That level is the highest ever recorded by Gallup, and a significant jump from 2021, when only 19 percent of Republicans said they were dissatisfied with current immigration levels.

Among Democrats, 40 percent said they’re dissatisfied with current levels, a drop from 47 percent in 2021; 55 percent of independents said they’re dissatisfied, up from 49 percent in 2021.

The partisan split is also clear in the number of dissatisfied respondents who say immigration should increase, decrease or remain the same.

Among Republicans, only 3 percent are dissatisfied and say immigration levels should increase, while 69 percent say levels should decrease, a significant jump from 2021, when only 40 percent Republicans called for immigration reductions.

Democrats saw a similar shift, with 15 percent saying they are dissatisfied and want higher levels of immigration, down from 28 percent the two years prior.

Still, 52 percent of Democrats said they’re satisfied with current levels, and only 11 percent said they want to see reduced immigration.

And nearly a third of independents, 32 percent, say they are dissatisfied with current levels and want to see less immigration, while 34 percent say they are content with current levels.

While dissatisfaction with current levels of immigration surged, it’s unclear whether Americans by and large know how many people enter the country — legally or illegally — every year.

Still, immigration news during President Biden‘s first year in office was driven by images and reports of encounters with migrants at the border.

Last year saw record numbers of encounters between U.S. officials and migrants at the southern border, but most researchers agree that the number of undocumented migrants making it into the country is at a historical low.

Research by the Migration Policy Institute found that in fiscal 2021, around half a million migrants successfully entered the United States, despite the 1.7 million encounters between migrants and officials at the border and ports of entry.

In 2000, a comparable year for unauthorized border crossing attempts, more than 2 million people are estimated to have successfully made their way into the United States.

And while legal immigration numbers for 2021 have not yet been released, immigration to the United States took a dip with the pandemic in 2020 and most likely did not recover the following year.

In 2018 and 2019, the U.S. government issued about 1 million legal permanent resident permits — also known as green cards — and only issued slightly more than 700,000 in 2020.

The trend likely continued in 2021, as the Biden administration failed to deliver more than 200,000 green cards authorized by Congress due to slowdowns caused by the pandemic and restructuring after the Trump administration.

The Gallup poll interviewed 811 adults in all 50 states, with a margin of error or plus minus 4 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.  Here.

TAGS JOE BIDEN IMMIGRATION

 

Enforcement on the southern border is a total farce

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The Biden administration has told ICE not to deport anyone if being here illegally is their only crime.
REUTERS

New York Post Editorial board

“The southern border of the United States has become a suggestion, a line that vanishes a little more each day.

“I spent three days on the front lines of the Biden administration’s illegal-immigration crisis and found a Border Patrol that has changed from an enforcement agency to a concierge service,” Angie Wong reports in The Post.

Worse: “The southern border of the United States has become a suggestion, a line that vanishes a little more each day.”

Migrants are streaming into the country in droves, assisted by cartel coyotes and left-leaning nonprofits; US Custom and Border Protection officers do next to no enforcing. There’s not enough of them.

So they’ve resorted to working with the cartels and coyotes, coordinating on “when and where drop-offs will happen.” That’s right: Uncle Sam has effectively handed control of the border to the criminals profiting off of moving people across it.

It’s the direct result of President Joe Biden’s hot mess of a border policy.

From Feb. 1 to Dec. 31, 2021, officers apprehended 1,956,596 illegal immigrants on the southern border, vs. 511,192 under President Donald Trump a year earlier. That figure went up a record 283%. And countless more migrants, even in large groups, manage to cross into America without getting spotted, let alone caught, to add to those stats.

“Border Patrol pretends to patrol the border. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pretends to keep tabs on people coming in,” Wong notes. “President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris pretend to say, ‘Don’t come here,’ but every signal — from the wide open borders to the NGO welcome mat — says, ‘Come on in!’ … More here.

 

Who lobbies for Rep Wes Cantrell’s “Americans last” HB 999 & HB 932 (and HB 120 from Rep Kasey Carpenter)? Connecting the dots *Updated

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Rep Wes Cantrell, Republican, Woodstock

If you don’t hit the links, you will not learn much.

Correction made on bill numbers in the copy below and the headline: 7:40 PM, Feb 10. My fault. I apologize for the typos.

Note to all concerned: The model language for HB 60 & HB 999 came from the Federation for Children. The flyers attacking Republicans who didn’t immediately swoon and support the bills came from…the Federation for Children.

More info on HB 932 here & HB 999 here , here and here.

Info on HB 120 here.

Related: A Breitbart news report on the entire train wreck: Georgia Republicans draft legal giveaways to illegals.

Mark Zuckerburg’s FWD.us is lobbying for Rep Wes Cantrell’s “Americans Last” (HB 932 here.)

It may help people to “get it” if they realize that the corporate-funded FWD.us lobbyist under the Gold Dome lobbying against immigration enforcement is an illegal alien.

Former Gwinnett Republican state Rep Buzz Brockway at the Georgia Center for Opportunity is pushing hard for HB 999. So is state Rep Chuck Eftrastion (R). See also Erick Erickson.

The Coalition of Refugee Services (CRSA) put on a large lobbying event in the Georgia Capitol today for HB 932 & HB 120. It was also available online. CRSA is part of the “BIG” partnership and works closely with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.*

Info on the CRSA (part of the refugee resettlement industry) Capitol lobbying event for Rep Wes Cantrell’s HB 932 & Kasey Carpenter’s HB 120. (click on “view details” on top)

HB 932 is a product of a special House committee chaired by Rep Wes Cantrell

A “Progressive” woman named Darlene C. Lynch works for both CRSA and the “BIG Partnership” and organized and ran the Georgia House Special Committee “Innovative ways to Maximize Global Talent” that saw three 2021 Summer and Fall meetings – with two in Georgia’s public colleges. HB 932 is a product of those committee hearings. The special committee was created by a resolution that passed unanimously in the House at the end of the 2021 session. Rep Wes Cantrell was the sponsor of the resolution (be sure to see all cosponsors) and served as the chairman of the agenda-driven committee that took zero pubic comment and arranged the witnesses.

*Updated, 5:25: PM Some of the agenda items from the hand-picked, pre-screened witnesses at the special committee mentioned above:

 

  • Changing state law so as to allow foreigners to be law enforcement officers in Georgia
  • Reciprocal agreements on occupational licensing rules with other states and foreign nations.
  • “Relaxing” state law that requires immigration verification of applicants for occupational and professional licensing.
  • Lower tuition rates in public colleges for illegal aliens living in Georgia with DACA  status than the rate Americans and legal immigrants fro other states pay.
  • Removing the existing 12 month residency waiting period before new Georgia residents can access instate tuition in public colleges for refugees – but not for Americans moving here from other states.
  • Reducing the educational period to become a medical doctor by two years, student loan forgiveness for foreign medical students and “relaxing the immigration issues for foreign medical graduates.”
  • Creating a new state bureaucracy to accommodate “an office or a division of cultural and linguistic responsiveness.”

I lost track of the number of times “…the number one state for business” was tossed out.

I covered the meetings extensively here.

Darlene C. Lynch

Related: Where do refugees resettle in the U.S.?

Related: The Libertarian Cato Institute is pushing the “school choice” concept in Cantrell’s HB 99 & HB 60  (see Corey DeAngelis). What is the Cato Institute and what else do they push? Open borders, that’s what. Bonus info: The liberal AJC on open borders.

No public comment allowed on HB 60 committee substitute in the House Education Committee – at Rep Cantrell’s request.

 

 

More on Rep Wes Cantrell’s HB 60 & HB 999 – his secret verification system will not work *School choice

By

Rep Wes Cantrell, Republican, Woodstock

 

K-12 “school choice” for illegal aliens is a bad idea 

“School choice” is a good idea. But illegal aliens should be excluded from taxpayer-funded private school tuition benefits.

You can become familiar with the issue here.

Below are a few nuggets from Rep Wes Cantrell and a bit of simple legal reality. We will now sit back and watch the Gold Dome Dog and Pony Show on”school choice” in a state with more illegal aliens than Arizona.                        

_

We are told that Rep Cantrell’s bill (s) “specifically prohibits those who are here illegally from participating in the (scholarship) program.” Where? What line number?

We assume Rep Cantrell means the “Promise Scholarship” proposed in HB 60 and HB 999. We see no language like that in either bill. There should be. All Cantrell has done is refer to a verification system in a state law, OCGA 50-36-1, which is unworkable for this purpose.

FACT: OCGA 50-36-1 does not require anyone to produce documents that prove lawful presence.

Rep Wes Cantrell is telling constituents and presumably other Republican legislators (it’s apparently still a secret to the Democrats, as he hid it in his committee presentation on HB 60 that saw zero public comments) that OCGA 50-36-1  (“the verification law”) “requires a person to provide proof they are lawfully present in our state in order to receive public benefits.”

Screen shot from Facebook

It doesn’t.

The term “lawfully present” which, as noted by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, is not defined anywhere in the INA, refers to presence in the United States, not Georgia.

Presumably, Cantrell is referring to the section of the verification law that requires the applicant for public benefits to provide at least one “secure and verifiable document” as defined in OCGA 50-36-2.  That affidavit can be seen here from the Georgia AG office website. It is clear that the secure and verifiable documents “may not be indicative of residency or immigration status.” Cantrell is wrong.

It should be noted that the intent of the legislation that created this part of the law was to require applicants to produce documents that provide proof of immigration status or U.S. citizenship.

FACT: OCGA 50-36-1 will not serve to verify eligibility of K-12 students for a state private school scholarship

The verification law was written to verify eligibility of adults or individuals near the age of eighteen. “…if the applicant is younger than 18 years of age at the time of the application, he or she shall execute the affidavit required by this subparagraph within 30 days after his or her eighteenth birthday.”

Neither the application nor the affidavit would have any effect in holding a 4th grader (for example) responsible for the accuracy of the information entered or the documents submitted. Unless the state somehow decides to prosecute a kid for false swearing.

There is no provision for anyone except the applicant for (and recipient of) the public benefit  to complete the application or the affidavit. Repeat: There is no provision for parents to complete or sign anything. While I cannot find it now, I have seen Cantrell tell at least one person on a Facebook exchange that “the parents would sign the application for the student…” or words to that effect.

  • Related: Rep Wes Cantrell’s latest “fix” for HB 999 & HB 60… isn’t

 

Cantrell’s unworkable verification solution could pave the way for massive fraud

The law says that mere completion of the application will serve as “presumed proof of lawful presence” until the information submitted attesting to eligibility is verified by the SAVE program. USCIS would not likely consider a query based on a second party signature on an application or an affidavit. Which means the SAVE program would not be completed.  It is very probable that if Cantrell’s legislation were to become law as it is as I write on Feb 8, 2022 that the “verification system” Cantrell has set up would go no further than a K-12 student (or parent/guardian/custodian) signing off on an application completed by a parent/guardian/custodian and be filed away as a finished product because the SAVE program was never run.

State officials should carefully consider the obvious shortcuts, falsehoods and omissions involved in Cantrell’s plan

Is the “Promise Scholarship” a clear “public benefit” for USCIS?

Curious readers (not many of those in the House Education committee) will need to know the people at USCIS who run the SAVE program must have clear authorization and citation of a statute to verify the eligibility of the applicant for a specific public benefit. OCGA 50-36-1 lays out a list of public benefits that includes “grants” and “state grant or loan.” While the proposed “Promise Scholarship” in HB 60 and HB 999 may in fact fit into one of those two categories for the state purposes, it is not at all clear that it is specific enough for the USCIS staff to operate the SAVE reporting. In early February 2022 I spoke at length with a senior USCIS staffer in the Trump administraton several times on this topic.

As is stated above, under state law, if there is no SAVE check, the affidavit is regarded proof enough for the “verification.”

All of the above is predicated on the presumption that the Plyler v Doe SCOTUS decision and the far left would allow the state of Georgia to ask K-12 students and/or their parents about immigration status. Alabama tried that and was rebuffed. There is a much simpler way to do this.

We don’t see anyone taking the time to create a workable bill. What will happen if this train wreck were to make it to Gov Kemp’s desk and he had to veto it as unworkable (as if) after the Republican base was all “school choice!” juiced?