Search Results for: hb 1105

Video record of the presentation of HB 1432 to the House Industry and Labor subcommittee today – here.

From the “what could go wrong?” department: While we wait for the Republicans under the Gold Dome to pass Rep Jesse Petrea’s now celebrated pro-enforcement immigration legislation (HB 1105), we note the post-Crossover Day introduction of a bill from Matt Reeves (R – Duluth).  Petrea’s effort can easily be described as a bill that says we will finally enforce some of the state illegal immigration-related laws passed nearly two decades ago.

Reeves is promising future enforcement of a long list of new state immigration laws he wants to put in place next year. He wants to create a Georgia guest worker program. I am not joking – neither is Reeves.

From HB 1432: “The state administered guest worker program shall be for the purpose of filling needed labor shortages in the State of Georgia through the hiring by employers within this state of willing citizens of other nations to perform work in this state for limited periods of time.”

Here it should be noted that there are at least eleven different visa categories in place today owned and operated by the federal government.

Reeves’ new work force expansion program would allow a Georgia-directed temporary foreign worker to bring a spouse and minor children, all of whom would be issued a Georgia “guest worker ID card.”

Some of the new enforcement requirements would entail collecting a fee from a participating Georgia employer to offset the costs of administering the guest worker program; to check that the employer provides health insurance for the guest worker – and to verify the guest worker has health insurance in place for his family that come with him to the Peach State.

The employer would also “agree to provide housing for such temporary and accompanying family members through housing provided by the employer or other rental or public housing.”  The employer would “agree to provide each guest worker with three meals a day or furnish free and convenient cooking and kitchen facilities to the guest workers that will enable the guest workers to prepare their own meals.”

Reeves is tacitly promising that the proposed state-created guest workers will be treated better in Georgia than the federally supervised foreign workers. We doubt it.

We are duty bound to remind all concerned that when a state action aimed at sanctions for illegal employment or “undocumented workers” arises, either the business lobby or the corporate-funded, ethnic-hustlers invariably howl that “immigration and enforcement is a federal issue!”

According to the 2023 edition of the federal ‘Entry/Exit Overstay Report’ 853,955 temporary visa holders refused to go home when their temporary visas expired in 2022.

*  Related reading: “There is nothing more permanent than a temporary worker.”

Reeves’ promises five years in prison and a large fine for guest workers who don’t return to their home countries upon termination of their state guest worker status. Apparently, the Georgia Department of Labor would get into the temporary foreign worker tracking business.

One can’t help but imagine the news coverage of a “temporary worker” brought here by the Georgia government who refuses to leave while screaming “my kid was born here and is an American citizen – we won’t leave! – gimme our taxpayer-funded private school, ‘school choice’ tuition!”

In case it is relevant, it should at least be mentioned that Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary said in a sharply worded statement that his country would refuse to take anyone back who is ordered to leave the U.S. under a state law and that it “categorically rejects” any state or local government enforcement of immigration laws according to a recent AP report.

In addition to Reeves, the signers on HB 1432 are Reps Reynaldo Martinez (R – Loganville), Derrick Jackson (D- Tyrone), Shelly Hutchinson (D- Snellville), Mary Margaret Oliver (D – Decatur), Alan Powell (R- Hartwell), Saira Draper (D – Atlanta), Farooq Mughal (D- Dacula), Steve Tarvin (R- Chickamauga), Yasmin Neal (D- Jonesboro), Derrick McCollum (R-Chestnut Mountain) and Kasey Carpenter (R- Dalton).

What could go wrong?

D.A. King is president of the Dustin Inman Society and proprietor of ImmigrationPoliticsGA.com .

Shortly after taking office in 2021, Democrat Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens invited a mariachi band to celebrate his announcement to end the lifesaving 287(g) agreement with federal immigration authorities – and then he danced. The invited crowd of newly empowered, anti-enforcement activists funded by corporate Georgia went wild with gratitude.

At his swearing-in event in Gwinnett County, Keybo Taylor, the newly elected Democrat sheriff, stood before a large audience – including media – and boasted that he too had ended the jail’s 287 (g) agreement with ICE. He went further by announcing “what we will not be doing is notifying ICE of anybody’s immigration status in the jail or any of our facilities.” To make his professional position on the inherent dangers of “criminal illegals” set free on our streets crystal clear, Taylor added “we will not keep anyone in jail under an ICE detainer.”

As Rep Jesse Petrea pointed out in his recent column announcing his pro-enforcement bill HB 1105 (“The Criminal Alien Track and Report Act”) the definition of “sanctuary” policies in state law OCGA 36-80-23. “…means any regulation, rule, policy, or practice adopted by a local governing body which prohibits or restricts local officials or employees from communicating or cooperating with federal officials or law enforcement officers with regard to reporting immigration status information while such local official or employee is acting within the scope of his or her official duties.”

Many thanks from here to Rep. Petrea for his tenacity and courage in filing his legislation. While illegal immigration is fittingly the number-one issue in the nation, the same is not true in Georgia’s “Number One for Business” politics. Broaching the issue with a Peach State focus under the Gold Dome does not result in long or welcomed conversations. Petrea is a genuine leader.

That Gwinnett Sheriff Keybo Taylor is in violation of state law he is sworn to enforce by declaring an illegal sanctuary policy is not in question for reasonable observers. But he is not alone among Georgia jailers in flouting the law designed to protect Georgians from the criminal illegals who are murdering, raping and molesting innocent Georgians – including our children.

This writer has spent considerable time over the last several years talking to law enforcement officials and collecting responses to open records requests that show many Georgia jailers do not obey the laws against sanctuary. Complaints filed with various officials and agencies in an effort to force compliance – or at least coverage in “the news” – went nowhere.

Taylor and the many other jailers who are ignoring Georgia’s two laws against sanctuary policies have escaped the media attention that naive and trusting voters would expect for sheriffs in open and public defiance of existing state law. The reason for the news suppression is not a mystery. Most of the media is not on the side of immigration enforcement. But imagine the howling headlines if a state agency were in violation of any law that benefits illegal aliens.

It is sadly accurate to say that much of Georgia is a sanctuary state.

This brings us to Gov. Brian Kemp. As noted by the liberal AJC at the time, Kemp’s first TV ad in the 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary cited Americans who had been killed by illegal aliens and portrayed him as “tough on illegal immigration.” The widespread belief then was that he meant tough on illegal immigration in Georgia.

“As governor, conservative businessman Brian Kemp will create a comprehensive database to track criminal aliens in Georgia. He will also update Georgia law to streamline deportations from our jails and prisons” went the detailed promises Kemp made on his 2018 campaign website.

“Donald Trump was right. We must secure the border and end sanctuary cities” said candidate Kemp (video) in 2018. But Kemp has ignored illegal immigration in Georgia.

Sending National Guard to the border has not resulted in sheriffs like Keybo Taylor ending their illegal sanctuary policies. “Standing with” Texas Gov Abbott in an on-the-border Fox News camera shot will not help final passage of Rep. Petrea’s enforcement bill in Georgia.

If Kemp is ever going to finally speak up on enforcing Georgia’s laws on illegal immigration – especially laws prohibiting sanctuary policies – Petrea’s measure provides an ideal opportunity.

Section ll, Paragraph ll of the Georgia Constitution says: “The Governor shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed and shall be the conservator of the peace throughout the state.” If Brian Kemp continues to ignore illegal immigration and sanctuary jails in at home, we should ask exactly how he is better on the dangerous crisis in Georgia than Joe Biden is nationally.

• A version of this essay was posted in the subscription news and opinion outlet James Magazine Online, Feb. 15, 2024.

Being that she has pushed similar goop for a large part of the year so far, we’ll be quite interested to hear what Kemp Republican and radio show host Martha Zoller has to say about the amnesty the Democrats perpetrated  yesterday.  Having been extremely busy with pro-enforcement matters under the Gold Dome, I haven’t tuned in to Zoller in quite a while. The guess from here is that she slowed down her relentless push for amnesty when Nikki Haley dropped out of the GOP race for president. But maybe not.

For those readers who haven’t heard Martha Zoller’s guidelines for which illegal aliens would be eligible for legalization you can see here and here and here and here for a sample (don’t miss the repeated premise that Gov. Brain Kemp betrayed his promise to go after illegal immigration in Georgia because the number of illegal aliens increased so much after he was elected). The basics of the Martha Zoller amnesty plan include illegal aliens with ITINs, illegal alien DACA recipients, and illegal alien”families” that have been able to dodge nearly non-existent efforts at deportation for twenty-ish years (it varies) should be legalized.

Martha refers to Americans who fight any amnesty as “hard liners.” We note that those “hardliners” include a large majority of Americans, including Hispanic Americans. Most people do not agree with Martha Zoller on her push for amnesty.

• Related reading: Illegal immigration’s biggest losers? America’s poor.

We hope to be able to listen in and see what Martha says about the Biden amnesty – here’s a fact sheet on that event from the Immigration Accountability Project in Washington D.C.

Like the proposed Martha Zoller amnesty, Biden’s executive action will likely add a lot of voters to the Democrat’s rolls in the near future.

“Libertarians believe that if someone is peaceful, they should be welcome to immigrate to the United States.” From the Libertarian Party website page on immigration.

The topic in this space last week was a Gold Dome bill (SB 354) from state Senator Larry Walker (R-Perry) and this writer’s request that readers help us convince Gov. Kemp to veto that measure. There is more to say.

 Senator Walker has apparently been influenced by several Libertarian lobbying concerns – which means the same for the Republican-controlled General Assembly. Allowed a vote by Lt. Governor Burt Jones, Walker’s bill passed the Senate with zero “no” votes and only two in the House.

The nutshell explanation of Walker’s “workforce development” legislation is that in a stated effort to make it easier to work in Georgia, some low-skilled jobs in the barbering/cosmetology industry will no longer require an occupational license. On its face, it seems like a reasonable goal – “deregulation” yada, yada. Except for the fact that the current system of issuing an occupational license in Georgia also entails a statute-created process by which applicants for that license are screened for immigration status both by the state and then by the feds.

“Undocumented workers” have a very difficult time getting an occupational license if the 2006 law (OCGA 50-36-1) is enforced. But, if the occupational license process goes away, so does the immigration check.

• Fact: This affidavit is part of the occupational licensing process in Georgia

Heads up: Georgia’s vast, corporate-funded illegal alien lobby works tirelessly to create a future Democrat voter majority here by inviting and settling more illegal aliens while helping them gain employment. Anyone who thinks these fanatics won’t take advantage of Walker’s legislation if Kemp allows it to become law doesn’t know much about the corporate-funded illegal alien lobby. (Homework: Google “GALEO, HB1105”).

It’s true that Georgia also has a separate law (OCGA 36-60-6) that requires some private employers to use the no-cost E-Verify program that is designed to prevent illegal aliens from working here. But it only applies to employers with more than ten employees and is not in force at all in municipalities and counties that do not require a business license/occupational tax certificate.

Also last week, radio host Scott Ryfun was kind enough to have me on his “Straight Talk” show to make the same plea for his listeners to contact Gov Kemp about a veto. After my short segment, I listened to the rest of Scott’s show and was fascinated to hear various opinions from callers on both sides of whether SB 354 should become law. Ryfun does great radio.

• Related reading from the libertarian Party: Forget the Wall Already, It’s Time for the U.S. to Have Open Borders

I think I heard several callers say that U.S. citizens should not be inconvenienced because we have defacto open borders and a raging illegal immigration crisis. And that a requirement that applicants swear they are not illegal aliens in the occupational/professional licensing system is an excessive hardship. And that immigration is a federal responsibility, and we should leave enforcement to the feds.

Having watched the Republicans in Washington institute a “one-time” federal amnesty for illegal aliens in 1986 and the Democrat administration in power today discard the laws in place on immigration, I do not agree.

“A truly free market requires the free movement of people, not just products and ideas” – another policy statement from the Libertarian Party website.

SB 354 is not Senator Walker’s only “workforce development” bill. And with the input of the Libertarian lobbyists in Atlanta there will be more next year. How does allowing other states to decide who can obtain an occupational license in Georgia sound?  Get used to it. “Reciprocity where reasonable” on occupational and professional licenses is a stated goal from Walker. I suggest you ask your own state Senator about that one.

Where we are: In a state with 500,000-ish illegal aliens, the Republicans we sent to Atlanta have passed legislation that dismantles existing state law designed to make employment difficult for illegal aliens in the name of “freedom,” “deregulation” and “workforce development.” It’s ever so Libertarian. And the corporate-funded illegal alien lobby is quietly grateful.

Governor Kemp’s Capitol office phone number is 404-656-1776. Please pick a side.

• A version of the above column was originally published in the Coastal Georgia newspaper The Islander on April 15, 2024.