The Atlanta Journal Constitution strikes again. Twice. In less than forty-eight hours.
After constantly correcting them – for sixteen years – on the fact that being pro-enforcement on immigration doesn’t qualify anyone, including me, as “anti-immigrant” or “anti-immigration” – and that I am neither – they have again labeled me as “anti-immigrant” And “anti-immigration.” Did I mention it was twice in less than forty-eight hours?
Oh, and BTW: They seem to not approve of the concept of nationalism.
The morning after my late-night phone call/voice mail to an AJC reporter twenty minutes after his story on a Gwinnett County 287(g) panel discussion in which I participated hit the internet, the AJC changed their “anti-immigrant” description of me in the online version of the story to “anti-undocumented immigrant…” Then, in the same story for the next day’s print version ran a photo of me with the caption describing me as “a controversial anti-immigration activist.”
Without exaggeration, by phone, email and letters, I have told these people about fifty times that I fight for enforcement of immigration and employment laws and for sanity in immigration levels. That my adopted sister is an immigrant. As are many donors and some members of the board of the Dustin Inman Society, which I founded in 2005.
“A recent column by the AJC’s Bill Torpy on the front of the Metro section falsely referred to me as an “anti-immigration activist.” The widely known truth is that for the last 15 years I have proudly fought for sanity in immigration and enforcement of American immigration laws. That effort is easily and succinctly described as “pro-enforcement.”
For the record – yet again – I am not “anti-immigration” any more than the folks at Mothers Against Drunk Driving are “anti-driving.” Neither is my adopted sister, who is an immigrant.
In today’s media, the angry leftists who scream in American streets waving placards that literally demand an end of immigration enforcement are usually described as “civil rights” or “immigrant rights” groups. Never the obvious “anti-enforcement” groups.
A majority of Americans – including millions of immigrants – support honoring our rich tradition of immigration with the unapologetic enforcement of our very liberal immigration laws. The fact that media writers intentionally and deceptively depict us as being “anti-immigration” is an illustration of the inherent liberal bias and eagerness to smear honest Americans on the most critical issue of our time.
AJC writer Torpy seems to be “anti-accuracy.”
D.A. KING, MARIETTA, PRESIDENT, THE DUSTIN INMAN SOCIETY Here.
Note: I have no idea why some of the text above is larger font and I cannot make it go away...
Either these very liberal editors and reporters don’t read their own newspaper, are unable to retain information longer than an hour – or they are driven by an agenda to dishonestly marginalize anyone who does not adopt the “immigration enforcement is extreme/racist” position. To be clear. I firmly believe it is the latter.
In the AJC world, corporate-funded, screaming anti-enforcement activists are described as ….”immigrant advocates.” Sometimes “civil rights activists.”
The reporters and leadership of the Georgia’s largest newspaper should be regarded as an organ of, and for, the illegal alien lobby from here on. I have asked for another correction and retraction.
The editor of the AJC is Kevin Riley. Despite the fact that the shrinking AJC has no public editor, neither he or most of his editors respond to my emails or phone calls. *Notable exception: Editorial Editor Andre Jackson, who I believe to be an honorable journalist in every sense of the word. Andre Jackson is the only employee I know at the AJC that I trust.
The story is too long to tell at one time here, so only a little expansion for now.
On a panel discussion in Gwinnett County focused on 287(g) an AJC reporter filed this story late on the same night as the event ( again, they don’t seem to like the self-description of “proud American nationalist” at all). The 1996 federal tool, 287(g) is designed to locate illegal aliens who land in local jails. Note that the anti-287(g) participants (some who dropped out) are referred to as “immigrant advocate groups.”
In the first try, I am described in this paragraph with
“King spoke first and audience members opposed to 287(g) greeted him with signs filled with his previous anti-immigrant rhetoric. His opening statement riled them further.”
After my phone call complaint, it was changed to:
“King spoke first and audience members opposed to 287(g) greeted him with signs filled with his past comments regarding undocumented immigrants. His opening statement riled them further.”
In the print version (that is also sent out electronically) of the same story that ran on August 2, the AJC editors reversed the reporter’s previous correction and inserted a photo of me with the caption:
“D.A. King, a controversial anti-immigration activist, represented the sheriff’s office on a panel discussion of the 287(g) program.” — All italic emphasis mine.
Image: AJC
Not only is the “anti-immigration” activist description wrong. but the AJC has invented out of thin air the notion that I was somehow representing the sheriff’s office. I would have been very proud to do that, but I was asked to speak on 287(g) as president of the Dustin Inman Society.
So, questions for the AJC team – if I was supposedly representing the sheriff, who were the three anti-enforcement characters representing? How did it happen that only D.A. King was supposedly representing somebody else in your story?
–>*Update: Too funny: On Wednesday, August 7 on page 2. the AJC corrected the whole cloth fabrication that I was somehow on the panel as a representative of the Sheriff, here. But the “credible”, “compelling”, “complete” coverage AJC editor Kevin Riley constantly tries to sell on radio ads never corrected the fake news that I am an “anti-immigration activist” – while they portrayed the anti-enforcement mob as “immigrant advocates.”
The young AJC reporter asked me one or two questions – and that was clearly an after-thought formality on his way out the door. His lead query to me?
“Do you think you inflamed this event? …by being here, I mean.”
Contact info for the AJC leadership here. The columns the AJC editorial page team has published from me listed here. Did they inflame anyone by printing them?
damage the reputation of (someone) by false accusations; slander.
synonyms:
sully, tarnish, besmirch, blacken, drag through the mud/mire, stain, taint, damage, defame, discredit, defile, vilify, malign, slander, libel, stigmatize, calumniate.”
There is a difference between immigrants and illegal aliens. Opposition to illegal immigration is not “anti-immigrant” (for the 10000th time).
Many anti-enforcement race-hustlers, including the SPLC, George Chidi and GALEO’s Jerry Gonzalez are again spreading various versions of the lie that in 2007 I went to Covington, Ga. and told a room full of curious people that immigrants are here to “blow up your buildings and kill your children, and you, and me.”
This is an intentional lie and uses the common practice of the left of redefining the English language, and taking a few words out of context to wield as a smear weapon to silence pro-enforcement advocates.
At a 2007 GOP meeting where I was invited to speak on illegal immigration I was in a segment of my presentation that mentioned what the MSM or the illegal alien lobby will never allow the public to know: Individuals from countries with known ties to terrorism are coming over our borders illegally. It was true then and it is true now. Here is a quick link from 2016.
To be clear for the slow: I am/was saying that some illegal aliens – both illegal border crossers and visa violation or overstays – come from terrorist countries and they are not all here to work on the cheap. I am/was not talking about legal immigrants (although some could be terrorists). The leftist media and the corporate-funded illegal alien lobby constantly try to blur the line between illegal aliens and immigrants.
I had recently returned from one of my many trips to the Arizona/Mexico border where Border Patrol Agents confirmed that fact for us.
A reporter from the local newspaper was present for my speech and wrote the meeting up. Here is a part of his story in which he quotes me:
“The porous border with Mexico is especially dangerous, he added, saying that it has been an entrance point for people from countries with known ties to terrorism.
“They’re not here to mow your lawn — they’re here to blow up your buildings and kill your children, and you, and me,” he said.
To prove his point, he flaunted two authentic Mexican government-issued photo ID cards — called matriculas consulares — that he said he was able to get using fake Mexican birth certificates. One of them lists his name; the other is under the name “Al Qada Gonzalez.” ( Note from D.A. – no, mine, like many, are fake)Current enforcement is so lax, he said, that the cards can be used in some states to obtain valid drivers licenses and board airplanes.
Georgia, which has seen a large influx of illegal immigration in recent years, should also be prepared to become a new front for problems with employment and crime that have been seen in border states, he said.”
This is not the first time this fabrication has come up. Several months after the Covington speech, GALEO’s Jerry Gonzalez began his campaign to convince people I made the statement about “immigrants.” That lie was passed on by the AJC’s Jim Galloway in his Political Insider blog – using the term “reportedly.” When I saw it, I called Galloway and explained GALEO’s intent to create fake news, sent him the Covington news report reflecting what I actually said and asked him to run a correction and explanation of the out-of-context smear he had helped perpetuate.
Jim Galloway – Photo: Muck Rack
I never heard another word about it from Jim Galloway and it was never corrected to my knowledge.
This is just one example of how the media helps pass on lies about honest Americans who fight for immigration enforcement and secure borders. I have to spend time correcting lies and defending my reputation because the “watchdog media” is anything but. *UPDATE, July, 2021: Happily, Galloway has retired from the liberal AJC. Sadly, his replacements are worse on this.
Below, a notorious Democrat politician explains the “wrap up smear.” Youtube
This will most likely cause a drain on our school system to the tune of 300,000 illegal students enrolled.
“We anticipate more than 700,000 migrants will successfully enter the country, increasing the unauthorized Hispanic population by nearly 10 percent,” the organization reportedly wrote in a memo. Read the rest here.
State law requires DPS agreement with ICE and ten officers to be trained annually
Dear reader,
Please try to imagine the screaming, bold-font, front page headlines, top of the news broadcast frenzy and the endless, angry wailing from the corporate-funded anti-enforcement lobby if Georgia had a law in place banning 287(g) agreements (as does Democrat Illinois) while any Georgia law enforcement agency ignored that law and obtained such an agreement with ICE.
There is a lot of information in the embedded links.
Updated in 2011, Georgia law requires the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to negotiate an agreement with ICE to be 287(g) authorized and to designate no fewer than ten peace officers to be trained for the program – every year.
For the unaware, 287(g) is a federal program that allows certain local or state law enforcement officers to act as immigration agents on a limited basis.
Despite the law (HB87) passed by the General Assembly and signed by then Governor Nathan Deal, DPS is not on the list of law enforcement agencies that are 287(g) “Participating Entities” with ICE. “As of July 2019, ICE has 287(g)… agreements with 79 law enforcement agencies in 21 states,” we are told – but not with DPS.
DPS did have an ICE agreement (MOA) but it was canceled when the re-elected Obama administration scaled back the program at the end of 2012. But, DPS could easily have reapplied after Obama left office. See the letter response from DPS the commissioner to a curious then state senator here.
ICE is open for business on 287(g) now and has been since January 2017
As one of his first acts after being sworn in to office, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled ‘Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States’ in which he made it clear that the 287(g) program was high on his priority list to attack the nation’s illegal immigration crisis.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), and in order to ensure the public safety of the American people in communities across the United States as well as to ensure that our Nation’s immigration laws are faithfully executed, I hereby declare the policy of the executive branch to be, and order, as follows:… “The purpose of this order is to direct executive departments and agencies (agencies) to employ all lawful means to enforce the immigration laws of the United States.
The president’s Executive Order had 17 sections. Because the Nathan Deal administration ignored it, people in the current executive branch of Georgia state government may want to pay extra attention to Section 8, which reads in part:
Federal-State Agreements. It is the policy of the executive branch to empower State and local law enforcement agencies across the country to perform the functions of an immigration officer in the interior of the United States to the maximum extent permitted by law.
In furtherance of this policy, the Secretary shall immediately take appropriate action to engage with the Governors of the States, as well as local officials, for the purpose of preparing to enter into agreements under section 287(g) of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1357(g))….”
The Executive Order can be read in its entirety here and the accompanying memorandum signed by then DHS Secretary John Kelly that implements the Trump EO can be read here.
The 287(g) program has different ‘models’ – one for use inside jails, (the Jail Enforcement Model) another more narrow arrangement called “Warrant Service Officer Model”- and one for use by law enforcement who are carrying out their normal duties outside jails – think of it as a “street model – formally known as the “Task Force Model.” Readers who want more information on the details can see here.
Georgia’s DPS had the Task Force model. I am informed by ICE that currently there are no Task Force model agreements in place. DPS can change that fact.
There appears to be no reason for DPS not making a valid attempt to regain the 287(g) authority it is mandated to have in place by re-applying to ICE.
I also sent a detailed formal media request for comment for this write-up to DPS and got back only “we are in receipt of your request” but as of this writing (July 23, noon-ish) have not received any comment, explanation or denial of our assumption that DPS is in violation of state law. If this is not the case, we are anxious to hear why.
Image: The Hill
In a state with more illegal aliens than green card holders, we are even more anxious to hear from Governor Brian Kemp (404-656-1776) about why – law or no law – DPS is apparently not taking advantage of the clear 287(g) expansion push from President Trump to enhance public safety.
We expect that once educated, pro-enforcement voters will be equally curious.
MSM seems to have missed this story
Our self-funded effort here at Immigration Politics Georgia is gaining readers weekly, but we obviously don’t have the reach that say, the “watchdogs” at the Associated Press, the Atlanta Journal Constitution or any of the Atlanta TV/radio news desks have. So, we will be sure to share this with all of them to see if it is regarded as allowable “news” that state law seems to be ignored by state law enforcement – and Georgia’s Chief Executive.
But some illegals already receive public benefits in Georgia
D.A. King
From the “that’s pretty much the point” department: Georgia’s E-Verify law represents a challenge for illegal aliens who want to open a business and be more visible in Georgia. This critical analysis from the executive director and founder of an ethnic-based Decatur group supported by Coca-Cola, Georgia Power and UGA’s Small Business Development Center.
Gigi Pedraza. Image: Saporta Report
Gigi Pedraza, head of the Latino Community Fund, was featured in the Saporta Report last month outlining the need “to understand the needs of Latinx Entrepreneurs” and highlighting a study her organization put out last year.
“Undocumented Latinos and other undocumented immigrants face perhaps the biggest of these challenges before they are even able to start a business. In 2011, the state Legislature passed House Bill 87, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act. The law required evidence that an applicant for a business license or other documents needed to run a business has approval to use the federal work authorization program” wrote Pedraza. She means the no-cost E-Verify system.
She went on to incorrectly explain to Saporta’s readers that use of E-Verify somehow creates a citizenship requirement for business owners. It doesn’t.
Pedraza in the Saporta Report: “Essentially, this instituted a citizenship requirement for Georgia business owners to operate lawfully, pay taxes and act as a visible part of their local communities and economies.”
Employers need not be U.S. citizens to be E-Verify users, but there is a requirement for a Social Security Number to register as a user, making it difficult for an illegal alien to receive authorization to use a federal system designed to help keep black market labor out of the workforce and to protect wages for legal workers.
Unsurprisingly, a goal for the Pedraza’s enterprise is to start a legislative process to end the state’s E-Verify requirement to obtain a business license: “Reducing this burdensome licensing restriction would allow additional Latino businesses to start and flourish, powered by individuals who call Georgia home and have dedicated most of their lives to build and contribute to this country” wrote Pedraza.
There is more than one legal hurdle for the illegal aliens
Pedraza ignored the fact that Georgia law separate from E-Verify statutes also requires applicants for public benefits to indicate on an affidavit under penalty of false swearing that they are eligible for the benefits due to U.S. citizenship or lawful presence. Business licenses are public benefits under the law.
OCGA 50-36-1 (4) (b): “Except as provided in subsection (d) of this Code section or where exempted by federal law, every agency or political subdivision shall verify the lawful presence in the United States under federal immigration law of any applicant for public benefits.”
To accomplish her stated goal of making it easier for illegal aliens to legally operate a business, Pedraza will need to begin the lobbying process to dump this hard-fought safeguard as well.
Illegal aliens do receive public benefits in Georgia
An added educational note, a March appellate court decision confirmed that DACA recipients do not have lawful presence and are inadmissible and deportable. Simply put, they are illegal aliens. Nevertheless, Georgia issues a variety of public benefits to DACA recipients including unemployment benefits.
New to this writer, the openly restricted Latino Community Fund requires that other non-profit organizations meet two of the following descriptions for membership:
* Be Latino-led (Executive Director or CEO)
* Be governed by a majority Latino board of directors
* Serve a majority Latino client population (here).
Pedraza’s guest column “Breaking down barriers for Latino Entrepreneurs” can be seen here. The study can be seen here
An experienced word of warning to readers who may dismiss the chances of any legislative action in the Republican-ruled state legislature to abolish the E-Verify law or the public benefits law – don’t.
The combined pressure from business donors, the mantra of “rolling back restrictions on small business”, the possibility of increasing the “great state for business” reputation by intentionally making life easier for illegal alien-run ventures and the ridiculous premise offered by Establishment Republican “influencers” that additional pandering would result in more Hispanic votes for the GOP at election time is powerful fodder under the Gold Dome.
Note: A condensed version of this column was posted on the subscription website Insider Advantage Georgia on Wednesday, July 17, 2019. We are grateful for the space.
RIO GRANDE CITY, TX – DECEMBER 07: A one-year-old from El Salvador clings to his mother after she turned themselves in to Border Patrol agents on December 7, 2015 near Rio Grande City, Texas. They had just illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into Texas. The mother said she brought her son on the 24-day journey from El Salvador to escape violence in the Central American country. The number of migrant families and unaccompanied minors has again surged in recent months, even as the total number of illegal crossings nationwide has gone down over the previous year. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
2015: Obama Administration Plans Raids To Deport Central American Families
Originally published on December 29, 2015 1:50 pm
The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to carry out raids to deport hundreds of Central American families who came to the U.S. beginning last year.
The Central American migration crisis drew headlines in 2014 when each month as many as 10,000 unaccompanied minors, and 16,000 adults with children, traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border, in an effort to escape extreme poverty and high rates of gang violence in their native countries. The proposed deportation operation, first reported by the Washington Post, would be the first large-scale effort to deport Central American families.
Washington Post reporter Jerry Markon broke the story. He tells Here & Now’s Meghna Chakrabarti why the Department of Homeland Security is planning to make this move.
The Clinton Administration: When Deportations Were Considered Essential for Credible Immigration Policy
Editor’s note: This post is an excerpt from a forthcoming Center for Immigration Studies book on the failure of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.]
Just before the 1996 presidential election, the Clinton White House held a press briefing to boast about record numbers of deportations of illegal immigrants. The principal spokesperson for the administration was Doris Meissner, Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. “I am proud once again to announce that the Clinton administration’s determination to remove criminal aliens and other deportable aliens from the United States has produced record results,” said Meissner.
Meissner, a Clinton appointee, said 67,094 illegal immigrants – criminal and non-criminal – had been deported in the 1995 fiscal year. In a dutiful tribute to Clinton that echoed statements from the White House and the Justice Department, she contrasted his performance to that of his predecessors. “For too many years, under-enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws undermined their credibility,” she said. “But this administration’s unprecedented expansion of and support for strong but fair enforcement of immigration laws…is restoring that credibility.”…read the rest here.
