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Fast Fact: Gary Black’s solution for keeping newly legalized illegal aliens down on the farm? Indentured servitude

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Gary Black – Photo: Politico

State GOP official jumps into Georgia Senate race

 

 

With agriculture being Georgia’s biggest industry, it should be noted that many of the 1980’s illegal farm workers fled the fields after they obtained legal status in the “one time” Reagan amnesty. Taking a better paying job in construction or an air-conditioned warehouse instead of sweating in a 100-degree onion field seems a logical move.

Georgia’s Commissioner of Agriculture (and now announced candidate for U.S.senate) Gary Black, recommended a temporary solution for that scenario to a U.S. Senate subcommittee in 2011. Black told the senators:

“Regretfully, a large number of illegal immigrants are working in agriculture today. A penalty-based work authorization permit should be considered for offenders. Such a measure could require substantial monetary fines, an annually renewed biometric permit supported by fees that is restricted for agriculture and strict employer enforcement after implementation.” (italics mine).

Georgians can watch to see if any current Peach State legislator supports what is accurately being referred to as the “indentured servant” section of “immigration reform.” We’ll also see if anyone remembers that Black forgot to obey Georgia’s E-Verify laws when he took over the Ag Dept duties.

Before his election to Ag commissioner, Black was a career lobbysist for BigAg.

Bonus reading:

“The Georgia Agribusiness Council, where Gary Black served as President before becoming the state’s Agricultural Commissioner, estimated that (“The Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011”), HB87 would result in losses of $300 million for Georgia farmers. Commissioner Black testified before the Senate in October 2011 that losses would be “somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 million.” The survey actually found reported losses in 2011 to be $10 million. That works out to be three percent of the original figure released by agribusiness in order to scare lawmakers away from supporting HB87. Put into a broader context, $10 million represents 0.015 percent of the state’s total agricultural output in 2009, and 0.0013 percent of the total state economy. No wonder when Commissioner Black was asked to respond to the survey findings he said, “We have to look at solutions,” instead of getting “lost in this million versus that million.” Talking about the actual results would expose his previous claims about HB87 as unfounded.” Here – which is linked in here.

Updated 28  June 2021 with addition of link to Black’s former career with Big Ag  lobby.

 

 

Another letter to the editor we didn’t see printed in the liberal AJC – Re: Brian Kemp

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Image: Amazon.com

The below letter to the editor was sent more than two weeks ago. Seems a shame to not post it.

Dear editor,

For those who believed his 2018 promises on illegal immigration, a recent AJC story on Gov. Kemp and his reelection campaign strategy contains an amusing quote. “One of the things that happened in ’18 was I got defined as someone I wasn’t, and the way I was defined turned out to be false.” “That’s not going to happen this time because people know where I stand.”

So far it appears the Georgia media has chosen not to mention Kemp’s defiant betrayal of his detailed and clear 2018  pledge “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.” And the now infamous “I’ve got a big truck in case I need to round up criminal illegals and take them home myself.”

Kemp has not mentioned any of this since he won the election. Pro-enforcement independent voters now know exactly where he stands. We call it the ‘Big Truck Trick.’

D.A. King

Marietta

King is president of the Dustin Inman Society

 

Prediction: Georgia Republicans will move to eliminate state E-Verify law in 2022 session

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We predict the dollar-first Republicans will try to eliminate the state’s 2011 (HB 87 – see also 2013) E-Verify law that is now treated as optional anyway. We also predict the attempt will have the full approval and participation of the Georgia Chamber and FWD.us.

Update, October 14, 2021. Add removal of effective immigration status verification for occupational licenses to the agenda.

Would Gov Brian Kemp sign such legislation? We think so.

The below is from an Insider Advantage Georgia (subscription) report.

Ralston names new committees

by | Jun 3, 2021

“State Rep. Wes Cantrell (R-Woodstock) was appointed by Ralston to serve as chair of the House Study Committee on Innovative Ways to Maximize Global Talent.

“Georgia House Republicans are committed to keeping Georgia a great place where people of all walks of life can live, work and thrive,” said Rep. Cantrell. “Georgia has consistently outranked the rest of the nation as the best state to do business, and there is no doubt that foreign-born Georgians have contributed greatly to our state’s economic success.”

This study committee was established by House Resolution 11 during the 2021 legislative session and will look at ways to maximize global talent and “provide greater prosperity for all Georgians by identifying and removing barriers to full economic participation that no longer serve the state.” This study committee will report its findings by December 31, 2021.”

Entire report here.

Report Reveals Smugglers and Cartels Are Now in Charge of Immigration Policy

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Photo: Twitter

CIS.0rg

Agents can’t arrest, and prosecutors won’t prosecute; Congress should call ‘El Mayo’ for answer

By Andrew R. Arthur on June 2, 2021

In a post last week captioned “Washington Won’t Let Border Patrol Arrest Human Smugglers Offloading Aliens Right in Front of Them”, my colleague Todd Bensman reported that agents at the Southwest border are under orders not to arrest smugglers ferrying migrants entering the United States illegally. Given this, the Biden administration has effectively ceded control over immigration policy to those smugglers — or more precisely to Mexico’s criminal cartels.

Formally, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is the roadmap for alien admissions to the United States. That broad document contains plenty of latitude for the administration (regardless of which one) in implementing the rules governing visas, travel to this country, and actual admissions.

Asylum is a major exception to the strict rules that prohibit foreign nationals from entering the United States at their whim. That said, however, from that post by Bensman and his other reporting, it does not appear that Border Patrol is actually screening illegal migrants to see if they have a fear of persecution (a requirement for asylum relief).

Instead, agents are ostensibly under orders to process those migrants quickly and release them into the interior of the United States, where they will remain indefinitely — if not permanently.

That is not to say that there are no impediments to entry; there are, but they aren’t being erected or implemented by the Biden administration.

As ICE explained in October, illegal migrants “know they need to pay an organization for transport” to the United States. The smugglers, who are “often associated with other transnational criminal organizations … provide that transportation at a significant cost.”

In other words, if you don’t pay the smuggler, you don’t get in.

That is not to say that smugglers have carte blanche to move foreign nationals across the border. As RAND has explained, migrants — or more directly their smugglers — passing through a cartel’s self-described “territory” must pay a “tax” (known as a piso) to the cartels, both in the interior of Mexico and at the border.

To ensure that migrants have paid, Bensman has explained, cartel-associated smugglers now require “their customers to wear numbered, colored, and labeled wristbands”, of the sort one would see at a waterpark, bar, or all-inclusive resort.

As an aside, note how I italicized “piso”, but not “carte blanche”. Such foreign-language words in English-language writing are italicized until they become a part of the common parlance, at which point they aren’t anymore.

So many aliens are entering the United States illegally (more than 173,000 were apprehended at the Southwest border in April and an additional 40,000-plus avoided apprehension that month) and payments to the cartels are so obligatory for those migrants that soon I will simply be able to write “piso”.

Returning to the point, however, those smugglers and the cartels are now the ones who are imposing what limits do exist on immigration across the Southwest border, and are doing so with impunity.

Why, exactly, are federal agents prevented from arresting smugglers? According to Bensman,… more here.

 

Fast Fact: Illegal immigration’s biggest losers? America’s poor

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Image Dustin Inman Society

Newsweek

KEN CUCCINELLI , FORMER ACTING DEPUTY SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

No one likes to admit that their team does something badly, but conservatives have long done an inadequate job informing Americans about just how good conservative policies are for poor Americans. And as is well known, our poorest fellow Americans are disproportionately minorities.

Did you know that the nation’s poverty rate reached an all-time low at the end of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck? It was the result of higher wages and spectacularly low unemployment. And while that sounds simple enough, we have to ask: How was this achieved?

There are a host of driving factors behind these successes, including President Trump’s common-sense economic policies, which slashed red tape through deregulation and cut taxes for working families, unleashing the American spirit of innovation and unlocking the American dream for millions of previously-forgotten Americans.

But one of the greatest boons for low-income Americans under President Trump was his administration’s immigration policy. By actually enforcing immigration law and reducing the influx of illegal, low-wage labor that directly competes with America’s poorest workers, President Trump helped the long-neglected working class to see their highest pay raises in 20 years and lowest unemployment in 50 years, including the lowest Black and Hispanic unemployment ever recorded

Whether you liked President Trump or not, a working-class coalition elected him in 2016 to end the open-borders policies of previous administrations. He followed through on his promise, and not only did American workers benefit, but the poorest Americans benefitted the most of all. And as I have noted, they are disproportionally minorities.

President Trump recognized a reality others refused to acknowledge: Our broken immigration system has hurt poor Americans most of all. Decades of low-skill, low-wage immigration had depressed wages and employment for workers on the bottom rung of the economic ladder.

Read the rest here at Newsweek.com

 

“Let ‘Em Go Joe” Biden’s border surge includes people from countries with known terrorist ties

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Arizona border warning. Image: Twitter

“You won’t find much information about these operations in the news media. The most comprehensive source of information I have found is Todd Bensman’s book, “America’s Covert Border War: The Untold Story of The Nation’s Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration.”

The Hill

BY NOLAN RAPPAPORT, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 05/18/21 09:00 AM EDT

The governors of 20 states sent a letter to President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in which they ask them to take action immediately on the crisis at the southern border.  According to the governors, contrary to what the administration has been saying, the border is not closed or secure.

In fact, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has reported a staggering surge in illegal border crossings: 172,000 in March, the highest number in nearly 20 years; as well as 18,890 unaccompanied children, which — the governors note — is the largest monthly number in history.

They blame Biden. He “incentivized an influx of illegal crossings by using irresponsible rhetoric and reversing a slew of policies — from halting border wall construction to eliminating asylum agreements to refusing to enforce immigration laws.”

A border patrol agent said, “We have so many people coming across, and then we’re out there killing ourselves to catch them, rescue them or whatever it is, and then they’re being released. Why even bother?”

Some agents are reportedly calling Biden “Let ‘Em Go Joe.”

The situation is actually worse than the governors indicated.

CBP’s monthly totals do not include illegal crossers who are detected by surveillance technology but are not apprehended. These crossings are referred to as “got-aways.” Border Patrol Deputy Chief Raul Ortiz said that the agency is recording 1,000 got-aways a day.

Biden chose a futile strategy for controlling the border

Biden appointed Harris to lead the administration’s efforts to persuade Mexico and the Central American countries to address the root causes that push people to flee their homes in the first place. And he is proposing a $4 billion four-year plan for decreasing violence, corruption and poverty in the Central American countries.

The “root causes” approach has been tried already. Between fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2018, the United States gave $2 billion in aid to Central America. And the Obama-Biden administration sought to promote economic prosperity, improved security, and strengthened governance in Central America in 2014 with its U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America program.

These programs didn’t work then and aren’t working now.

The border patrol apprehended 85,326 aliens from the northern triangle countries in March and 78,252 in April.

The differences between conditions in Central America and the United States are too great, particularly the economic conditions. The average annual income in El Salvador is $4,000; in Guatemala it is $4,610; and in Honduras it is $2,310. In the United States it’s $65,850.

In any case, it is a long-term strategy, and the current border crisis requires immediate action.

Illegal crossers from other countries

Biden’s root causes strategy ignores illegal crossers from countries other than Central America and Mexico, and the number of illegal crossers from the other countries has been increasing rapidly. It more than tripled from fiscal 2014 to fiscal 2019, increasing from 37,000 per fiscal year to 118,000.

And their numbers have continued to rise.

CBP statistics indicate that 57,690 of the 342,673 illegal crossers who were apprehended at the southern border in March and April of this year were not from northern triangle countries or Mexico. At this rate, the yearly total of aliens from other countries will likely be more than 346,000, which would be almost three times as many as in fiscal 2019.

The diversity of the illegal crossers is reflected further by the fact that at least 40 different languages were spoken by the nearly 30,000 asylum seekers who were waiting in Mexico for an asylum hearing as of the end of March 2021.

The “other countries” category includes international terrorists…

Read the rest here.

 

Illegal aliens may receive between $3.8 and $4.5 billion in cash payment “tax refunds”

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Photo: Arizona Daily Star

Programs are cash payments, not tax refunds

From the Center for Immigration Studies

Estimating Illegal Immigrant Receipt of Cash Payments from the EITC and ACTC

By Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler on May 13, 2021

Download a PDF of this Backgrounder.

Steven A. Camarota is the director of research and Karen Zeigler is a demographer at the Center.

The nation’s two largest cash assistance programs for low-income workers are the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC). Despite their names, both programs are cash payments, not tax refunds. Millions of illegal immigrants have Social Security numbers (SSNs), potentially allowing them to receive cash payments from the EITC and ACTC. Illegals without SSNs who have U.S.-born children are also allowed to receive the ACTC by using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). Based on their income and number of U.S.-born children, we estimate that illegal immigrants may receive between $3.8 and $4.5 billion from the two programs. This is in addition to the $4.4 billion we have previously estimated illegals likely received in stimulus checks this year.

  • About two million illegal immigrants have been issued Social Security numbers, including those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and applicants for adjustment of status, suspension of deportation, and asylum, as well as parolees and those granted withholding of removal.
  • All of the above individuals are in the country illegally and could be required to leave. Yet, under the current system, they are still given work authorization and Social Security numbers, allowing them to receive the EITC and ACTC.
  • In addition to the nearly two million illegal immigrants issued Social Security numbers, the Social Security Administration has previously estimated that 700,000 illegal immigrants use stolen identities and SSNs, which would allow them to access the two programs.
  • Finally, under current law illegal immigrants without SSNs are still allowed to receive the ACTC, but not the EITC, by using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number if they have U.S.-born children.
  • Reflecting their much lower levels of education on average than the native-born, we estimate that about 19 percent of all illegal immigrants are poor enough to receive the EITC and 15 percent are poor enough to receive the ACTC. This compares to about 6 and 4 percent respectively for the native-born.
  • Based on their income and number of dependents, illegal immigrants with SSNs likely receive $2.9 billion in cash payments — $2 billion from the EITC and nearly $890 million from the ACTC. In addition, illegal immigrants using ITINs may receive between $870 million and $1.6 billion from the ACTC. In total, illegal immigrants will receive between $3.8 billion and $4.5 billion in cash from these two programs.
  • With the exception of those using stolen identities, illegal immigrants issued SSNs or ITINs are not breaking the law by receiving cash payments from these programs. The decision to issue SSNs and ITINs to illegal immigrants cannot but help to undermine immigration law and encourage more illegal immigration.
  • We report the ACTC figures as a range because the IRS has not published the number of people using ITINs to file tax returns in recent years, so we have only a rough idea of how many illegal immigrants are using them to receive the ACTC.
  • Both the 2015 PATH Act and the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act included provisions making it somewhat more difficult for illegal immigrants to receive ACTC payments. These provisions likely have reduced what illegal immigrants are receiving from that program below the $4.3 billion the Inspector General for Tax Administration found they received from it in 2010.

Read the full report here.

The Republican National Hispanic Assembly strikes again: Forsyth County (GA) Republican Party offering no-cost English classes – including to illegal aliens

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Image Forsyth Co. GOP as sent here by a friend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illegal aliens welcomed as long as they present ID – “I see the logo of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly on the bottom of the flyer sent out.”

*UPDATED after taking time to further check out the Forsyth County Republican Party website, it looks like the staffer I spoke to was Alba – not “Alda” (with a “b” – not a “d” as I typed). I see Alba Henson is the Assistant Secretary on the ‘About’ page. Sorry for the spelling error. I asked her to spell it and apparently did not get it right.

 

The Forsyth County (GA) Republican Party is offering no-cost conversational English classes twice a week for the next eight weeks.  What a great idea! Not many of us can argue that more people living and working in Georgia and the U.S.A, should have working grasp of the English language.

Considering the estimate from the anti-enforcement Georgia Budget and Policy Institute that Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than green card holders and that DHS says we host more illegal aliens than Arizona, I did have some curiosity about a county GOP group possibly spending money to educate illegal aliens. Here we note that I am not aware of any law against that concept, as they are presumably a private corporation.

I called the number on the flyer this morning, identified myself  and had a very pleasant conversation – mostly questions and answers – with a nice lady named “*Alda.” Alda informed me that “this is the Forsyth Republican Party” and that yes, “undocumented immigrant” (my word choice) attendees are welcomed. “We only ask they bring ID” I was told. “We want to know who is in our classes…” I was also told that even if the potential students in the free classes did “not have U.S.-issued ID, they can bring foreign identification.” “Many people have Mexican ID…,” Alda offered. I see the logo of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly on the bottom of the flyer sent out.

I asked if it was OK to present the Mexican matricula consular as acceptable proof of identity. That idea was warmly welcomed with hearty approval and a “yes” answer.

Image: Arkansas Freedom.com

Here is congressional old-America testimony from the FBI on the Mexican matricula consular. It’s worth a careful read.

It is a violation of Georgia law (OCGA 50-36-2) for official agencies that administer public benefits to accept it as “secure and verifiable” ID.

Here I post a link to photos of my own (now long expired) matricula consular IDs.

I liked Alda and have no doubt she is a sincere person trying to improve her community.

Why is a Republican group in Georgia offering to pay for classes for illegal aliens? What’s next?

What?!

Two-Thirds of Voters Say Border Problem Is a ‘Crisis,’ Most Blame Biden

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The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 66% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the current situation with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border is a crisis. Twenty percent (20%) say it’s not a crisis, and 13% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Entire story here.

Gov Kemp signs disputed interstate compact bills: An open letter to (most of) Georgia’s Republican lawmakers

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Georgia Capitol Building. Photo: Twitter

 

“To be clear, I am not in the camp that trusts Gov. Kemp on illegal immigration statements.”

May 10, 2021

Re: HB 34, HB 268, HB 395 – interstate compacts on professional licensing

Dear Georgia Republican state legislators,

The professional licensing compacts you voted for in the 2021 General Assembly are apparently now something of “an issue”. We hope our work from here is connected to your increased interest in and investigation of these bills and how they may effect illegal immigration in Georgia.

Interstate compacts are new to us. But along with other illegal immigration-related code sections I helped create, improve and defend, I have been working on OCGA 50-36 -1 since 2006.

I first noticed HB 34 on the morning of Feb 25 – just hours before it passed the House. After a quick but careful read of the lengthy bill, I sent out emails to several House members alerting them to possible problems the proposed compact may create with the existing eligibility verification system for public benefits. I also called and emailed the Speaker’s office. I confirmed receipt of my email.

I pasted the text of my original Feb. 25 email into the first blog post done on HB 34. I hope you have seen examples of my time consuming write-ups on these bills. I assure you this was not done out of boredom.

A House member who I have known for years followed up on my concerns in February. “…I went to legislative counsel on HB 34 and you were right, D.A…..” I wanted to be wrong.

I also became aware of HB 268 and shortly afterwards, HB395. I knew the Georgia Chamber of Commerce was pushing the compacts contained in this legislation and that these agreements could effect illegal immigration. There are no examples of the GA Chamber advocating on the side of immigration enforcement available to send you.

After the House passed all three of the bills, I sent notes to several members of the senate – including the Senate Majority Leader – asking for line numbers on language that would eliminate my fears that the interstate compacts would reduce security on immigration verification. The only response I received was from my own senator. There was no citation of language that would alleviate my fears. I also personally asked several interested Georgians to ask for the same information from their own senators. I have not talked to anyone who even received a reply.

I also learned about the GORRC and the involvement of the Georgia Secretary of State office in the council’s procedure in consideration of the compact legislation. I continued to pursue the hope that somebody in power would cite language I may have overlooked in the bills to remove my concerns that illegal aliens could access the professional licenses covered in the measures. I spoke to an official in the SoS office, sent a request for comment and information – and again asked for citation of a line number to language that would remove my fears. There was no response other than confirmation of receipt.

I now see a May 6, 2021 opinion letter from legislative counsel to a House member who apparently asked the same question another House member asked about HB 34 in February. This time the opinion is that the sentence “nothing herein prevents the enforcement of any other law of any member state that is not inconsistent with the Compact” represents language that preserves the current system of immigration verification.

I read the cited sentence several times in my review of the bills. I do not agree that it will automatically result in use of verification system – including the affidavit process – in processing applications for professional licenses from applicants with existing credentials from other states. But it is my fervent hope that the most recent opinion reflects how the new laws will actually be implemented.

I need to add that knowledge gained from nearly twenty years of studying illegal immigration and according to retired ICE agents, retired Border Patrol Agents and several Georgia sheriffs, a background check by law enforcement does not reveal illegal immigration status unless the alien has already been arrested and fingerprinted. And that hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens have valid Social Security numbers.

My interest in the bills also led me to legislation that put Georgia in an interstate compact on nursing licenses in 2017. (SB 109). I was not aware of that legislation at that time. We will soon know if if the verification system required in OCGA 50-36-1 has been followed in the reciprocal process of licensing nurses from other states since that law was put in place in 2017.

In closing, I respectfully extend my sincere thanks to Rep Chuck Martin for taking the time this month to investigate the effects the legislation may have on illegal immigration and the law requiring verification of ‘lawful presence’ for applicants for professional licenses.

In the recent past an expert on the issue who is willing to help legislators fight illegal immigration in Georgia was not automatically regarded with suspicion.

I respectfully put forth the hope that moving forward, Republican lawmakers ask how legislation may effect illegal immigration before they vote.

So there is no confusion on my message, two opposite opinions on this matter have come out of legislative counsel. I have seen Gov. Kemp’s *signing statements on the three bills.

UPDATE: I have also seen the letter from Reps Belton and Werkheiser to the House Republican caucus asking for help in convincing the governor to sign the bills.

     * Compact bills letter to Caucus 2

We will follow up to see actual practice.

To be clear, I am not in the camp that trusts Gov. Kemp on illegal immigration statements.

D.A. King