Count this faithful reader as extremely grateful to the editorial board of this newspaper for asking gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal about his silence on the crime of illegal immigration, as reported Sunday.

From someone who has long watched the inside politics of the issue, please accept my word that “What about illegal immigration?” isn’t a question the majority-liberal Georgia media will ask a Republican who has chosen silence. Rather, there’s a “let sleeping dogs lie” sort of attitude.

In a state with more illegal aliens than Arizona, Deal’s response to the badly needed MDJ question brings up some inconvenient facts that this forever-independent voter’s Republican friends don’t want to hear. Including that the Chamber of Commerce-financed, leftward lurch of former Democrat Nathan Deal on the crime of illegal immigration has apparently towed the state Republican Party along behind it.

For those who measure crime in monetary concepts, the last estimate heard from Deal was that illegal immigration was costing Georgia taxpayers upwards of $2 billion annually.

Georgia, where English is optional, is a destination for people — from all over the world — who are right now escaping capture while illegally crossing our border without any inspection. Probably most of them don’t have a dangerous disease. Most of them are likely not terrorists.

Georgia officially ranks number seven in the nation in its population of victims of borders.

The Republican governor’s response when asked last week why he has remained mostly mum on illegal immigration was that we should remember his voting record in Congress. But that now the immigration topic is too “polarizing.” And that “there are those in our population who consider these issues divisive. They consider us even talking about it as being anti-Hispanic.” Not exactly a profile in courage vignette, but apparent evidence that 5,000 screaming wanna-be Democrat illegal aliens repeatedly marching on the state Capitol has affected Republican-controlled Georgia politics.

Those with a four-year memory span may remember that when Deal had to run against conservative, pro-enforcement Republicans in the 2010 primary he boasted continuously — and quite voluntarily — of his strong immigration enforcement intentions.

Apparently Georgia’s Republican voting base could not be trusted to accept an “it’s too polarizing” attitude on illegal immigration way back then.

In the MDJ interview, Deal jumped on the issue of in-state tuition for the illegals now attending public-funded schools in the University System of Georgia. Left unsaid was the fact that he had made a campaign promise in 2010 to use the power of the governor’s office to keep all illegals out of all USG schools, in-state tuition or not.

But there is something bigger being avoided here. Deal made a point of telling the MDJ “the law is clear…”

“If you’re not lawfully in this country, then you’re not generally entitled to the benefits this country offers,” he said.

The reality is that illegal aliens who have been illegally granted protection from deportation by Barack Obama have been issued Georgia driver’s licenses and other public benefits in Georgia since 2012. And that Deal refused to help with 2014 legislation that would have ended that practice and prevented the estimated 5 million to 6 million additional illegal aliens to whom Obama has said he will soon expand the illegal de facto unilateral amnesty from the same access.

Imagine any candidate for governor four years ago tacitly affirming the concept that illegal aliens should have a driver’s license in Georgia.

More? Georgia voters will note several questions when they cast their ballot. Not among them is one that would have asked, “Shall the state Constitution be amended to make English the official language of Georgia government?”

That question is not on the ballot because in March, in the GOP-controlled state Capitol, the Georgia business lobby killed the legislation that would have allowed us to vote on it. Republican Gov. Nathan Deal remained silent.

Note to my GOP friends: I didn’t vote for your candidate for governor.

D.A. King of Marietta heads The Dustin Inman Society.