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Only U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (green card holders) should be considered for state benefits on “educational freedom” and “putting the parents in charge…”

• Georgia Republicans who call themselves conservatives should reconsider the goal of using tax dollars to provide private school tuition money to illegal alien students and families. Rewarding and encouraging illegal immigration into Georgia is not a conservative ideal.
• A 1982 SCOTUS decision (Plyler v Doe) only mandates that states must provide public K-12 school education to all student regardless of immigration status.
• We don’t allow illegal aliens to access the Hope Scholarship or the Zell Miller Scholarship or instate tuition in our taxpayer-funded public colleges. Why do some Republicans want to welcome illegal alien families with discretionary  taxpayer-funded K-12 private school benefits?
• Georgia already has the seventh largest population of illegal aliens in the nation. We are home to more illegal aliens than Arizona. Legislators and lobbyists who are pushing unrestricted “school choice” seem determined to make our state even more attractive to illegal immigration and the additional crime it creates.
• Using basic eligibility requirements and adjusting language already in state law, it is easy to create a measure that only allows verified U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents to even apply for any state school choice benefits. Nobody needs to ask applicants about immigration status.
• Although unworkable, there were various versions of poorly written language purporting to exclude illegal aliens from the proposed “school choice” legislation offered in three separate bills in 2021-2022 General Assembly. So we know members of the legislature are aware of this concern. –>As requested, we have draft language to remedy the problem with “school choice” legislation that grows illegal immigration in Georgia. 
• Related (example): OCGA 20-3-519.1  “2 (b): A student is ineligible for any scholarship or grant described in this part if the student: (1) Is not a United States citizen or a permanent resident alien who meets the definition of an eligible noncitizen…”

A version of this column is published in the January 2, 2023 edition of the Glynn County, GA. newspaper The Islander. 

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“The Governor shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed and shall be the conservator of the peace throughout the state.” Section ll, Paragraph ll of the Georgia Constitution.

Gov. Kemp’s Georgia can easily and accurately be described as a “sanctuary state” for the “criminal illegals” he promised to go after when he ran for office in 2018 and pledged to end already illegal sanctuary policies.

With constant reminders that Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than Arizona and more illegals than green card holders, this space will often be used to offer continuing education on multiple laws that were put in place to deter illegal immigration into our state but are now ignored.

• Related: Cobb County Republican Party’s Resolution censuring Governor Kemp for his betrayal on Georgia’s illegal immigration crisis

This week we’ll start with OCGA 42-4-14: “Illegal alien” defined; determination of nationality and verification of lawful admission of person confined in a jail facility.” It was put into law in 2006 in the “Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act” (SB 529) which was a long, multi-section bill that passed out of the state Senate committee process by the Public Safety Committee – Sen. Brian Kemp, Chairman.

Intended to detect illegal aliens who end up in any of Georgia’s jails and report them to the feds, the law is short and simple.

In part: “As used in this Code section, the term “illegal alien” means a person who is verified by the federal government to be present in the United States in violation of federal immigration law. When any person is confined, for any period, in the jail of a county or municipality or a jail operated by a regional jail authority … a reasonable effort shall be made to determine the nationality of the person so confined… a reasonable effort shall be made to verify that such foreign national has been lawfully admitted to the United States and if lawfully admitted, that such lawful status has not expired.

If the foreign national is determined to be an illegal alien, the keeper of the jail or other officer shall notify the United States Department of Homeland Security…”

Who runs most of the jails in Georgia? – county sheriffs.

*  Related: 2018 candidate for GA governor Brian Kemp’s first TV campaign ad 

The statute reads “The Georgia Sheriffs Association shall prepare and issue guidelines and procedures used to comply with the provisions of this Code section.” Those instructions are in place.

As a state senator at the time, Gov. Kemp also voted “YEA” for final passage on this public safety measure.

This writer has spent considerable time over the last several years talking to law enforcement officials and collecting responses to open records requests that tell me many – if not most – jailers in Georgia do not obey this law. I have spoken to sheriffs who have no recollection of ever even hearing about it.

We’ll revisit this topic next time, but until then I leave you with the defiant and unpunished public pledge from metro-Atlanta’s Democrat Gwinnett County Sheriff Keybo Taylor, made as one of his first remarks at his January 1, 2021 swearing-in event: “what we will not be doing is notifying ICE of anybody’s immigration status in our jail or any of our facilities.”

Sheriff Taylor has been allowed to keep his promise.

I don’t know how many innocent Georgians have been killed, raped, molested, or otherwise harmed by Gov. Kemp’s “criminal illegals” in the last four years – neither does he.

Please re-read the top paragraph of this column and consider calling the governor’s office in Atlanta. The phone number is 404-656-1776. Leave a polite message with the young staffer who answers. Nothing will change if you don’t.

The lack of enforcement of this law is not an oversight – but we are “number one for business.”

• Related: Sanctuary Georgia: Another law that is ignored on “criminal illegals”

Lopez’s involvement as a member of the board of directors of the anti-enforcement GALEO after he became a state judge was the deal killer for federal bench confirmation in 2016.

The Georgia Supreme Court has announced the appointment of former DeKalb Co. Judge Dax Lopez to the Hearing Panel of the Judicial Qualifications Commission.

“López, a former DeKalb County State Court Judge now in private practice, will replace Jamala McFadden, who is completing five years of service on the JQC and was recently appointed by the Court to serve on the Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants, which is part of the Court’s Office of Bar Admissions. López will begin his four-year term on July 1, 2022.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission is the constitutional body that educates Georgia judges about their ethical duties and conducts investigations and hearings regarding judges’ misconduct. The JQC’s Hearing Panel consists of one judge member, one attorney member, and one non-lawyer citizen member. The Hearing Panel adjudicates formal charges made against judges, makes recommendations to the Supreme Court as to disciplinary and incapacity orders against judges, and issues formal advisory opinions.” goes the Court’s media release.

Lopez was nominated to become a federal judge in Georgia’s Northern District by then President Barack Obama in 2015. The required Senate confirmation process ended in early 2016 when then Georgia Senator David Perdue refused to send in the “Blue Slip” granting his approval of the nomination. Perdue cited Lopez’ long history of aiding and assisting the rabidly anti-enforcement GALEO Inc and Lopez’ membership on the GALEO board as cause to doubt Lopez’ suitability as a federal judge.”…there were some things that gave me great concern with regard to naming him to a lifetime appointment to a federal bench” Perdue told Politico at the time.

Lopez served as Keynote speaker at a GALEO funder after he became a judge. Jane Fonda is a GALEO “Founding Friend.”

The Dustin Inman Society has tracked and recorded GALEO activities for nearly two decades and was proud to be invited to meet with Sen. Perdue’s senior staff and legal counsel and to provide information on GALEO, its Executive Director, Jerry Gonzalez, and Lopez’ involvement. Readers who are not familiar with the story or corporate-funded GALEO can see here for “a beginner’s guide” to the leftist group.

It usually amazes readers to know that Coca-Cola and Georgia Power are two of the corporations that fund GALEO.

Current GOP state Senator Jason Anavitarte is also a former GALEO board member.

“Immigration laws are the only laws that are discussed in terms of how to help people who break them.” Thomas Sowell 2017

Note: A version of hit essay was originally posted on the subscription news and opinion site, InsiderAdvantage.com , January 26, 2021.

In 2011, Aurelio Mayo Perez, an illegal alien, was booked into the Cobb County jail for no driver’s license but released due to an immigration enforcement reduction edict from then-President Barack Obama. Two years later, Mayo Perez was charged with aggravated child molestation and rape. The name of the ten-year old girl he was convicted of repeatedly molesting is not available.

Last week, newly sworn Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens held an elaborate press conference packed with invited anti-enforcement activists and proudly announced his termination of the 287(g) program. The Marietta Daily Journal described the event’s big finish with “…as the event ended, and a mariachi band began to play, the mood in the room was decidedly celebratory. The new sheriff even took to the floor and waltzed for a moment, reveling in his audience’s approval.”  Cobb County Deputy Sheriff Loren Lilly – killed in a 2007 traffic crash by an unlicensed illegal alien driver – was unable to attend.

Democrat Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid pronounced Owens’ decision “bold, necessary, and overdue.” Cobb’s new District Attorney, Flynn Broady weighed in with “this is going to make our community safer.” We recommend reading the entire MDJ report

Created by congress in 1996, and signed into law by Bill Clinton, the voluntary 287(g) program is a tool used to expand the authority of local law enforcement to locate and report to ICE illegal aliens, usually in county jails. It’s a deterrent. Then-Senator Joe Biden voted in favor of passage.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports Owens claims “the program morphed into one that profiled immigrants through traffic stops, which resulted in them being deported on misdemeanor charges.” While Sheriff Owens – a former Cobb County policeman – is certainly free to smear his fellow law enforcement officers with accusations of profiling, he should understand that it’s illegal aliens who are deported and that removal is the punishment for illegal immigration, not traffic violations.

Jose Alfaro-Contraras, an illegal alien from El Salvador, was one of the gunmen in an April, 2015 armed robbery of the owner of a check-cashing store in Duluth. A year earlier, Alfaro-Contraras had been in the Gwinnett County jail on a shoplifting charge. He was released because “minor crime.”

The above examples are taken from a 2017 report “Jail records reveal immigrants not deported after minor crimes later commit worse ones” from Atlanta’s Fox Five TV News investigative reporter Randy Travis.

Related: According to the anti-enforcement Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than green card holders.

In metro -Atlanta’s Gwinnett County, on his first day in office, Sheriff Keybo Taylor made his enforcement policy clear when he quit the 287(g) program: “What we will not be doing is notifying ICE of anybody’s immigration status in the jail or any of our facilities…” said Taylor at his own presser. He told a local NPR interviewer 287(g) is slanted towards “people of color.”

“So basically, what that program started to do was target, uh, you know, people of color that were in this country that’s undocumented, so, you know, it became, you know, a racist issue for me…”,

He says he would rather focus on gang members. I was curious, so I checked with experts on gangs in Gwinnett and the skin color concern Taylor expressed. But on that topic Sheriff Taylor apparently does have concerns about borders “…crime and criminals…they don’t, they do not respect borders, so, you know, it’s nothing to come from Atlanta to Gwinnett County…” says Taylor. Indeed.

In print and radio interviews, both sheriffs have done a remarkable job of learning and adhering to the anti-287(g) talking points distributed by the far-left. Below are some of those tips from a 2008 ACLU ‘toolkit.’

‘How to oppose 287(g) agreements in your state or locality’

*Always describe how police enforcement of immigration laws endangers public safety for everyone.

*Assert that local police of immigration laws will result in widespread racial profiling.

*Assert that immigration enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government.

*Assert that police resources are stretched thin already.

Georgia law as a ‘Plan B’ plan to address anti-enforcement sheriffs

Attention Georgia prosecutors, including Flynn Broady: Independent of 287(g), longstanding (2006) state law (OCGA 42-4-14) requires jailers to check the immigration status of incoming foreign prisoners. “If the foreign national is determined to be an illegal alien, the keeper of the jail or other officer shall notify the United States Department of Homeland Security, or other office or agency designated for notification by the federal government.”

The AJC – again

 In an entirely unbalanced, celebratory report on Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens ending 287(g) the AJC recently told readers as a statement of fact “the program originally began to remove terrorists, as well as other violent criminals, from neighborhoods across the country.” But, as was noted here in December, the law establishing 287(g) program never limited it to applying only to terrorists or illegal aliens who were arrested for violent crimes.

The liberal AJC has not covered the fact that the above law is not enforced.

D.A. King is president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society.

New monthly report from ICE with a sample of criminal aliens busted by 287(g) partnerships.

Report is informative reading, and demonstrates public safety value of immigration enforcement and cooperation between feds & locals.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 287(g) Program enhances the safety and security of communities by creating partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies to identify and remove aliens who are amenable to removal from the United States.

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 added Section 287(g), to the Immigration and Nationality Act. This section of law authorizes the Director of ICE to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies, that permit designated officers to perform limited immigration law enforcement functions. Agreements under section 287(g) require the local law enforcement officers to receive appropriate training and to function under the supervision of ICE officers.

Read the entire report here.

Hat tip, Jessica Vaughan, CIS.