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HB444 billed as ‘reform’ to dual enrollment program but does not change lack of screening for illegals

 *UPDATE – 8:50 PM. I  was informed about 5:30 this evening that although it wasn’t on the Rules calendar, while I was writing the below column, House leadership put the HB444 bill on members desks and held a surprise vote today. This was done because we were shining way to much light on the DE program and the bill. Too many House Reps were starting to ask questions. They voted about 12:30-ish I am told. The bill passed (they agreed to senate version).

Never let it be said that Gov Kemp and Speaker Ralston won’t work together.

“They shoved it down our throats. If I had known all this, I never would have voted to agree” one GOP Rep told me this evening. 

__*UPDATED with vote records March 6, 2020 10:48AM. See bottom of column.

Spoiler alert to this post: While it is billed as a way to produce a more educated workforce, the Georgia dual enrollment program allows high school students to attend public universities at zero tuition cost. It has no verification system to keep illegal aliens out of the taxpayer-funded system. And, unless they have the Obama DACA amnesty, which provides a work permit, illegal aliens are not eligible to work anywhere in the United States.

It seems that Gov. Kemp’s office is quite anxious to see his dual enrollment “reform” bill (HB444) passed and is contacting House members to gauge support. A note from Kemp’s Deputy Director of External Affairs, Stuart Wilkinson, to House members (apparently only GOP members) illustrates the urgency and interest. Delivered to members yesterday, this came to us from several pro-enforcement lawmakers:

“Good Afternoon,

We understand that HB 444, the Governor’s dual enrollment bill, will be called for an agree this week. The Governor hopes he can count on your support with a YES vote. Please let us know if there are any issues you want to discuss or are not able to vote YES.

Thanks,

Stuart Wilkinson”

The dual enrollment program (DE) allows high school students to attend public-funded college classes in the taxpayer-funded USG system at zero tuition cost to the student.  Zero cost is a much better benefit than the reduced rate of instate tuition!

With stated goal of reducing costs of DE, HB444 was introduced by a Kemp floor leader and passed last year in the House and then was amended and passed by the state senate earlier this year– handled by a Kemp floor leader.

The liberal AJC did a good job of explaining DE and Kemp’s intent in his reform move here, but they did not include any of the obvious pertinent information on illegal alien students. Neither did they do a story when I asked how many illegal alien high school students are right now receiving a totally free ride in USG classroom seats.

AJC:

“Georgia House Bill 444 would significantly change the state’s popular dual enrollment program that allows high school students to take state-funded college courses.

Supporters of the bill say the program’s costs have skyrocketed in recent years and changes are necessary to make it sustainable. About 52,000 students are currently enrolled in the program.

Critics say the changes will limit education opportunities for many low-income and rural students.

Here are five things to know about the dual enrollment program and proposed legislation, according to information in the bill and its sponsor, state Rep. Bert Reeves, R-Marietta.”

Please read the rest here.

And note that there is no change to the fact that there is no verification to exclude illegals.

As Gov. Kemp’s staffer tells House members in his note yesterday, HB444 will see a call to agree with the senate changes this week, which will send the bill to Gov Kemp’s desk for signing.

Nothing in the original DE program, the Kemp House bill from last year or the senate changes this year includes any requirement that illegal aliens be screened out of the free (taxpayer covered) college courses.

Not so after high school graduation. See the USG verification system to insure illegal aliens do not receive reduced tuition rates for those applicants here.

Gov. Kemp’s office phone number is 404-656-1776. He is knowingly allowing illegal aliens in high school to obtain a no-cost college education – and Georgia citizens are being billed.

We hope you ask your own Rep how they are going to vote on HB 444 – and how they voted on it last year.

We will post all voting records next week.

Vote records as promised. Pasted from the General Assembly website.

 

Mar/03/2020 – House Vote #521Yea(103) Nay(67) NV(1)

Excu (excused) (9)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GALEO’s Jerry Gonzalez opposes IMAGE certification for city governments

Just when the Average Joe might think the anti-borders mob has hit peak crazy, GALEO’s Angry Jerry Gonzalez explains to a Georgia newspaper that verifying ID used in the hiring process and use of E-Verify along with voluntary audits of HR records equates to… wait for it… a “white nationalist agenda.”

Jerry Gonzalez is Executive Director of the corporate-funded (Coca Cola, Georgia Power, State Farm Insurance, Southwest airlines, Cox Enterprises, Western Union…) Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials in Atlanta. GALEO marches in the streets protesting any immigration enforcement, lobbies in the Georgia Capitol against any legislation designed to make life difficult for illegal aliens – while referring to them as “immigrants” – against official English and photo voter ID,  – you know the drill.

We have a long history of fighting the GALEO machine here.

Angry Jerry’s comments came in a news report in the Marietta Daily Journal on the upcoming vote to renew the city of Marietta’s IMAGE certification. For a quick idea of what the IMAGE program is, think of it as E-Verify on steroids. Here is a excerpt from the official IMAGE website:

“Undocumented workers secure jobs through fraudulent means such as presenting false documents, completing fraudulent benefit applications and stealing someone’s identity. To combat unlawful employment and reduce vulnerabilities that help illegal aliens gain such employment, ICE announced the Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE) program in July 2006. This program assists employers to develop a more secure and stable workforce. It also enhances fraudulent document awareness through education and training.”

Note: Since the IMAGE audits are intended to catch illegal aliens using fake and stolen ID documents to get hired, we think the use of the goofy “undocumented worker” term on the ICE/IMAGE site is a leftover from the nightmare Obama years. The victims of borders have plenty of (illegal) documents.

In 2012, this pro-enforcement writer worked long and hard to see IMAGE certification for the county HR department in my home of Cobb County and in the two cities in the county that also are IMAGE certified. Jerry doesn’t like that.

Never let a massacre by a lunatic go to waste

Gonzalez, who is known to scream at and chase down pro-enforcement advocates – even if they are diminuative women, told the MDJ the (IMAGE certification) renewal is likely to further strain the relationship between Latinos and elected officials because it comes at an especially bad time. After the horrific killings in El Paso. And actual enforcement in Mississippi.

“Two days after a white nationalist committed a domestic terrorist attack against Mexicans and people of Mexican descent in El Paso, there were massive immigration raids in this country as well, with the president pushing a white nationalist agenda,” Gonzalez said. “That’s the kind of alliance the City Council will be allying with. … I don’t think the city of Marietta needs to be pushing a white nationalist agenda like the president is pushing.”

How will we know when they hit peak crazy – and disgusting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

State law requires DPS agreement with ICE and ten officers to be trained annually

Dear reader,

Please try to imagine the screaming, bold-font, front page headlines, top of the news broadcast frenzy and the endless, angry wailing from the corporate-funded anti-enforcement lobby if Georgia had a law in place banning 287(g) agreements (as does Democrat Illinois) while any Georgia law enforcement agency ignored that law and obtained such an agreement with ICE.

There is a lot of information in the embedded links.

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Updated in 2011, Georgia law requires the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to negotiate an agreement with ICE to be 287(g) authorized and to designate no fewer than ten peace officers to be trained for the program – every year.

For the unaware, 287(g) is a federal program that allows certain local or state law enforcement officers to act as immigration agents on a limited basis.

Despite the law (HB87) passed by the General Assembly and signed by then Governor Nathan Deal, DPS is not on the list of law enforcement agencies that are 287(g) “Participating Entities” with ICE. “As of July 2019, ICE has 287(g)… agreements with 79 law enforcement agencies in 21 states,” we are told – but not with DPS.

DPS did have an ICE agreement (MOA) but it was canceled when the re-elected Obama administration scaled back the program at the end of 2012. But, DPS could easily have reapplied after Obama left office. See the letter response from DPS the commissioner to a curious then state senator here.

ICE is open for business on 287(g) now and has been since January 2017

As one of his first acts after being sworn in to office, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled ‘Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States’ in which he made it clear that the 287(g) program was high on his priority list to attack the nation’s illegal immigration crisis.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), and in order to ensure the public safety of the American people in communities across the United States as well as to ensure that our Nation’s immigration laws are faithfully executed, I hereby declare the policy of the executive branch to be, and order, as follows:… “The purpose of this order is to direct executive departments and agencies (agencies) to employ all lawful means to enforce the immigration laws of the United States.

The president’s Executive Order had 17 sections. Because the Nathan Deal administration ignored it, people in the current executive branch of Georgia state government may want to pay extra attention to Section 8, which reads in part:

Federal-State Agreements. It is the policy of the executive branch to empower State and local law enforcement agencies across the country to perform the functions of an immigration officer in the interior of the United States to the maximum extent permitted by law.

In furtherance of this policy, the Secretary shall immediately take appropriate action to engage with the Governors of the States, as well as local officials, for the purpose of preparing to enter into agreements under section 287(g) of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1357(g))….”

The Executive Order can be read in its entirety here and the accompanying memorandum signed by then DHS Secretary John Kelly that implements the Trump EO can be read here.

The 287(g) program has different ‘models’ – one for use inside jails, (the Jail Enforcement Model) another more narrow arrangement called “Warrant Service Officer Model”- and one for use by law enforcement who are carrying out their normal duties outside jails – think of it as a “street model – formally known as the “Task Force Model.” Readers who want more information on the details can see here.

Georgia’s DPS had the Task Force model. I am informed by ICE that currently there are no Task Force model agreements in place. DPS can change that fact.

There appears to be no reason for DPS not making a valid attempt to regain the 287(g) authority it is mandated to have in place by re-applying to ICE.

We sent an open records request to DPS asking for copies of any such application and received a negative reply.

I also sent a detailed formal media request for comment for this write-up to DPS and got back only “we are in receipt of your request” but as of this writing (July 23, noon-ish) have not received any comment, explanation or denial of our assumption that DPS is in violation of state law. If this is not the case, we are anxious to hear why.

In a state with more illegal aliens than green card holders, we are even more anxious to hear from Governor Brian Kemp (404-656-1776) about why – law or no law – DPS is apparently not taking advantage of the clear 287(g) expansion push from President Trump to enhance public safety.

And how this fits in with Kemp’s “Big Truck” campaign pledge on the crime of illegal immigration.

We expect that once educated, pro-enforcement voters will be equally curious.

MSM seems to have missed this story

Our self-funded effort here at Immigration Politics Georgia is gaining readers weekly, but we obviously don’t have the reach that say, the “watchdogs” at the Associated Press, the Atlanta Journal Constitution or any of the Atlanta TV/radio news desks have. So, we will be sure to share this with all of them to see if it is regarded as allowable “news” that state law seems to be ignored by state law enforcement – and Georgia’s Chief Executive.