Part 1

Kemp voted for the verification system as state senator

Topic may be worthy of consideration at upcoming Republican conventions

The governor can sign, veto or take no action. Legislation becomes law if he does nothing. May 10 is final day in process.

Pro-enforcement Georgians are watching to see if Gov. Brian Kemp signs several Republican bills that apparently quietly begin to dismantle the system that verifies lawful presence of applicants for public benefits. Examples are  HB 395, HB 268 and HB 34 .

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce pushed these measures with letters requesting support placed on legislators’ Chamber desks. Two of those letters are posted on the Dustin Inman Society website.

Related: Georgia Chamber distributing letters…

State law implemented in 2006 was an effort to prevent illegal aliens from accessing public benefits. The goal was to make Georgia less hospitable to illegal immigration. Professional licenses are public benefits under that law. When he was state senator the governor voted for the legislation that created the verification mandate.

Georgia code (OCGA 50-36-1) 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 verifiable document to prove that eligibility. The foreign national’s ‘lawful presence’ is then verified using a federal database known as ‘SAVE.’

The legislation in question puts Georgia in interstate “compacts” that essentially require reciprocity in licensing and issuance procedures. “Interstate compacts are contracts that are negotiated between states. The US Supreme Court has held that the term “compact” should be understood to refer to a “contract” according to the Library of Congress.

Georgia would be joining compacts that honor the professional license of covered occupations for people who relocate from one participating state to another. If another state in the compact has issued a professional license to a resident for one of the covered professions the idea is to issue a license for the same job here without most of the current processing if that person migrates to Georgia.

The bills include provisions for quicker licensing for spouses of active duty military personnel.

If Kemp signs the bills new law will eliminate the step of verifying the “lawful presence” of the covered applicant. The abbreviated licensing process would result in quicker participation in the workforce – and a more hospitable experience for illegal aliens.

The Georgia Chamber says this will make Georgia “a better state for business.”

Including the Speaker’s office and the Senate Majority Leader, the Dustin Inman Society alerted individual legislators in both the House and senate about the result of the bills becoming law. We also asked several state senators for citation of line numbers in the legislation containing language that would dispute our analysis of these bills. The sole response came from Senator Kay Kirkpatrick (R- Marietta) who replied,  “…these bills are important to the military and passed the Senate unanimously. Compact language cannot be changed.” We are grateful to Sen. Kirkpatrick.

It appears the legislative choice was between compliance with the dictates of the business lobby or the preservation of procedures put in place to make Georgia less attractive to illegal immigration. The business lobby won out. Again.

Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than is Arizona, according to the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security.

Absence of media coverage or Republican resistance

We note the past press attention and the brutal fight to implement the verification law in question and the unsurprising absence of liberal media coverage on the decision to further the process of dismantling the law.

Between the three bills, there was only one “no” vote in the House and Senate. It came from Rep Matt Dollar (R- Marietta) who voted against HB 34.

We repeat:  then-Senator and Public Safety Committee Chairman Brian Kemp voted in favor of the 2006 ‘Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act’  (SB529) that put the verification of lawful presence for public benefits in place (senate vote # 1037).

“Georgians are “fed up” with illegal immigration,” Kemp told the AJC newspaper then. They still are. But as Governor, Kemp is conspicuously silent on the entire crisis.

As can be seen by a recent letter written by an angry retired federal immigration agent, and the Dustin Inman Society’s Brian Kemp page, most conservatives are not willing to overlook that silence.

The phone number at Gov. Kemp’s Capitol office is 404-656-1776

This story continues here.

#

We post here because it seems the liberal AJC has ended consideration of publishing my letters.

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January 6, 2020

Dear editor,

A recent AJC report (‘New Gwinnett sheriff ends controversial immigration program’) on newly elected Gwinnett Sheriff Keybo Taylor included his first-day statement that his office “will no longer notify ICE of a person’s immigration status in the jail…”

For complete coverage, we hope to see AJC explain to readers the fact that state law requires jailers to use reasonable effort to determine immigration status of incoming prisoners and to report illegal aliens to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

This is a 2006 law (OCGA 42-4-14) that is apparently on Republican Attorney General Chris Carr’s list of “do not enforce” items. Gov. Kemp’s silence on the defiance matches that of the media.

It seems newsworthy.

D.A. KING

MARIETTA

PRESIDENT, THE DUSTIN INMAN SOCIETY

Lt. Governor’s PAC reportedly kicks in $250,000 for narrow victory

Jason Anavitarte, controversial candidate for the Republican ballot in Georgia’s state senate District 31 primary contest has apparently squeaked past opponent Boyd Austin, a former mayor.

 Austin has criticized Anavitarte as representing “outside interests” rather than the district; “…a breakdown of Anavitarte’s contributions from both his April 30th report as well as his latest one bear this out. In the April document 94 percent of Anavitarte’s contributions come from outside the district (with many from lobbyists). In the latest report, outside-the-district donations make up 97 percent of Anavitarte’s total. Only six individuals in the district gave a monetary contribution” according to a July note at Insider Advantage Georgia.

As of August 22, the Secretary of State website still shows results of the August 11^TH primary contest as “Unofficial Results – Totals may not include all Absentee or Provisional Ballots” but watchers agree that Anavitarte will likely prevail in the final vote tally.

UPDATE: Final and official results show that Anavitarte won 10,574 to 10,348, a margin of 226 votes.

Anavitarte has drawn considerable attention since it was revealed that from 2006 -2009 he served on the board of the radical GALEO Inc. GALEO is well known as a corporate-funded force against immigration enforcement, ICE holds, 287(g), voter ID and official English. In 2006, the same year Anavitarte joined the board of directors, GALEO teamed with the ACLU, MALDEF, and the ADL in a protest rally against state immigration enforcement.

GALEO Director Jerry Gonzalez has illustrated the group’s mission with antics such as escorting admitted illegal aliens into the Georgia senate Chamber in an effort to stop passage of a 2006 bill, the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act (SB529) – aimed at reducing Georgia’s attractiveness as a destination for illegal immigration. Gonzalez has also been criticized for badgering a diminutive female state Rep, Katie Dempsey, for her pro-enforcement position on E-Verify in a Rome, Ga. public forum.

In early 2016, another former GALEO board member and state court judge, Dax Lopez, was passed over for confirmation after an Obama nomination for a lifetime seat on the federal bench due to his ties to GALEO.  This writer was proudly credited with leading the opposition to the Lopez nomination with the research series ‘A Beginner’s Guide to GALEO’ posted on the Dustin Inman Society website in 2015 and 2016.

On its political blog, the Atlanta Journal Constitution has reported that a PAC, ‘Advance Georgia,’ founded by Georgia’s Republican Lt. Governor and president of the senate Geoff Duncan helped Anavitarte’s slim victory with a $250,000 infusion:

“Jason Anavitarte might owe Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan a thank-you note for his apparent narrow GOP runoff victory over Boyd Austin in the contest to replace state Sen. Bill Heath, R-Bremen. The lieutenant governor’s PAC pumped about $250,000 into Anavitarte’s bid. He’s currently up by about 200 votes – a 1% margin says the liberal AJC Political Insider blog.

“Jason Anavitarte is a former member of the Paulding County School Board and candidate for Senate District 31 in the Georgia Legislature. Most recently, Jason served as Senior Adviser of Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan’s campaign and served on the state finance committee for Governor Brian Kemp during the 2018 election. Jason has been named one of the 50 Most Influential Latinos in Georgia” according to Anavitarte’s campaign website, Campaign website (August 19, 2020).

Anavitarte, who has described himself as an admirer and supporter of Senator Marco Rubio, is a former Doraville City Council member and in 2005 filed to run for the state House as a Democrat. In the recent primary he was endorsed by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and originally did not mention illegal immigration on his campaign site as an issue.

That changed after he drew the attention of pro-enforcement conservatives and the media. He now has stated policy positions on immigration that are curiously tailored to a candidate for federal office as opposed to a state senate seat, but has assured voters he is supports legal immigration without offering limits. From JasonAnavitarte.com:

“I support legal immigration and I want to see our current immigration laws upheld. I support the following reforms:

1. Secure the border. Lack of border security is causing a rise in crimes. It is estimated that in 2018 235,000 illegal immigrants were arrested on various charges.  https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/president-trump-sends-letter-border-security/

2. End chain migration. Stop the original immigrant from petitioning to bring their extended families into the USA.

3. Move to a merit-based skill categories system. This system would put an emphasis on education and skill as a basis for acceptance into the country.

4. Reform welfare. Deny welfare to anyone with a green card or visa.

5. NO AMNESTY! Enforcement of deportation will stop people from coming to our borders.

6. I support the use of e-verify by our businesses. We need to hire people that are legal to work here in Georgia.

7. No in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.”

Lt Governor Duncan’s PAC was the topic of AJC coverage in October, which included the observation: “the financial haul could also help Duncan exert more influence over a fractious Republican caucus that sporadically sparred during his first legislative session. Duncan said he preferred to view it as a “partnership” to support Republicans.”

According to the most recent estimates from DHS, Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than Arizona and enforcement of laws designed to deny jobs, benefits and services to illegals is routinely ignored by the Republicans who have run the state for *more than a decade nearly two decades.

Anavitarte and his committee and floor votes on illegal immigration-related matters will be the focus of much attention from conservative writers and voters when he becomes a state senator.

*Edited, 1Sept2020 – dak

Including the corporate-funded Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), a collection of leftist groups has filed suit in federal court “demanding that Gwinnett County provide bilingual absentee ballot applications to Spanish speaking voters.”

“Sending English-only absentee ballot applications in a diverse county covered under Section 203 is yet another attempt at voter suppression, which is a direct violation of the constitutional rights,” said Kristen Clarke, Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee. “With Georgia’s primary election looming, it is imperative that Gwinnett County and other Georgia counties comply with their obligations under the Voting Rights Act and permit Spanish-speaking voters an equal opportunity to cast their ballot and have their voice heard.”

The emergency lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia which is the court for which a then-GALEO board member, Dax Lopez, was nominated to serve a lifetime appointment by then President Barack Obama in 2015. Lopez currently serves as a state court judge in metro-Atlanta’s DeKalb County and was active on the GALEO board as a sitting judge. The road to the federal court seat was blocked in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee by Georgia Senator David Perdue after he was educated on the GALEO agenda and it’s anti-enforcement and anti-official English advocacy. Senator Perdue declined to return the traditional “blue slip” which would have signaled his approval of the nominee.

The Dustin Inman Society (this writer is president of the Dustin Inman Society) is proud to have organized and led the fight to expose GALEO and Lopez’ association with the group.  GALEO, led by former Democrat fundraiser and MALDEF lobbyist Jerry Gonzalez is  known for marching in the streets of Atlanta in opposition of enforcement of immigration law. GALEO is widely supported by corporate Georgia, including well-known companies such as Coca-Cola, Georgia Power, State Farm Ins. Co., Telemundo, Western Union, Univision and a range of immigration lawyers. Gonzalez was recently quoted in an Atlanta area newspaper as opposing employment record verification as a “white nationalist agenda.”

Several Georgia Republicans who then held state level elected office including now Governor Brian Kemp, former state Rep and now U.S. Attorney for the Northern District Court, ‘BJay’ Pak, and then Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens have also helped GALEO with fundraising with attendance at at least one 2015 funder.

The Dustin Inman Society will follow up on the foreign language voting lawsuit as information becomes available.

BONUS: Beginner’s guide to GALEO here.

Updated 9:18 PM

Updated to glaring correct typos (sorry), 8:08 AM April 15.

dak

Despite campaign promises, Kemp is mostly mum

 In a twenty-minute press conference in his office Wednesday morning, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp formally announced his pick to replace retiring Senator Johnny Isakson. It is notable that in his introduction speech for businesswoman and political trainee Kelly Loeffler, Kemp broached the topic of border security and illegal immigration.

As far as we can tell, this is Kemp’s first public remark related to illegal immigration since the 2018 election. We offer a no-cost, hand car wash to anyone who can accurately cite a quote or remark from Kemp on the issue since then.

“Senator Loeffler will fight to strengthen our immigration laws and finish the Border Wall so we can stop Mexican drug cartels from flooding our streets – here in Georgia – with drugs, weapons, violence, and fear” said Kemp.

According to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than green card holders. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security ranks the Peach State ahead of Arizona in its population of “undocumented workers.”

Kemp’s silence and blatant disregard for the issue is in defiance of his detailed campaign outline for a state “track and deport plan” in which he pledged to “create a comprehensive database to track criminal aliens in Georgia.” “He will also update Georgia law to streamline deportations from our jails and prisons” and to create a criminal alien database” went the promise.

Still shocked by his inaction on illegal immigration in his first year, pro-enforcement political insiders paying attention to legislation in the Georgia Capitol are carefully watching to see if Kemp will put the power of his office – and begin to honor his campaign promises – by pushing for a simple bill that was held up in the Republican-ruled House in the 2019 session. HB 202 from Rep Jesse Petrea would require the state Department of Corrections to post a quarterly, public report citing the number of foreigners in the prison system, their immigration status, home nation and crimes for which they are serving time.

The measure was stopped in the House Rules Committee and must now begin the hearing process from the beginning, according to the House Clerk’s office.

While it does not begin to approach the tough-talk promises of action on criminal aliens from candidate Kemp, the end result of the Petrea’s HB 202 becoming law would be that Georgia taxpayers would have access to hard, official, indisputable data on at least one part of the cost of illegal immigration – which is one reason the bill was smothered last year by business-first Republican leadership.

A simple one-pager, HB 202 is still alive and has the votes to pass. As this writer noted elsewhere, Kemp could have ordered the DOC to begin the data sharing last year. But he didn’t.

 Illegal immigration is still an issue for Georgians

• A likely illegal alien was arrested in Marietta last month and charged with molesting at least two boys.
• Pro-enforcement Americans are fighting against the marxist radicals in Gwinnett and Cobb Counties who are waging a very carefully staged war on ICE, immigration enforcement and the lifesaving 287 (g) operations in those jurisdictions.
• Despite a state law requiring participation, the Georgia Department of Public Safety is not in the 287(g) program.
• Jerry Gonzalez, leader of the corporate-funded and anti-enforcement GALEO told a metro-Atlanta newspaper that verifying ID and hiring records with use of the no-cost IMAGE certification is a “white nationalist agenda.”
• Readers not familiar with the folks at GALEO or Gov. Kemp’s relationship with them may want to see the angry letter from a retired immigration agent to the governor here.
• It could be worse. Election runner-up Stacey Abrams’ “New Georgia Project” is in open opposition to ICE even operating in Georgia.

We make the same no-cost car wash offer to anyone who can cite any comment from Governor Kemp on any of the above examples.

“I got a big truck”

Perhaps most obvious to voters who can remember back to last year is candidate Kemp’s “yep, I just said that…” campaign ad shtick that involved his “I got a big truck” (video) and the possibility of his personally rounding up “criminal illegals.”

Asking about the current whereabouts of the truck seems a fair question for Governor Kemp from the faithful GOP voters.

From here, we will begin to produce regular updates on Governor Kemp’s campaign promises, his silence – or any actions – on the illegal immigration crisis in Georgia

Stay tuned.

*Note: Here is a link to Gov. Brian Kemp’s contact page, but unless my vision is worse than usual, it seems he has removed the phone number from the page. If so, here it is: 404-656-1776