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Newly sworn GA GOP Congressman Rich McCormick: We need “immigration reform” – Indians are best immigrants

By

GA Congressman Rich McCormick – GA06

Updated, Jan 15, 4:50PM.

*Updated Jan 31, 8:54 AM

I confidently predict U.S. Rep Rich McCormick will vote for amnesty if he gets the opportunity.

 

“McCormick, who is a doctor specialising in emergency medicine, said that they “don’t have the problems other people have when they come to the emergency room for overdoses, because these are the most productive and family-centred.”

Absolutely zero surprise here. As a candidate, Rich McCormick, the new Republican for GA06 (my home district) usually evaded the immigration issue like it was illegal to talk about it. I was introduced to him several times as an authority on the topic. After a nod and a cautious-looking half-grin, he couldn’t get away fast enough.

His first attempt at going to Congress was in the old GA07 and failed. Redistricting found him running again in the more Republican GA06 (McCormick lives in the 9th District). On his first campaign site he was firm that we should deport violent criminals and drug dealers…yada, yada.

Some Republican women I know went ga-ga over him from day one – then got plenty upset what I pointed out that “maybe we should deport all illegal aliens.” I heard “well that’s what he really means, D.A…” or “well, we should deport drug dealers, D.A.” in response.

On immigration, this guy brings to mind Mitt Romney – maybe John Cornyn.

He ran on the fact that he is an MD and a former U.S.M.C pilot. I am not the only person here who reads him as a typical, pandering “yes man” for the special interests. Doubters, stay tuned.

It looks like his (successful) second try to get to Washington didn’t include borders or illegal immigration – violent criminals or not – at all. You can take look to see if I am missing anything on his campaign website “priorities” page.

You can also help me find any mention of the raging border crisis or illegal immigration on his House website “issues” page. (I have a screen grab).

The Forsyth County News has a report on “What Rep. Rich McCormick says he wants to tackle in Congress” –  somebody double check because I see zero mention of borders or immigration (registration to read the report is free and quick).

If it helps make my point here, Georgia Gov. Brain Kemp happily endorsed McCormick.

Maybe somebody can ask Kemp why he would back a candidate for the House of Representatives in Georgia that avoids talk of immigration – in a state with more illegal aliens than Arizona.

You will need to wait for Kemp to return from Davos.

Reward for information, Image, Dustin Inman Society

Here is a bit of insight: Kemp doesn’t talk about illegal immigration in Georgia – ever. Georgia is a sanctuary state.

Evading immigration is not that difficult here – the liberal Atlanta Journal Constitution makes sure of it. Check out the grueling questions set out by the AJC on a 2020 “where do the candidates stand on the issues?” piece – (here).

Now, mid-way through his first month in office McCormick has decided to talk about immigration! As in “immigration reform.” As in “streamline the process” and “we need more Indian immigrants…”

This from the January 14, 2023 Siasat Daily:

Making pitch for immigration reform, U.S. lawmaker says Indians pay 6 pc (percent) of taxes”

 New York: Making a pitch for immigration reforms, a Republican lawmaker has cited the contributions of Indian immigrants, who, he said, pay 6 per cent of taxes in the U.S.

 Saying that the US must “make sure we streamline the immigration process”, Rich McCormick said that Indians “represent some of the best citizens we have in America”.

 “They pay about 6 per cent of the taxes and (are) among the top producers,” he said of the Asian Indians who number 4.5 million, making up 1.4 per cent of the total US population of 333 million.

 The Asian Indians, who number 137,000 in the Atlanta area of his state of Georgia, “do not cause problems and follow laws”, he said.

 McCormick, who is a doctor specialising in emergency medicine, said that they “don’t have the problems other people have when they come to the emergency room for overdoses, because these are the most productive and family-centred”.

 McCormick represents a constituency that encompasses the suburbs of Atlanta, an area that has seen an influx of Asian Indians in recent years, fuelled impart by the growth of the science and technology sectors.

 With the long wait for permanent resident status for Indians, a legislation to make more green cards available for them died in the last Congress session.

 The legislation, which had the backing of members of both parties and President Joe Biden’s administration, would have eliminated the limit of 20,000 green cards for each country with some exceptions.

 The matter is expected to come up again in the current session.” Read it here.

Congressman Dr. Rich McCormick (and most GA GOP voters) needs to get out more. Or maybe not flee the scene when he has a chance to talk to a pro-enforcement authority on immigration. Or at least read The India Times “Illegal Immigration From India To US Doubled In 2022, US Government Data Shows.”

And it would help if the Republican grassroots would find a spine and talk back to the candidates and elected officials who are now allowed to decide what “the issues” are – and it’s seldom immigration enforcement.

Georgia is controlled by Chamber of Commerce Republicans – but not many people outside Georgia are watching the train wreck happening here (not many inside the state either).

I left the ballot on our congressional seat blank in the General Election.

 

Under Gov Brian Kemp, Georgia is a sanctuary state for “criminal illegals”

By

Gov. Brian Kemp

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.

Kemp TV campaign ad – 2018

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”

 

Addition to September OIG complaint against Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp

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The below complaint letter was emailed to the OIG on November 11, 2022 and a hard copy sent via USPS November 12, 2022.

_______

November 11, 2022

The Honorable Mr. Scott McAfee

Inspector General, Georgia

2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive SW,

1102 West Tower
Atlanta, GA 30334

Re: Addition to my September 6, 2022 complaint against Governor Brian Kemp – Complaint confirmation # F345217D89

Mr. McAfee,

Thank you for your response on the two complaints filed against Gwinnett Sheriff Keybo Taylor and Cobb Sheriff Craig Owens. I want to expand my complaint against Gov. Kemp filed in September. I agree with the statement on your office’s webpage that reads “key to public trust is the expectation that the OIG will hold state officials accountable for efficient, cost effective government operations and to prevent, detect, identify, expose and eliminate fraud, waste, abuse and corruption.

My original complaint involves Gov. Kemp’s refusal to enforce OCGA 42-4-14 which reads in part: “When any foreign national is confined, for any period, in a county or municipal jail, 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 verification of lawful status cannot be made from documents in the possession of the foreign national, verification shall be made within 48 hours through a query to the Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) of the United States Department of Homeland Security or other office or agency designated by the federal government. 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.”

As I advised you in September, the above sheriffs are on record as defiantly and publicly refusing to comply with this state statute. This insolence has created a serious threat to public safety and the rule of law in Georgia.

I have done my best to appeal to Gov. Kemp’s sense of duty and honor in urging him to investigate and prosecute the openly admitted violations of this important public safety law dating back to January 2021. To my knowledge, there is no record of him taking an official action. While I understand your message that these sheriffs are not within your office’s jurisdiction, it is clear the governor is in the Executive branch of state government.

I would be grateful for an update on any action or progress your office has made in this matter since September. I note that as a state senator Gov. Kemp presided over the Senate Public Safety Committee that held hearings on the legislation that created this law. Then Senator Kemp voted in favor of final passage.

After spending many of hours of my own time on research in my own investigation using open records requests, I hereby add more Georgia laws that Gov. Kemp is allowing to be openly ignored. Please add OCGA 50-36-1, OCGA 50-36-2, OCGA 36-60-6 and OCGA 13-10-91 to my pending complaint against Gov. Kemp on OCGA 42-4-14.

While I can direct your office to multiple examples of local governments and state agencies that are not in compliance, to offer your investigators a place to begin on the additional allegations, I cite the numerous documented and admitted violations of these laws by the government of Carroll County.

To save time and paper, I respectfully direct you to the narrative of the literally thousands of defiant violations by Carroll County officials that I have posted here and here.

I have saved all the email exchanges with Carrol County that serve to illustrate and document proof of violation and staff admission of those violations. I can produce many more examples in other public agencies.

As Gov. Kemp has posted on the official website of his office, “the governor is the chief executive of the state and oversees the executive branch. He or she is the chief law enforcement officer.”

The state constitution tells us that the governor shall “take care that the laws are faithfully executed and shall be the conservator of the peace” in the state. This power to enforce laws is almost identical to that of the president of the United States.”

All of the laws here were designed to deter and punish the organized crime of illegal immigration while protecting jobs and taxpayer-funded benefits and services from illegal aliens. Like most Georgians, we consider them to be as important as street racing laws. Safeguarding the security and safety of innocent and trusting Georgians is part of the governor’s job.

It seems obvious to us that Gov. Kemp’s refusal to honor his oath of office on enforcement points to the corruption and abuse in the Chief Executive’s office on this matter.

Please add these latest accusations to my pending complaint and your investigation.

Please contact me with any questions.

Very respectfully submitted,

D.A. King

Marietta, GA. 30066

GALEO Inc. & Jerry Gonzalez- a partial history (in two parts)

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GALEO – a partial history as published in The Islander newspaper in Glynn Co., GA.

Part 1

The Islander

October 17, 2022

The illegal alien lobby in GA: An introduction to GALEO

“California is going to become a Hispanic state and if anyone doesn’t like it they should leave. They ought to go back to Europe.” — Mario Guerra Obledo, co-founder of MALDEF, on the Tom Likus radio show, 1998

To provide some insider insight into how our state government really works, here is an abbreviated outline of just one of the many corporate-funded, far left non-profits that have staff and lobbyists working against immigration enforcement around the state and in the Georgia Capitol. Space does not allow more than a partial storyline. But I cannot give readers an honest view of the innocuously named Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, known as ‘GALEO,’ without the above quote from a founder of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), Mario Obledo.

The CEO of the Atlanta-based GALEO is former Democrat Party fund raiser, community organizer and Biden supporter Jerry (Gerardo E.) Gonzalez. Before he was awarded with the leadership of GALEO, he was also a MALDEF lobbyist under the Gold Dome where he is known for his vitriolic outbursts at Republican legislators in committee hearings and hallways. Gonzalez and his anti-enforcement corporation have actively fought every immigration enforcement bill in the state legislature since 2003.

Gonzalez once brought the leader of the Socialist Workers party into Georgia to fight for driver’s licenses for illegal aliens.

Gonzalez boasts on the GALEO website that American luminary Jane Fonda was a GALEO “founding friend.” A leader in Atlanta’s LGBTQ community, Gonzalez is also noted for his antics at a 2011 business luncheon at the Coosa County Country Club focused on use of E-Verify to detect newly hired illegal aliens by private employers in Georgia. Gonzalez had angrily shouted at Rome’s diminutive Republican state Representative Katie Dempsey from the audience after the event and was escorted off the property by local police according to the Rome News Tribune.

I was in the state Capitol in 2011 when Capitol Police warned Gonzalez that he would be removed if he continued his hallway-screaming at GOP state Senator Renee Unterman after she spoke in favor of immigration enforcement. Jerry is not what most would call “tolerant.”

A condensed list of Gonzalez’s accomplishments running GALEO Inc. include fearlessly marching in the streets of Atlanta demanding amnesty for illegals and escorting a busload of illegal aliens into the state Senate Chamber. GALEO has actively opposed voter ID (it’s “anti-Hispanic”), English as the official language of government in Georgia (“it would be an insult to “our culture”), ICE holds for criminal illegals in Georgia jails (“…bad for communities”) and in 2011 joined the ACLU and the SPLC in a federal lawsuit to stop state implementation of HB 87, the “Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011” – apparently enforcement of immigration law is “anti-immigrant.”

After this writer and several other pro-enforcement citizens spoke in favor of HB 202 in the House Public Safety and Homeland Security committee in 2019, we watched as GALEO lobbyists joined the SPLC and the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) lobbyists in testifying against advancement of the bill. HB 202 would have required the Georgia Department of Corrections to publish a public, quarterly report on the number of foreigners in the state prison system, the number of that group who already are subjects of ICE detainers, their home nations and crimes committed along with the percentage of the entire prison population these aliens represent.

I write “would have” because the Republican-dominated House Rules Committee killed the bill.

Sponsors at GALEO fund raisers have included the Coca Cola Co., Telemundo, Western Union, Cox Communications (parent company of the liberal Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper), Georgia Power, State Farm Ins. Co., Univision, Atlanta’s Kilpatrick Townsend law firm and Southwest airlines.

I watched in person sometime about 2005 as Gonzalez marched in protest of then-CNN newsman Lou Dobbs with a large group of fellow travelers carrying signs calling Dobbs a “racist” with other placards reading “THIS IS OUR CONTINENT- GO BACK TO EUROPE!” I asked some of the group with Gonzalez to where my black friends who opposed illegal immigration should return. “Africa” was the quick, loud, and defiant reply.

I am out of space for now but not close to the end of the story. Please save this edition and see here next time for more recent information on how deeply GALEO is involved in Georgia politics and how our state government really works. You won’t get this from “the news.”

Part 2.

The Islander

October 31, 2022

More on the illegal alien lobby in Georgia – GALEO Inc. and our government

In my previous column here, we began an insider’s account and history of the corporate-funded GALEO Inc. as related to our government. As promised, here is some additional information. It’s worth the reader’s time to check out the October 17, 2022 edition of The Islander if you missed part one.

The innocuously named Georgia Association of Latino and Elected Officials Corp. (GALEO) is run by former MALDEF lobbyist and Biden-supporter Jerry (Gerardo E.) Gonzalez, who is known for badgering female Republican state legislators and escorting admitted illegal aliens into the state Senate Chamber. Gonzalez has been widely quoted in liberal news media as part of the effort to erase the obvious difference between illegal aliens and real immigrants – like this writer’s adopted sister. Gonzalez says use of the word “illegal” in the term illegal immigrant/alien is akin to use of “the N-word.”

It is imperative that readers understand a large part of the names of far-left groups are intended to provide a basis for mindless marginalization of critics. Example: “You don’t agree with us? You must be “anti-Latino.” “You oppose illegal immigration? – you are against Hispanics, and you are clearly “anti-immigrant.” Those of us who have been fighting for enforcement and sanity on immigration for decades were being attacked with the shameless race-baiting and name calling long before the Democrats and the liberal media took the practice mainstream and nationwide.

A 2015 press release from community organizer Gonzalez provides important insight into part of GALEO’s dangerous agenda: “On behalf of GALEO, I would like to commend Fulton County Commissioners’ leadership and resolution urging the Fulton County Sheriff to stop honoring the ICE hold requests in order to keep families together but to also enhance public safety. We urge the Fulton County Sheriff to move forward quickly and implement the recommendation.”

The liberal Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper refers to GALEO as a “civil rights group.”

GALEO’s Institute for Leadership (“a nationally recognized Latinx leadership program”) conducts classes every year to train future leftist community organizers – in partnership with UGA’s J.W. Fanning Institute. Really.

In 2015 then President Barack Obama nominated GALEO board member, tactician, and fundraiser Dax Lopez for a lifetime seat on the federal bench in the Northern District of Georgia. Lopez was also a DeKalb County state court judge at the time. Happily, the confirmation process was stopped by then U.S. Senator David Perdue after Perdue was presented with irrefutable facts about GALEO by the Dustin Inman Society. Thank you, Senator Perdue.

Fast forward to 2022 Georgia: Dax Lopez was appointed to the prestigious and powerful state Judicial Qualifications Commission in June. The JQC educates Georgia judges about their ethical duties and conducts investigations and hearings regarding judges’ misconduct. Really.

Readers may have assumed that Georgia politicians, especially Republican elected officials who present themselves as conservatives would avoid all things GALEO Inc.

Consider this: GALEO board member and current Democrat candidate for state senate Jason Esteves (District 6, Fulton County area) is a favorite to win the seat Nov 8th. Current Republican state Senator Jason Anavitarte (Paulding Co) was a GALEO board member about the time he ran for the state House – as a Democrat. In June 2019, Gov Brian Kemp appointed then Doraville police chief John King as Georgia’s Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner. An ecstatic Jerry Gonzalez boasted to the media that “several years ago, Chief John King served as a keynote speaker for one of GALEO’s Power Breakfasts, one of our annual fundraising events…we look forward to working alongside his leadership,” Gonzalez gushed.

In 2015 then Secretary of State Brian Kemp and Attorney General Sam Olens, Republicans both, attended the 12th annual GALEO “Power Breakfast.” Then Gov. Nathan Deal (R) was scheduled to attend but changed plans at the last minute. Another notable attendee that year was AJC political reporter and blogger Greg Bluestein who was captured in a GALEO promo photo wearing a name tag provided by one of the corporate sponsors – not the press ID that normally hangs from working reporter’s necks.

It is a sad truism that most people have no idea how their government really works. We have done a bare outline of just one corporate-funded leftist group here. Unless you already visit our websites, follow us on Facebook or me on Twitter (@DAKDIS), we are guessing you read it here first.

end

In which GALEO’s CEO Jerry Gonzalez admits harassing Republican state Sen. Renee Unterman in the Georgia Capitol

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Right: Jerry Gonzalez, GALEO CEO. Left: John King, GALEO fundraiser keynote speaker and Gov Kemp choice for replacement Insurance Commissioner, 2019.

Con Ed – Georgia political history

Part two of a GALEO/Jerry Gonzalez profile in The Islander newspaper coming next Monday

In 2011, GALEO‘s Jerry Gonzalez went after a female Republican legislator, Renee Unterman, inside the Georgia Capitol. I was in the building when Capitol Police confronted Gonzalez. It is notable that this is the same time frame in which Jerry shouted at another female GOP Georgia legislator, 110 (ish)-pound Katie Dempsey, while chasing her around a Rome, GA  event designed to explain the E-Verify system and the corresponding state law requiring its use. We will save that one for later, but the Rome News-Tribune did a good job of the short story here.

We have been so busy here in Georgia lately struggling to stop pandering Republicans from advancing the far left anti-enforcement agenda that we haven’t had time to educate Georgians on the anti-borders Marxists in the corporate-funded illegal alien lobby. Here is a small view of one of these hateful leftists, GALEO’s CEO, Jerry Gonzalez. One problem with exposing the far left crazies is that lots of normal folks who only get their news from “the news” have difficulty accepting or believing  stories explaining how truly hateful the crazies really are.

We think many Georgians will be surprised to learn who helps GALEO with fundraising and operations.

I am halfway through a two-part profile of Jerry and GALEO for The Islander newspaper in SSI/Brunswick and mentioned this gem in part one. I’ll post them  here after the second part is published.

  • Related: Readers write: AJC letter to the editor published October, 2020 – “Anti-enforcement GALEO is not a “civil rights group.”

Anyway, I stumbled across a page from GALEO’s website from 2011 on which Gonzalez is still seething about a speech then Senator Unterman made from the Well on the floor of the state Senate. It’s vintage Jerry. I link it below with link to the entire GALEO newsletter page.

First, a short explanation that cannot be repeated too many times: The anti-borders lobby (including most of the liberal media) is trained to always use the term “immigrants” when topic is illegal aliens – in the endless effort to make resistance and opposition to illegal immigration into “anti-immigrant.” Senator Unterman was addressing the topic of illegal aliens in Georgia during the process of debate on that year’s HB 87, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011.

Here is a link to the surviving GALEO newsletter page from 2011.

Below is the pasted image of Angry Jerry’s narration and illustration of his inner anger and hissy fit.

 

 

 

 

 

Carroll Co. government in violation of state laws aimed at illegal immigration

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Carroll County officials ignored notice of violations from here for more than six months

Compliant and request for GBI action filed with Carroll Co. Sheriff

D.A. King

As readers may have heard, more than 2 million illegal aliens crossed the U.S. borders in the fiscal year (Oct. 1- Sept. 30); an estimated 3.5 million have crossed since President Biden took office. Because it is easy to get a job here illegally, Georgia is a very popular destination for illegal “migrants.” It cannot be said too many times: we host more illegals than Arizona.

The news from the southern border leads us to the below bit of local information you likely will not see on “the news.”

Despite more than six months of “heads up” notifications from here, as I write on September 29 and 30, Carroll County government is in violation of at least three longstanding state laws put in place to make Georgia a difficult place to live for illegal aliens – and for the employers who want to hire them. This is not a “maybe” – the responses to August open records requests sent to the county from my office clearly show that many Carroll County officials are in long term violation.

It does not require a law degree to understand what is going on in Carroll County – and our state.

Anyone involved in an honest effort to deter the organized crime of illegal immigration knows that the main driver of this ongoing catastrophe is illegal employment and the hope of the illegals to take advantage of the long list of taxpayer-funded public benefits available in the U.S. – including in Georgia. Absent fulfillment of the constitutional duty of the Washington Democrats who are running the Biden Regime’s open border scheme to increase the future far-left voter base, it falls to the states to create a hostile environment for the hordes of illegals who are being bussed around the nation – including to Georgia.

I have been involved in creating and passing legislation aimed at illegal immigration under the Gold Dome since 2005.

A massive bill (“The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act” – SB 529) was passed in 2006 over the vocal objections of a long list of business interests and corporate-funded far-left anti-borders groups. The legislation began a process of making it more difficult for illegal aliens to access jobs, benefits, and services here.

The President of Mexico at the time opposed the bill too. “Implementation potentially effects human and civil rights of Mexicans who live in or visit Georgia” he said in a press release.

We note here that then State Senator Brian Kemp was the Chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee that passed out SB 529. Kemp also voted “YEA” on final passage. He told Atlanta media in 2011 that many Georgians are “fed up” with illegal immigration. It’s a “burning issue” he said then. He doesn’t talk about illegal immigration in Georgia now. Neither do most state legislators.

After a ferocious fight with the same opponents, in 2011 another piece of legislation (“The Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011” – HB 87) went into law. It increased public safety while adding penalties for government officials who would refuse to comply with the laws aimed at preserving jobs, benefits and services for legal residents.

The goal was to make Georgia less hospitable to illegal immigration. Business licenses/ occupational tax licenses are public benefits under state law.

Georgia’s “Verification of Lawful Presence Within the United States” law requires that an applicant for public benefits swear on a notarized affidavit that he is either a U.S. citizen or a “lawfully present” and eligible foreign national. The applicant is required to present a “Secure and Verifiable” ID. The foreign national’s ‘lawful presence’ is then supposed to be verified using a federal database known as ‘SAVE.’ It is the responsibility of the government agency that issues these benefits to offer and collect these documents which have been standardized by law.

It is amazing how far outside the clearly written state statutes the Carrol County Board of Commissioners et al have been allowed to operate since the original effective date of July 1, 2012. The response to my open records request shows that department has likely illegally issued 4746 occupational tax licenses (business licenses) since then.

  • Related: Complaint and evidence sent to Carroll County Sheriff Terry Langley – Re: Carroll county government illegally administering public benefits

Like county officials, I have no idea how many of these mistakes served to welcome illegals to Carroll County. For readers with a curiosity for detail, the two laws in question here are OCGA 50-36-1 and OCGA 50-36-2.

Be warned up front that enforcement of these laws is not on the priority list of the people who run “the number one state for business.”

Related update: Additional information, Carroll County in violation of state public benefits laws

Gov. Brian Kemp

There are stiff penalties for violation

Government officials ignoring this law should know that offense is “a violation of the code of ethics for government service…and subject such agency head to…penalties…including removal from office and a fine not to exceed $10,000.00; and a…a high and aggravated misdemeanor offense where such agency head acts to willfully violate the provisions of this Code section…”

There is more:

Carrol County government is also in violation of the state law that requires private employers with ten or more employees to swear they are using the no-cost federal online work eligibility verification system called “E-Verify.” The goal of this law (OCGA 36-60-6) is to keep illegal aliens from working illegally in Georgia.

Another law, (OCGA 13-10-91) requires government agencies (“Public Employers) and most contractors paid with tax dollars to use the E-Verify system.

The state does not enforce these laws either. I challenge anyone, including Gov. Kemp, to present any example of prosecution in court of these hard-fought-for laws.

Solution: Fund the state enforcement tools already in the laws

These laws, hated by the people who profit from illegal immigration and intentionally ignored by state officials charged with enforcement, have wording that was put in place to make monitoring and prosecution seem certain in a then future version of Georgia. One that had money for investigation and enforcement.

  • An example from 2011: “Subject to available funding, the state auditor shall conduct annual compliance audits on a minimum of at least one-half of the reporting agencies and publish the results of such audits annually on the department’s website on or before September 30.”
  • And: “Subject to funding, the Department of Audits and Accounts shall annually conduct an audit of no fewer than 20 percent of such reporting agencies.”
  • More: “Contingent upon appropriation or approval of necessary funding and in order to verify compliance with the provisions of this subsection, each year the Commissioner shall conduct no fewer than 100 random audits of public employers and contractors or may conduct such an audit upon reasonable grounds to suspect a violation of this subsection.”

None of the built-in audits or monitoring are being done. There has been no appropriation of funding. Not many legislators in today’s state Capitol are educated on any of this. Even fewer want to hear about it. That goes double for the “journalists” who decide what’s in “the news.” But the liberal Atlanta Journal Constitution ran a Sept. 24 headline that unintentionally tells us where to find funding for state level enforcement: “Georgia’s fiscal tax surplus hits $6.57 billion.”

Readers who have an interest in fewer illegal aliens migrating to Georgia should hound their state legislators and the governor on this until our illegal immigration laws are as enthusiastically enforced as seat belt, no smoking and touching cell phones-while-driving statutes.

 I have filed a complaint with the Carroll County Sheriff against the county officials who ignored repeated warnings on this and are operating an illegal occupational license issuing system. You can read much more on ImmigrationPoliticsGA.com – put “Carroll County” into the search bar.

  • Update: October 5, 2022. I had the above ready to post Sept. 30 but held it because of my space in the Carroll County Star News. I already had a Sept. 29 phone and email conversation with the County Attorney informing her that my patience was gone and that I was going to write this county caper up for her local paper (Star News) to see if we could finally create some interest. A little research today shows me that the Board of Commissioners canceled the scheduled Sept 29 work session and did not meet until the regularly scheduled time/date yesterday (Oct. 4). I see no mention of any of this in the agenda. I do see that some of the incorrect affidavits have been replaced on the county occupational tax page. But not all of them. They are still in violation. Sigh.

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I’ll wash your car if you remind Gov Brian Kemp about illegal aliens in Georgia – Reposted from The Islander newspaper

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The below is reposted here from the St. Simons Island/Brunswick “The Islander” newspaper, Sept 19, 2022 edition

I’ll wash your car if you remind Gov Kemp about illegal aliens in Georgia

D.A. King

With the “Brian Kemp Track and Deport Plan,” then candidate for governor, Brian Kemp made a detailed 2018 promise to go after what he called “criminal illegals” in Georgia if he was elected. He went so far as to post detailed language of promised legislation on his campaign website that he said would create a public registry of the criminal aliens and end “sanctuary cities” in Georgia.

You can see an example of this pledge in a short video blurb from a May, 2018 Fox & Friends interview on the ImmigrationPolitcsGA.com website. There was no such legislation in Kemp’s first term.

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

In an October 2021 news report (“Kemp’s immigration policy could complicate bid for second term”), even the uber liberal Atlanta Journal Constitution took note of the Kemp’s betrayal with “Gov. Brian Kemp promised to enact sweeping crackdowns on illegal immigration on the 2018 campaign trail, boasting that he would “round up criminal illegals” himself as he pledged to “track and immediately deport” unauthorized immigrants with criminal records. Those unfulfilled vows now complicate Kemp’s campaign for a second term.” Indeed.

This writer is brilliantly aware of the fact that pointing out Gov Brian Kemp’s defiance on the many 2018 campaign promises he made regarding “undocumented workers” makes Republican voters uncomfortable. I have been told more than once to remain silent on the matter lest too many GOP voters remember too much from four years ago. I can’t count the times I have heard various versions of “we don’t want Stacey to win, D.A. – lay off Kemp until after the election!”

No.

For the record, I watched Stacey Abrams in the state legislature up close for many years and certainly don’t want her to be governor either. But the fact is that the “criminal illegals” Brian Kemp ran on in 2018 are still killing, raping, and molesting innocents in Georgia while he remains silent and boasts of Georgia being “number one for business.”

Other pro-enforcement Americans have taken note of Kemp’s “big truck trick.”

Tom Homan, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Trump administration, on Fox News in February, 2020: ”I’m in Georgia today, I’m giving a speech in Atlanta. Governor Kemp, who ran on tough immigration enforcement, now he’s in office, he’s missing in action. Sanctuary jurisdictions are growing in Georgia. So, you know, again, it’s the politicians who aren’t living up to their word.” Homan was in Georgia to be the keynote speaker at a forum on immigration this writer organized.

Closer to home for The Islander readers, we point out a letter to the editor published in the Brunswick News in March which read in part “by order of the powerful special interests that profit from black-market labor, the entire topic of the organized crime of illegal immigration has been carefully set aside here in the Peach State where we host more illegals than Arizona” wrote Mr. Robert Trent.

A resident of St. Mary’s, Trent is a proud former immigration enforcement officer and former Border Patrol agent. Now retired, his final assignment was serving as the as Assistant Director, Enforcement Training, at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynn County.

“I am one of the many pro-enforcement voters who can remember all the way back to 2018 when then candidate for Governor Brian Kemp made a long list of promises concerning “criminal illegals,” his “big truck” and detailed legislation aimed at sanctuary cities and counties in Georgia. I am also old enough to see his arrogant refusal to so much as mention those promises since then” wrote Mr. Trent.

Solution

The solution to the Kemp betrayal on illegal immigration in Georgia does not involve ignoring it. In politics, silence is consent. Georgia Republicans should join Tom Homan and Bob Trent in making their voices heard by 2022 candidate for governor Brian Kemp about illegal immigration in Georgia.

I’ll wash your car if you call his Capitol office in Atlanta and speak up. The phone number is 404-656-1776.

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How ‘Immigrant Communities’ Beat Back ICE and Helped Flip Georgia #GLAHR

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Dec 10, 2020

Boltsmag.org

Growing up in Gwinnett County, Georgia, in the northeastern Atlanta suburbs, Jonathan Zuñiga remembers the fear his parents felt driving to the grocery store.

In 2009, the Gwinnett County sheriff’s office, under Sheriff Butch Conway, started turning over hundreds of Latinx immigrants in its custody to ICE—including many who only landed in jail after police arrested them for minor traffic violations. Zuñiga says his parents, who are undocumented immigrants from Mexico, had to leave their construction jobs for lower-paying factory jobs that required less driving. But running errands continued to pose a threat.

“Driving even small amounts of time was unsafe,” Zuñiga said.

The county sheriff’s office was making these transfers because it had joined ICE’s 287(g) program, which allows local officers to directly enforce federal immigration policies, including screening immigration status and detaining residents until ICE takes custody. Gwinnett County operates one of the largest 287(g) programs in the country: this year, it ranks fourth in the nation for the number of ICE detainer requests, in which local jails hold people in custody longer in order to hand them over to federal agents. Detainers in Gwinnett peaked in 2012 and then steadily declined throughout Barack Obama’s second term as president. But they soared again after Donald Trump took office in early 2017 with new enforcement priorities, including having ICE arrest noncitizens more frequently for minor crimes. A Mother Jones investigation found that between 2017 and July 2019, the primary charge for nearly half of the people held for ICE at the Gwinnett County Jail was for driving without a license or another minor traffic violation.

But in November, voters in Gwinnett and nearby suburban Cobb County chose Democratic sheriffs for the first time in decades, electing candidates who made campaign promises to end the 287(g) programs. A Democratic candidate who opposed 287(g) also won in Charleston County, South Carolina; altogether these wins mirror a string of progressive sheriff victoriesin 2018 that were driven by immigration issues.

Cobb County’s longtime sheriff, Neil Warren, lost to challenger Craig Owens. In Gwinnett County, Sheriff-elect Keybo Taylor won with 57 percent of the vote against Republican candidate Lou Solis, the second-in-command to Conway, who didn’t seek re-election. In 2016, by contrast, Conway ran unopposed and won 97 percent of the vote.

That upset, and the emphasis on 287(g) as a central campaign issue in both counties, resulted in large part from the work of local immigrants’ rights organizers who have grown their operations under the Trump presidency and activated communities of color. Their organizing also contributed to Georgia electing a Democrat presidential candidate for the first time since 1992.

Leading up to the November elections, Zuñiga joined Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) Action Network as a canvasser focused on the sheriff races in Gwinnett and Cobb counties. Working as part of the “Take Action, Get Power” coalition with Southerners on New Ground (SONG) Power, and Mijente, Zuñiga and other canvassers were able to reach more than 125,000 residences—primarily Latinx and Black voters—by door-knocking (with COVID-19 precautions), according to GLAHR. Their work paralleled groups like the Asian American Advocacy Fund, whose outreach helped to nearly double voter turnout among Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

Zuñiga found that many residents were aware of 287(g) but not of how to change it. “They didn’t know the formal name of that policy, but they knew what could happen if [you didn’t have] a license,” he said. “A lot of people thought it was something coming down from the federal level. They weren’t aware that changing a sheriff could actually change that policy.”

Founded nearly 15 years ago, GLAHR is the largest Latinx grassroots organization in the state. Under the Trump administration, GLAHR, SONG, and other long-established Georgia-based nonprofits have joined a nationwide trend of changing liberal activism by creating 501(c)(4) arms—organizations that are also exempt from federal income tax but can lobby and do political work—in order to be more aggressive political players, rather than solely focused on litigation, educational work, or providing services.

  • Related reading: Led by GLAHR, May Day marchers say Georgia immigration laws unfair

Kevin Joachin, an organizer with GLAHR Action Network, says the organization’s priority has become “building the political consciousness of our community”—helping inform Latinx residents about specific policies and their ability to change them at a scale that has little precedence in Georgia, particularly for a down-ballot race. That organizing began early in the election cycle; GLAHR lead organizer Carlos Medina says that activating Latinx voters for the sheriff primaries helped push Democratic candidates in both counties leftward, leading to promises to end the 287(g) program.

Related reading: Communist banner unfurled at anti-borders GLAHR Gold Dome  

Zuñiga says he found that many Latinx and Black voters in the suburbs—particularly in the more rural areas of Cobb and Gwinnett counties—never before had an interaction with a canvasser, despite the influx of political spending and organizing that’s accompanied Georgia’s demographic change in recent years. “We try to get that small, little conversation with people because we feel like that actually matters,” Zuñiga said.

Although Hillary Clinton won Gwinnett County in the 2016 presidential election, and Joe Biden won the county and state this year, more than a third of Latinxes in Georgia voted for Trump, according to exit polls. Canvassers with Take Action Get Power found that some Latinx voters in Gwinnett supported Solis for sheriff partially because of his Latinx identity. Joachin says GLAHR Action Network’s in-person approach was pivotal: Canvassers would see pro-Solis signs in some stores and talk to the owners or employees about Gwinnett’s high rates of deportations. The next time canvassers drove by, Joachin said, the signs were gone. Compared to hyperpolarized debates about presidential candidates, Zuñiga says he was able to have “more in-touch conversations [about the sheriff’s race] because it was something that was affecting their communities, and they could see that firsthand.”

SONG volunteer coordinator Tayleece Paul says door-knocking yielded contact or conversations with 32 percent of residences, versus just 2 percent with phone banking. Paul grew up in Gwinnett County and remembers a friend’s father who was deported through the 287(g) program. Many of the coalition’s canvassers met people who had similar experiences with the program, she says. “Each person had their own unique story.”

Joachin says that engaging the entire Latinx community—including those who cannot vote, like undocumented immigrants—is central to GLAHR Action Network’s strategy of empowerment. “We’re not always concerned if the person who we’re looking for is at home, because maybe their family member who is undocumented will benefit from the conversation by being included,” he said. “We’re not telling them to vote—that’s voter fraud—but what we’re doing is creating a culture of voting.”   More here.

AFP/LIBRE Initiative-Georgia is holding an amnesty sales seminar and pushing an easier life in GA for illegal aliens – David Casas, Director of Grassroots Operations

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Image: Libre Initiative- Georgia Facebook page.

The pro-amnesty LIBRE Initiative – a project of Americans for Prosperity (AFP)

David Casas. Photo: Gwinnett Daily Post.

Former Republican state Rep David Casas is Director of Grassroots Operations LIBRE Initiative – Georgia. See Casas bio on Ballotpedia. 

* UPDATE: Sign up here to attend the LIBRE Initiative Georgia “yes to amnesty” event. Don’t miss the terms and conditions for attendance. 

**UPDATE AGAIN: It seems that a group in Washington D.C. (since 1995) calling itself “America’s Future” is proud to be cohost (?) of the LIBRE-Georgia event.

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David Casas Lobbies for the LIBRE Initiative Corporation. Below is a short version of what Casas pushed during the last state legislative session.

HB 120 – 2021/2022 attempt to change GA law so that illegal aliens could access much lower instate tuition rates in taxpayer-funded colleges than Americans and legal immigrants from other states. HB 120 was a hustle in that the first two versions (of three) did not actually contain the “DACA” language the sponsor, Rep Kasey Carpenter (R), told the House was in it. BTW: DACA recipients are illegal aliens. See written testimony from a retired senior INS/Border Patrol agent. The management at Libre GA knew all of this. So did the legislators who voted the bill out of committee. HB 120 was stopped before it could see a floor vote.

See the House video of David Casas lobbying for HB 120.

David Casas. Photo: LIBRE Initiative-Georgia Facebook page.
  • Related (with video): David Casas, Director of Grassroots Operations for The LIBRE Initiative Georgia on Univision: “Immigration reform (amnesty) will come from an effort of the people.”

 HB 60 (see also HB 999) – 2021/2022 Legislation labeled “school choice!” from Rep Wes Cantrell (R) that would have provided a small fraction of Georgia K-12 students with a taxpayer-funded “Promise Scholarship” to attend private schools. The bills would have created accounts for parents to pay schools with state funds and put parents on an oversight committee to decide eligible expenses. The original language did not exclude or mention the 400K-ish illegal aliens in Georgia. The amended versions contained language that was sold as excluding illegal aliens. It didn’t. See here for more info. The bills would have created a scenario in which private school tuition was funded for some illegal aliens while some American students were left out.

Video of LIBRE Georgia’s David Casas lobbying for HB 60 here.

SB 601 – 2022 – From the same people who designed HB 60/HB 999. Senator Butch Miller (R). sponsor. The bill did not contain a real tool to exclude illegal alien students or parents/families. The bill made it all the way from the hopper to the Senate floor in twelve days. The Senate Higher Education Committee Chairman, Sen Chuck Payne (R), did not allow any public comment. The bill would have created a scenario in which private school tuition was funded for some illegal aliens while some American students were left out. See the statement of support from Libre GA spokesman David Casas here.

After we made it clear that we had spread the word on the contents regarding illegal immigration, the bill was voted down on the floor 29-20.

  • Related: (with video) LIBRE Initiative Georgia’s David Casas on Univision for the 10-year anniversary of Obama’s illegal DACA scam.

 * More video: David Casas on Univision peddles a repeat of the failed 1986 amnesty for illegal aliens while Biden administration operates an open border to the world. Follow the money. Like the Chamber of Commerce, Casas is pushing additional foreign labor in the U.S.

  • A March, 2022 post with more on David Casas, the LIBRE Initiative – Georgia, HB 932, the liberal AJC and the push for amnesty… here.