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On the right side of our Homepage readers can see our new #BigTruckTrick counter that provides the number of days since Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp promised to take action on illegal immigration in a state with more illegal alien than Arizona – and more illegal than green card holders. We hope you will share it. Click on the #BigTruckTrick link!
If an individual who has a license to be an occupational therapist in California, for example, moves to Georgia the plan is eliminate much of the licensing process here and to bypass the Georgia law for immigration verification. Photo: LinkedIn
Partial update: They passed. Voting records on both bills described below, HB 34 and HB 268. More coming along with entire list of House members to whom I sent “heads up” warnings about these two pieces of legislation long before they voted.
ATTENTION REPUBLICAN SENATORS: UPDATE March 11, 2021 8:54 AM: Easy way to amend to insure belt and suspenders care: “Nothing contained in this Code section shall be construed to invalidate, override, or amend any licensing compact entered into by the State of Georgia or to permit the issuance of a license without verification under Code Section 50-36-1.“ Which is what Sen Thompson did on SB 45, lines 48 & 49.
“Reciprocity”
Professional licenses are public benefits in Georgia. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce is well aware of that fact as they opposed the law that created it. I was there.
The people who run Georgia are tired of the “mo’ money” delays involved in the process of verifying lawful immigration status of applicants for public benefits.
Georgia law (OCGA 50-36-1) put in place in 2006 and improved several times after that says that applicants for public benefits must swear they are either U.S.citizen or an eligible alien on a notarized affidavit. They are supposed to show “Secure and Verifiable ID” Then, that lawful presence status is supposed to be checked in a federal database called SAVE (SAVE is not doing their job correctly and we will expose that fact after session). But the state law still stands. Professional licenses are public benefits. Contrary to the mislabeling by numerous state and local departments that administer public benefits, this is not a “citizenship affidavit” – but a verification affidavit. One need not be a U.S. citizen to qualify for benefits, merely a lawfully present alien.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce is asking House members to vote yes on at least two bills, HB 34 and HB 268. While we have not had time to carefully study these bills (update, Feb 27. we were correct on initial analysis), a quick appraisal tells us they are designed to provide “reciprocity” with other states on professional licenses – and to skip the verification process described above.
If an individual who has a license to be an occupational therapist in California, for example, moves to Georgia the plan is eliminate much of the licensing process here to put this person to work almost instantly – and to bypass the Georgia law for immigration verification.
These bills are apparently on the Rules calendar today. I have notified several members with the below and they tell me they will now vote “no” – and that author (s) are not aware of existing law.
_
Sent to several members and to Kim in the Speaker’s office this morning:
“After a very quick look: HB 34 has no language I can see that requires compliance with OCGA 50-36-1 (verification of lawful presence for public benefits). Professional licenses are public benefits . A yes vote is a vote to dismantle existing law on illegal immigration. In a state with more illegals than AZ. The senate will take careful note of that fact. I promise. A 30 second “isn’t it true” question should wake people up? I assume same for Chamber of Commerce HB 268. Reciprocity write up here.
Unless I have missed it in a big hurry, here they all need: “Nothing contained in this Code section shall be construed to invalidate, override, or amend any licensing compact entered into by the State of Georgia or to permit the issuance of a license without verification under Code Section 50-36-1.”
ACTION NEEDED: HB 228 being held up in ‘Special Committee on Election Integrity’ – would add ” BEARER NOT U.S. CITIZEN – NOT VALID VOTER ID” to foreign national’s drivers license and ID Cards in Georgia
<–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.
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.
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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.
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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.
<–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.
