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“Lawmakers should tweak the legislation to ensure that taxpayer dollars don’t flow to illegal alien households”

October 23, 2022

By Inger Eberhar

Inger Eberhart is communications director and a member of the advisory board of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society. She wrote this for InsideSources.com

Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement officers encountered roughly 2.5 million illegal aliens in the fiscal year that just ended September 30 — shattering the previous record of 1.7 million set last year. That number will only grow if one supposedly conservative group gets its way.

The well-financed State Freedom Caucus Network (SFCN), an offshoot of the congressional Freedom Caucus, deploys extensive resources to promote conservative values in state capitols across America. Recently, in Arizona, the group helped pass the “most expansive school choice legislation in recent memory,” in the words of Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey. Riding high after that victory, SFCN boasted the Arizona law is “model legislation that we have every intention of passing in every state.”

SFCN recently began its nationwide push to duplicate that law in Georgia.

Three separate bills failed in the last session of the Georgia legislature that would have allowed school choice vouchers, worth thousands of dollars each, to go to illegal immigrants. Replacement measures have been promised that would burden Georgia taxpayers and attract even more illegal aliens. Georgia already has the 7th-highest population of illegal residents in the nation. A study by University of Wisconsin researchers found illegal immigrants consistently cite superior American schools as a key reason for remaining in the United States.

Lawmakers should tweak the legislation to ensure that taxpayer dollars don’t flow to illegal alien households…  More here.

The column below originally ran on the subscription news and opinion website Insider Advantage Georgia and is posted here with permission.

“Lacking language that excluded illegal immigrants from this “driver’s seat” position, had the bills passed, Georgia Republicans would have created a system in which illegal alien parents/guardians had authority to distribute and directly manage taxpayer funds for a private school education for their illegal alien children.”

By Inger Eberhart

Inger Eberhart is Communications Director and a member of the advisory board of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society

One of the first things I learned in my years as an occasional citizen lobbyist under the Gold Dome was that one should not accept the hype or the “trust us” narrative on any legislation unless and until you actually read the bill. As the old adage goes, “the devil is in the details.”

That advice should be taken to heart by voters who are understandably clamoring for legislative financial help in moving their children from the public K-12 school system and the legislators and conservative groups pushing for “school choice” in Georgia.

Another hard-earned lesson in judging the worth of legislation is to keep a firm grasp on reality while all about you are howling for quick passage of what seems to be a “popular” bill.

Some too-often ignored reality in Georgia is that Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement officers encountered roughly 2.5 million illegal aliens in the fiscal year that just ended September 30 — smashing the previous record of 1.7 million set last year.

More reality: For a large share of these illegal border crossers, Georgia is a very popular destination. We are already home to more illegal aliens than live in Arizona.

School choice is a solid idea. Encouraging and rewarding illegal immigration into Georgia with offers of a taxpayer-financed private K-12 school education isn’t. The former does not have to include the latter.

In the fiscal year ended September 30, at least 266,000 unaccompanied migrant children/minors have been encountered at the southern border, per U.S. Customs & Border Protection agency data. That’s almost enough to fill up UGA’s Sanford Stadium three times. Jessica Vaughan at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington tells us that about 80% of the minors are placed with family members who are already living here illegally – including in Georgia.

A 2013 study of the motivation of illegal immigrants in choosing U.S. locations as migration destinations (“Why we stay…”) from University of Wisconsin researchers reported that illegal immigrants consistently cite superior American schools as a key reason for remaining in the United States.

In the 2021-2022 General Assembly, three separate “school choice” bills were introduced by Republican sponsors. HB 60 and HB 999 were stopped in the House committee process and SB 601 was defeated on the floor when the vote came for final passage. None of them had genuine, effective, or workable language to exclude illegal alien students or families from accessing the taxpayer funded “Promise Scholarship” accounts set up for students.

The bills, products of model legislation from the open borders Cato Institute-linked American Federation for Children, set up accounts that could be used for private school tuition, private tutoring and homeschool co-ops. Advocates say the bills would have “put the parents in the driver’s seat…” Indeed.

The process of administering the tax dollars sent to “Promise Scholarship” accounts for the students would have been done by the parents or guardians. Further, the legislation set up an oversight committee process made up of parents who would have had the legal ability to decide on eligible scholarship expenses.

Lacking language that excluded illegal immigrants from this “driver’s seat” position, had the bills passed, Georgia Republicans would have created a system in which illegal alien parents/guardians had authority to distribute and directly manage taxpayer funds for a private school education for their illegal alien children. Not many thinking Georgians of any description can believe this “school choice” benefit would serve to deter illegal immigration into the Peach State.

A poll on the subject from the school choice advocacy group ‘GeorgiaCAN’ shows high favorable numbers on the “Promise Scholarship” concept described here, but the element of sending illegal immigrant children to private schools courtesy of Georgia taxpayers was not part of the survey.

We submit that the results of a voter poll with a simple question “do you favor the use of tax dollars to send illegal immigrant students to private school in Georgia?” would not be useful in selling most voters on any poorly written school choice legislation in the 2023-2024 General Assembly.

An August letter to the editor published in my hometown Cherokee Tribune from an independent conservative voter summed up the sentiment of a large swath of informed voters with “as a black, conservative American who votes Republican, it is impossible to express my own outrage that any politician would suggest that we increase the benefits already offered to illegals and thereby make Georgia even more attractive to the endless stream of illegals the GOP claims to want to stop.”

A 1982 Supreme Court decision, Plyler v Doe, requires states to offer K-12 public education to students regardless of immigration status. There is no law or ruling that creates a requirement for Georgia taxpayers to send illegal aliens to private school. Legislators with serious intent to pass “school choice” legislation should include common sense language that limits eligibility to U.S. citizens and green card holders.

#

Please read the entire column from Inger at Insider Advantage.

Email on top received 4:12 PM Nov 3, 2022 (screen shot pated on bottom)

Mr. King,

I have had a conversation with our District Attorney, Herb Cranford.  I have forwarded him all the information that you have provided me regarding possible verification requirement violations pertaining to Carroll County contracts.  He will review this and get back in touch with me.  Thanks.

Brad Robinson

Chief Deputy

Carroll County Sheriff’s Office

Carrollton, Georgia 30116

770-830-5990

From: D.A. King <Dking1952@comcast.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 3, 2022 11:22 AM
To: Brad Robinson <brobinson@carrollsheriff.com>
Cc: Terry Langley <tlangley@carrollsheriff.com>; Sue Horn <SueHorn.StarNews@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Addition to Oct. 3 complaint. Re: Carroll County government – OCGA 13-10-91

Cheif Deputy Richardson,

Thanks for the note. I had already sent an email on this (violation of OCGA 13-10-91) to Mr. Ben Skipper who was on the recent conference call with Mr. Jackson and two staffers. He had sent me samples of the documents Carroll County was now collecting for compliance on OCGA 50-36-1, 50-36-2 & OCGA 60-30-6. I paste that email exchange below:

” src=”blob:https://immigrationpoliticsga.com/81d01311-a34d-4345-b028-d80c25a0d7d5″ alt=”Image 11-3-22 at 11.20 AM.jpeg” class=”Apple-web-attachment Singleton” style=”width: 13.3333in; height: 7.075in; opacity: 1;”>

My request to the sheriff was to forward my complaint, including the update I sent you and Sheriff Langley on October 31, to the GBI for investigation of thousands of long-term violations of state laws to which the parties in Carroll County government have now admitted.

Respectfully, it will certainly be a step forward if Carroll County decides to obey the law but my complaint concerns past and current violation. Sheriff Langley was clear with me on the phone last week that he would send my complaint to the GBI. Please let me know if that promise has changed? I would send the complaints to GBI myself, but as you know, they instruct citizens to go through local law enforcement. You agreed to give me a heads up when your office sent my complaint to GBI. I look forward to that notification, please sir?

Thank you,

D.A. King

404-316-6712

On Nov 3, 2022, at 10:37 AM, Brad Robinson <brobinson@carrollsheriff.com> wrote:

Mr. King,

I have spoken to, and sent your latest addition to your complaint to our County Attorney (Avery Jackson) regarding possible violations of the verification requirements pertaining to Carroll County contracts.  Mr. Jackson will be in contact with you to discuss your latest complaint to ensure that Carroll County is in compliance with the law. Thank you.

Brad Robinson

Chief Deputy

Carroll County Sheriff’s Office

Carrollton, Georgia 30116

770-830-5990

From: D.A. King <Dking1952@comcast.net>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2022 6:47 PM
To: Terry Langley <tlangley@carrollsheriff.com>
Cc: Brad Robinson <brobinson@carrollsheriff.com>; Sue Horn <SueHorn.StarNews@gmail.com>
Subject: Addition to Oct. 3 complaint. Re: Carroll County government – OCGA 13-10-91

______

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.”

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 24^th 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.

31 October 2022

To:

Carroll County Sheriff Terry Langley

1000 Newnan Rd.

Carrollton, GA. 30116

770-830-5942

Re: Addition to my Complaint and request for investigation – Carroll County government officials’ violations of OCGA 50-36-1, OCGA 50-36-2, OCGA 36-60-6 (and now, OCGA 13-10-91)

Dear Sheriff Langley,

Thank you very much for your time on the phone today and for agreeing to forward my complaint of October 3, 2022 to the GBI. Please add OCGA 13-10-91 to the list of state laws involved in the complaint.

On October 4 of this year I sent an open records request to Carroll County government asking for a copy of the affidavit used to fulfill the requirements in OCGA 13-10-91 regarding contractors and E-Verify.

For clarity, I paste a relevant part of that law below:

“A public employer shall not enter into a contract for the physical performance of services unless the contractor registers and participates in the federal work authorization program. Before a bid for any such service is considered by a public employer, the bid shall include a signed, notarized affidavit from the contractor attesting to the following:

(A) The affiant has registered with, is authorized to use, and uses the federal work authorization program;

(B) The user identification number and date of authorization for the affiant;

(C) The affiant will continue to use the federal work authorization program throughout the contract period;  and

(D) The affiant will contract for the physical performance of services in satisfaction of such contract only with subcontractors who present an affidavit to the contractor with the same information required by subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of this paragraph.

An affidavit required by this subsection shall be considered an open public record once a public employer has entered into a contract for physical performance of services; provided, however, that any information protected from public disclosure by federal law or by Article 4 of Chapter 18 of Title 50 shall be redacted.  Affidavits shall be maintained by the public employer for five years from the date of receipt.

(2) A contractor shall not enter into any contract with a public employer for the physical performance of services unless the contractor registers and participates in the federal work authorization program.”

The response I received contained copies of two documents involving building permits, neither of which are related to my request or the law and process in question.

These documents are pasted in here on my website.

I sent a follow up email asking if there was a misunderstanding but did not receive a reply.

The conclusion here is that Carroll County cannot produce a copy of the affidavit required in OCGA 13-10-91 and therefore is not using that affidavit as required by law. If this is true, there is no way Carrol County government could have verified that contractors and subcontractors on taxpayer-funded jobs were using E-Verify before being allowed to make bids on jobs. A different way of saying this is that it is extremely likely that tax dollars have gone to employ black market labor on work contracted by Carroll County government because of dereliction and a refusal to comply with state law aimed at deterring illegal immigration in Georgia.

I also request an investigation on how this circumstance effects the accountability and culpability of contractors who have been allowed to perform services for Carroll County government for at least the last decade.

Please note that this complaint is not related to the process of obtaining public records.

Please contact me with any questions. Feel free to point out any oversight or error in my research or conclusions here.

Many thanks and great respect from our house to you, your deputies, and your staff for the jobs you all do. We support law enforcement!

Respectfully,

D.A. King

Marietta

“I’m fairly certain the Republicans aren’t gonna wanna fund illegal aliens going to private school…”

The below exchange is from an on air call into the Erick Erickson Show, January 28, 2022. Erickson had earlier spent considerable time promoting then pending “school choice!” legislation in the Georgia Capitol. A total of three such bills died that session.

*Note: The audio below is much higher quality in this post.

_

Eric Erickson, host (00:02):

“…Libertyga.com… To the phones, we go; D.A., [inaudible 00:00:05]. Welcome to the program.

D.A. King, caller (00:08):

Thank you very much, Eric. I’m glad to be here. I’m, I’m a long-time listener part of the day, and I agree with you part of the time.

Eric Erickson (00:14):

Excellent.

D.A. King (00:16):

I wanted to call and offer some input on the Georgia State bill that you promoted a little while ago, House Bill 999.

Eric Erickson (00:24):

Uh-huh.

D.A. King (00:26):

And there’s a couple of holes in it. Um, m- m- a lot of people will support “school choice.” Most people here in Georgia are not going to support the contents of the bill that allow direct payments from the State to accounts set up for illegal alien students to be distributed by illegal alien parents who are also given an opportunity to be, uh, have oversight in the compliance for the language of this law. So it needs a lot of tweaks. I hope you’ll include that the next time you pitch it.

Eric Erickson (00:59):

Yeah. Well, u- u- you know, I suspect through the committee process, they will work those, uh, particular issues out. Um, I’m fairly certain the Republicans aren’t gonna wanna fund illegal aliens going to private school, but it’s definitely gonna be one of those issues they’re gonna have to vet at the committee process, but-…

• The entire call and remarks from Erickson here.

Scott Jacobs

Just a personal note to remind myself to check this guy out if I ever get time.

I think this is same guy (?)