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

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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”

 

Case against Carroll County BOC on illegal immigration laws sent to District Attorney

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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.

 

Another month, another column, and another reminder that Georgia has a significant illegal immigration problem. And that nobody in state government is checking on compliance with laws put in place to fight that organized crime.

There is an old saying that “no good deed goes unpunished.” It is difficult to convey the level of frustration this writer has experienced in the process of simply trying to warn the Carroll County Board of Commissioners and the county attorneys that they are in violation of state laws aimed at protecting public benefits, tax dollars and deterring illegal immigration.

I started my Carroll County project early in 2022. As I write on November 29, they are still in violation.

To review, the simplified, short version is that the state legislature has put in place multiple laws over the years that essentially require applicants for public benefits to swear under penalty of felony false swearing that they are not illegal aliens. And offices that administer these benefits collect the standardized paperwork on which these oaths are given along with “secure and verifiable ID” from the potential benefit recipient.

Some business owners are supposed to swear to use of the no cost federal E-Verify system before they are issued or renew a business license as are public contractors who want to bid on taxpayer-funded jobs. Carroll County isn’t following the law.

Yes, I am aware of how dull a topic all of this can be. The alternative to having a system in place to try to keep illegals from accessing the jobs and benefits meant for legal residents creates a place that looks a lot like California. Voters who don’t want to press their state officials to audit and enforce these laws should get accustomed to Georgia becoming more and more like that declining state out west.

Last month I described the fact that Carroll County had sent me a completely unrelated document when I filed an open records request to see a sample of a contractor E-Verify affidavit. Later in the month I received an email note from a county attorney, Ms. Stacey Blackmon, along with a different form she said was actually what the county was using. It was wrong as well. It was taken from a 2007 format and version of the law that has been changed four times since 2007. She said she has been using it since 2016.

Ms. Blackmon’s note and my reply can be read on the ImmigrationPolicitsGA.com website under “Article roundup – Carroll County government in violation of state laws on illegal immigration/public benefits.”  My previous columns on this are also posted there for readers who want to catch up.

As I have written here before, I have filed a complaint against the BOC with Sheriff Langley and asked him to forward it to the GBI. I am told he sent it to the District Attorney, Mr. Herb Cranford. We’ll see what happens. While we wait, let’s all make a list of the laws we are allowed to violate without any consequences repeatedly and publicly.

I close by repeating my educated warning to voters from my previous columns on this topic: While the District Attorney for Carroll County may prosecute this case, there will be no meaningful change in the attitude of “business first” state officials on auditing compliance and enforcing the many illegal immigration – related state laws unless and until voters raise their voices to their state legislators and the governor. The powerful anti-enforcement lobby under the Gold Dome has seen to that fact.

I have complied a long list of these laws that are ignored by Gov. Kemp. There is more of this coming.

D.A. King is an authority on illegal immigration matters and has assisted state lawmakers with related legislation under the Gold Dome since 2005. This column went to press on November 29, 2022.

 

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.

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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

Carroll County improving, still in violation of state law on illegal immigration

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Sheriff to forward my complaint to GBI

 

Last month I wrote a lengthy column here with an explanation of several state laws passed years ago with the goal of making Georgia less attractive to illegal immigration and a detailed narration of the fact that Carroll County government was (and is) in violation of these statutes.

However dry and boring it may seem to the busy reader now, if they are honored and enforced, the laws create difficulty for illegal aliens to obtain jobs, benefits, and services in Georgia. The politicians elected to lead Carroll County ignored my “heads up” warnings about glaring violations for more than six months.

To repeat another point from last month: With Georgia having a larger illegal alien population than Arizona and the Biden Regime allowing millions of illegal border crossings while choosing not to enforce immigration laws, Carroll County officials took a very similar attitude until they received some public exposure. Illegal immigration is not only a “federal problem.”

Photo: New York Times

Many thanks to StarNews publisher and owner Sue Horn for the space to outline the above.

  • Related: Latest development in Carroll County

Please know that if the storyline was about Carroll County government being in violation of any law that grants benefits or privileges to illegal aliens it would have long ago been a lead report on “the news” and in an Associated Press headline. Imagine the media frenzy if illegals were refused a taxpayer-funded K-12 education in Carroll County’s public schools or denied no-cost, no-questions-asked medical care in any emergency room in the state.

It appears that we created enough interest in the multiple Carroll County government violations to stir up some action on corrections.

I received an October 24th conference call from county attorney Avery Jackson and several county staffers including Mr. Ben Skipper asking me to check the changes they made to the county website and system of issuing public benefits. From here it looks like the changes they made corrected most of the violations.

I write “most” because a law we mentioned last month designed to ensure that taxpayer-funded projects run by public employers exclude black market labor is apparently being bypassed. “Public employers” refers to official entities like Carroll County, the state of Georgia or any other government agency in Georgia.

The law, (OCGA 13-10-91) requires contractors bidding on public jobs to swear on an affidavit they are using the federal E-Verify system to validate work eligibility of new employees and subcontractors. False swearing is a felony. The law is clear on what must be in the affidavit.

In response to my latest open records request to Carrol County government for a copy of the affidavit they use for this purpose Carroll County sent me completely unrelated copies of affidavits used for building permits. I sent a follow up email asking if there had been an error. I have not received a response.

Shorter: It looks like Carrol County government does not offer or collect the paperwork on which contractors are supposed to swear to use of E-Verify before they are allowed to bid on a tax-funded projects. I have no idea how many illegal aliens are working on public jobs paid for by Carrol County taxpayers. Neither do county officials. So much for the law.

As I wrote last month, I sent a request to Carroll County Sheriff Terry Langley to forward my official complaint against Carroll officials to the GBI. The Sheriff was kind enough to call me in late October and informed me that he will grant my request.

The story isn’t so dry and boring now, is it?

Creating the political pressure for enforcement is now up to voters 

Carroll county voters have a choice. Absent outside pressure, it is obvious that little determination exists on the part of county government officials to fight illegal immigration, illegal administration of public benefits and illegal employment. But voting taxpayers do have remedies.

As we pointed out last month, the laws aimed at reducing illegal immigration in Georgia that conservatives fought for more than a decade ago were passed with the promise that state audits and inspection would be forthcoming “subject to available funding’ and “contingent upon appropriation or approval of necessary funding…” Georgia now has a huge budget surplus.

Governor Kemp is boasting of that budget surplus. In 2018 He ran on the promise of fighting illegal immigration in Georgia – it was his first TV campaign ad. He has betrayed us on that pledge. Phone calls to his office (404-656-1776) and unapologetic demands from voters to their public servant, state legislators that money be appropriated for the purpose of monitoring compliance is the only way this anti-enforcement crisis will be solved.

Heads up and a warning to voters who take the time to follow up on this: Not many legislators under the Gold Dome want to hear about or discuss illegal immigration in Georgia.

 

 

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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Complaint sent to Carroll County Sheriff Terry Langley: Carroll County government illegally administering public benefits

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The below compliant was emailed to Carroll County Sheriff Terry Langley today about 1:00 PM.

* Update to compliant here.

3 October 2022

To:

Carroll County Sheriff Terry Langley

1000 Newnan Rd.

Carrollton, GA. 30116

770-830-5942

Re: Complaint and request for investigation – Carroll County government officials’ violations of OCGA 50-36-1, OCGA 50-36-2, OCGA 36-60-6

Dear Sheriff Langley,

Please regard this letter as my official request for an investigation by your office into my well-researched and educated allegation that multiple elected and appointed officials in Carroll County government are and have been knowingly violating various state laws intended to address illegal immigration in Georgia. Separately, I also request that you forward my complaint to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for action.

Using open records requests and viewing the documents made available to the public on the official Carroll County website for the purpose of the administration of “occupational tax licenses” aka business licenses. By either or both labels these county registrations are “public benefits” under state law and are included in detailed and clear mandates for processing and issuance.

Early this year I determined that Carroll County government is operating an illegal system in that function of county government. After notifying a County Commissioner of the non-compliance by phone and later taking a call from a man who said he was county legaI employee, I saw no correction in the system several months later. I then emailed a “heads up” letter to the entire county commission and several other Carroll County officials. Days later I received a lengthy reply that included a pledge to have someone get in touch with me again. That reply was copied to the same officials to whom I sent my original letter. I am of the opinion that I have done all I can as a private citizen to urge compliance with the law on this matter.

The system of administrating public benefits is admittedly rather dry and boring but was put in place over the course of several years of committee hearings and vetting by the General Assembly and then signed into law by Georgia’s governor. Those of us who worked to create these laws like to think they will see as much enforcement as our no-smoking laws.

The system of applications, affidavits, ID presentation and processing for public benefits – including occupational tax/business licenses required by state is readily accessed by a careful reading of the laws. The system in place and the forms and affidavits used by Carroll County are available on the county website. I have taken a great deal of my own time to post all of this on my own website as well as the email correspondence I describe.

To assist the requested investigation by your office and the GBI, I insert below links to this evidence and I am emailing the August response to my open records request to you from Carroll County separately with the subject line “additional evidence, Carroll County government complaint.”

  • My emailed letter and response from a Carrol County commissioner (please note all recipients and note the timeline order is inverted) HERE.
  • Carroll County SAVE affidavit (OCGA 50-36-1 & OCGA 50-36-2) in use as compared to the legally required documents HERE.
  • Carroll County E-Verify affidavit (OCGA 36-60-6)as compared to the legally required documents HERE
  • My original open records request HERE.
  • Response from Carroll County to my follow up request for additional information HERE.

Again, please see my separate email for the response to my original open records request with attachments showing copies of forms and affidavits in use in Carroll County.

I do not envy the investigator charged with learning these laws or this system Please feel free to contact me with any questions or directions. I was heavily involved with the drafting and passage of all of these laws.

A personal note: My maternal grandfather was a Detroit Police Academy graduate, class of 1928 and served as a Detroit police officer for nearly thirty years. I admire and respect all that you and your deputies and staff do and am grateful for your service to the community.

Very Respectfully,

D.A. King

Marietta, GA. 30066

Illegal Aliens Who Apply for Asylum Are Still Illegal Aliens

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Center for Immigration Studies

Illegal Migrants Who Apply for Asylum Are Still Here Illegally

Parsing the nonsense on ‘Biden’s Border Fiasco

By Andrew R. Arthur on September 28, 2022
Andrew (Art) Arthur is a retired immigration judge

 

One of the tropes making its way through the media is that aliens who have entered the United States illegally and who have been placed into removal proceedings are in some sort of “legal” status. Like many media factualizations associated with immigration, it’s a myth. Nonetheless, I will parse the latest nonsense associated with what the editorial board at Bloomberg Opinion has termed “Biden’s Border Fiasco”.

The Said, and the Unsaid. In a September 25 opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times, columnist Michael Hiltzik stated:

GOP governors Ron DeSantis of Florida, Greg Abbott of Texas, and Doug Ducey of Arizona have been sponsoring bus and plane transfers of migrants from their states to northern jurisdictions including New York, Washington, D.C., and the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

The right-wing press has called the passengers “illegal immigrants,” but in many if not most cases they’re asylum-seekers who have completed the initial step in their processing by scheduling a hearing, getting fingerprinted, and undergoing background checks. While awaiting their hearings, they are in the U.S. legally.

Perhaps not trusting his own bona fides, three paragraphs later Hiltzik quoted an immigration attorney who asserted: “They’re not illegal aliens. … They’ve been processed, they’re in the system, they have upcoming court dates.”

There is a lot in both passage that is said, but much more that is unsaid, reflecting both the somewhat complicated nature of immigration law and the level of modern discourse.

The biggest unsaid is that “illegal immigrants” and “illegal aliens” aren’t legally defined terms. They’re shorthand to describe aliens who are removable from the United States, generally but not exclusively because they entered the United States illegally. I could correctly describe a nonimmigrant who has overstayed an authorized period of admission as an “illegal alien”, but in legal parlance would describe that individual as a “nonimmigrant overstay”.

Every alien who has entered the United States illegally is removable from the United States, at least until the moment that the alien is granted some sort of status here. To understand that point requires some background on the removal process.

Removability Based on Illegal Entry. Unless an alien apprehended by Border Patrol is allowed to voluntarily return back across the border, the alien should be issued a Form I-862 Notice to Appear (NTA). An NTA is the charging document in removal proceedings, which is similar to an indictment in a criminal case.

Aliens in removal proceedings are known as “respondents”, and blank Forms I-862 contain three boxes, one of which an immigration officer must first check to denote the respondent’s current status in the United States:

You are an arriving alien.

You are an alien present in the United States who has not been admitted or paroled.

You have been admitted to the United States, but are deportable for the reasons stated below.

Aliens who have entered the United States illegally and who are apprehended at entry are both “arriving aliens” and “applicants for admission” under section 235 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and at the time they are apprehended at least they have not been admitted or paroled —“parole” in this context is a concept I will explain further below.

After the immigration officer checks one of those boxes, the officer will then set forth on the NTA the allegations supporting the charges of inadmissibility. In the case of an illegal entrant, they generally read as follows:

  1. You are not a citizen or national of the United States.
  2. You are a native and citizen of Country X.
  3. You entered the United States at or near Location Y in the United States on or about Date Z.
  4. You were not then inspected or admitted.

Unlike criminal proceedings, where the government bears the burden of proving the defendant’s guilt, section 240(c)(2) of the INAprovides that applicants for admission — not DHS — bear the burden in removal proceedings to prove “clearly and beyond doubt” that they are “entitled to be admitted” and are not inadmissible under any of the grounds of inadmissibility in section 212(a) of the INA.   Read the entire post here at CIS.

 

 

Carroll County E-Verify affidavit(s) compared to the version from the AG office required by state law

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I have been trying to convince Carroll County (GA) government to comply with state law (2006, 2009, 2011) aimed at deterring illegal aliens from accessing public benefits (OCGA 50-36-1, OCGA 50-36-2 & OCGA 36-60-6) in Georgia since last winter. So far they are not taking it seriously. I have over 30 hours in my effort and have spent $124.00 on open records fulfillment charges. I note that this is job for law enforcement and that Gov. Kemp is the ultimate head of law enforcement in Georgia. There is much more coming. If you think this is a “small detail” try publicly violating the state laws on seat belts, cell phones while driving, vehicle registration – or income taxes.

Carroll County is just one of many counties and city governments and other agencies in violation of state law related to illegal immigration.

Related post: Carroll County and the “SAVE affidavit” – Comparing the required version to the illegal Carroll Co. version in currently in use

Top: The E-Verify affidavit form required by law as accessed on the Attorney General’s official website.

Below: Two versions of E-Verify affidavits in Carroll County – the first one is posted on the county website on the “Occupational Tax (Business license)” page and was also was sent to me in an August, 2022  Carroll County response to my open records request for copies of forms currently in use. The second (on the bottom) was accessed Sept. 28, 2022 on the county website here. I have dated screenshots of all of this.