Associated Press

Obama backing of amnesty scheme ‘unwavering’

President Barack Obama on Thursday assured immigration advocates frustrated by the wait for a promised overhaul of U.S. immigration laws [read: amnesty] that he remains committed to fixing a system he has said is broken. — What remains unclear is whether Congress will send him a bill this year…

AJC

Masonry work didn’t meet specs on Cobb courthouse

AJC obtains records on construction work

By Mary Lou Pickel

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

March 9, 2010

The masonry contractor removed from the Cobb County courthouse project for not checking his employees’ legal work status also failed job inspections.

Records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution showed Marietta inspectors last fall cited the contractor for not grouting cement blocks, spacing rebar close enough or installing enough wall anchors to strengthen door jambs. His crew didn’t lace concrete blocks together as required. These deficiencies turned up in the courthouse basement, where prisoners will be kept before trial. The county had wanted extra security features there.

“This didn’t meet the plans,” said Hal Cosper, Marietta building official. “I wouldn’t have expected to see this on the courthouse.”

In February, contractor Victor Candelaria and his crew were removed from the job after it was determined that Candelaria didn’t use a federal data base to confirm his employees were legally cleared to work in the U.S., which is a state law requirement for public contracts. Candelaria was a sub-contractor for Suwanee-based Zebra Construction Co., which did the masonry work for Turner Construction Co., the prime contractor on the $63 million project.

The contractor absorbed the costs for redoing the work and any delays, Cobb County spokesman Robert Quigley said.

Zebra Construction severed its ties with Candelaria and does not know where he is, Victor Cerda, a lawyer representing Zebra, said in a previous interview.

“Any issues identified during the course of the construction of the Cobb County Superior Court project have been fully addressed,” Cerda said in a written statement. “We have met the contract’s expectations in terms of quality, timeliness and cost.”

Candelaria’s job deficiencies were uncovered on Nov. 9 and Nov. 18, according to Marietta building inspection records.

The work on the concrete basement walls does not effect the structural integrity of the building because those are not weight-bearing walls, said Barry Roziewski, NOVA Engineering and Environmental senior project manager, a contractor who has inspected the courthouse.

Candelaria’s crew didn’t fully grout cement blocks that strengthen the basement wall and the work had to be redone, Cosper said. . The crew also didn’t install the necessary amount of anchor clips in the blocks to create an extra strong door jamb to hold steel doors in the cells.

TV Ad: High Immigration Impacts America’s Unemployed.

This is one of two ads combating the claims of the open-borders groups that America needs more foreign labor. The federal government imports more than 125,000 foreign workers every month, while 15 million Americans continue to look for work.

Here is the second ad.

Here are seven bills that will serve to protect jobs for Georgians, reduce the budget strain inflicted by illegal immigration, increase public safety and encourage illegal aliens to migrate out of Georgia. We need help.

House Bill 1164

Author: Representative Rick Austin (R-Demorest)
Sponsors: Reps. Tom Rice, Melvin Everson, Burke Day, Mike Coan,
Sean Jurguson

Revisits code created in the 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act.

This bill clarifies procedures for compliance and would provide meaningful penalties for public contractors and official agencies, including local governments, that are in violation of the 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act (GSICA). That law requires all public employers and their contractors to use the no-cost federal E-Verify program to insure that tax dollars are not going to pay black-market labor. Since the law went into effect in 2007, compliance is described as “partial.”

Also provides language to provide for annual federal training of state law enforcement officers to assist ICE in enforcing federal immigration laws using the super- successful 287(g) program. Removes the exemption for verification of eligibility (using citizenship and/or immigration status) for applicants for public post secondary education. HB 1164 also provides strong penalties for local governments and official agencies that are now in violation of GSICA which also requires use of the federal “SAVE” system to verify eligibility of applicants for public benefits – including business licenses. The majority of local governments and agencies have chosen to ignore this law. Presently, there are no consequences for violation. Illegal aliens who escape capture at our borders are rewarded with a license to open a business in most counties and municipalities in Georgia.

First Reader Summary: A BILL to amend Code Section 35-2-14 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to peace officers and the enforcement of immigration and custom laws, so as to modify provisions relating to the designation of peace officers for training; to amend so as to extend the requirement to verify nationality to other persons confined in a jail; to amend Code Section 48-7-21.1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to compensation paid by a taxpayer disallowed as a business expense for state income tax purposes, so as to provide for certain verification and reporting procedures; to amend and to provide for additional verification and reporting procedures; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Read the bill HERE

Committee: House Judiciary

House Bill 1243

Author: Rep. Tom Rice (R- Norcross)
Sponsors: Reps James Mills, Jerry Keen, Edward Lindsey

The bill would require that a refundable fee of 2% be added to international wire transactions. Look for committee revisions.

First Reader Summary:

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 11 of Chapter 1 of Title 7 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to records and reports of currency transactions, so as to provide for a fee with respect to money received for wire transmission; to provide for procedures, conditions, and limitations; to provide for legislative intent; to prohibit certain conduct to avoid or evade such fee; to provide for powers, duties, and authority of the commissioner of banking and finance with respect to the foregoing; to amend Article 2 of Chapter 7 of Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the imposition, rate, and computation of income tax, so as to provide for an income tax credit with respect to wire transmission fees; to provide for applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Read the bill HERE

House committee: Banks and Banking

House Bill 1259 - The Georgia Employer and Worker Protection Act of 2010

Author: Representative Bobby Reese (R- Sugar Hill)
Sponsors: Reps Tom Rice, Rick Austin, Don Parsons, Barry Loudermilk, James Mills

HB 1259 would require use of the no-cost federal E-Verify system as a condition of obtaining or renewing a business license/occupational tax certificate for all businesses with more than three employees. The goal being to protect jobs in Georgia by verifying work eligibility – using immigration status - of all newly hired employees. Presently,Georgia is one of thirteen states with E-Verify laws, this bill would expand required use from public employers and their contractors to all businesses. Mississippi, South Carolina and Arizona have such laws in place.

First Reader Summary: A BILL to be entitled an Act to enact the “Georgia Employer and Worker Protection Act of 2010″; to provide for a short title; to amend Chapter 60 of Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions applicable to counties and municipal corporations, so as to require participation in the federal employment eligibility verification system as a condition of obtaining a business license or occupational tax certificate; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes

Read the bill HERE

Committee: House Committee on Governmental Affairs (GAff)

Senate Bill 67

Author: Senator Jack Murphy
Sponsors:Senators Chip Rogers, Chip Pearson, Jeff Mullis, Bill Heath, John Douglas

Would provide for all exams oral and written, for a permanent Georgia drivers license be administered in the official language of Georgia. English. The language of our road signs.

First Reader Summary: A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 40-5-27 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to examination of applicants for certain drivers’ licenses, so as to provide that such examinations shall be administered only in the English language; to provide for an exception; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Read the bill HERE

Committees Senate: Public Safety - House, Motor Vehicles

Senate Bill 136
Author: Senator John Douglas
Sponsors: Senators Chip Rogers, Ronnie Chance, Cecil Staton, Lee Hawkins, David Shafer

Would codify into law the current Board of Pardons and Paroles policy of use of the federal REPAT program by which illegal alien state prisoners convicted of non violent crimes who are eligible for parole can voluntarily apply for deportation to reduce incarceration costs to Georgia taxpayers.

First Readers Summary: A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 42 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions pertaining to penal institutions, so as to require the Department of Corrections and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles to participate in the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Rapid Removal of Eligible Parolees Accepted for Transfer (REPAT) Program or similar federal deportation program; to provide for conditions of parole; to amend Code Section 42-9-43.1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to citizenship status of a prisoner and deportation, so as to authorize conditional deportation parole release; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Read the bill HERE

Committee: House Judiciary (non-civil)

Senate Bill 385
Author: Senator John Wiles
Sponsors: Senators Chip Rogers, Ronnie Chance, Don Balfour, Judson Hill, Johnny Grant

Would encourage local law enforcement to utilize federal programs which identify illegal aliens who are arrested for additional crimes with increased funding. Would increase funding to local law enforcement by 10% for use of the Homeland Security Department’s “Secure Communities” finger print sharing initiative and 20% for use of the 287(g) program.

First Reader Summary: A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 3 of Chapter 5 of Title 42 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to conditions of detention generally, so as to provide that counties that can demonstrate constant use of the federal Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Communities initiative or have entered into memorandums of agreement with the federal government under Section 287(g) of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act shall receive additional funding for housing state inmates; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Read the bill HERE

Senate Committee: Appropriations

Senate Bill 460 - The Georgia Public Works and Contractor Protection Act
Author: Senator Judson Hill
Sponsors: Senators Chip Pearson, John Wiles, Jim Butterworth, Bill Jackson, Jack Murphy

Clarifies and expands already required procedures for use of federal E-Verify system by public employers and contractors to protect jobs on public works projects. Provides clear and meaningful penalties for violation of law regarding E-Verify use created in the 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act.

First Reader Summary: A BILL to be entitled an Act to enact the “Georgia Public Works and Contractor Protection Act”; to amend Code Section 13-10-91 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the verification of new employee eligibility, applicability, and rules and regulations, so as to clarify certain provisions and requirements relating to public employers’ verification of employee work eligibility; to provide for penalties; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Read the bill HERE

Senate Committee: Regulated Industries and Utilities (RI&U)

“…The problem was that Higgins hadn’t registered for any of the courses, authorities said. Rather, dozens of foreign students — mostly from the Middle East — were paying him to sit in class, take exams and write papers for them so their student visas would remain valid, according to a charging document filed in the case. Students paid up to $1,500 for course assignments and finals and up to $1,000 for English and writing proficiency exams, the document said.

Investigators with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the demand was so great that he hired employees, including a blond woman who they believe posed as an Middle Eastern man to take a test. Agents are continuing to investigate the case and believe Higgins had several co-conspirators.

On Monday, Higgins, 46, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Santa Ana to conspiracy to commit visa fraud. During the brief hearing, Higgins told the judge he wasn’t working. He faces up to five years in federal prison if convicted…”

Los Angeles Times

Man charged in sweeping student visa fraud case

Eamonn Daniel Higgins spent seven years attending college. — Between 2002 and 2009, he attended 10 different schools in Southern California, including Cal State Los Angeles, Irvine Valley College and Santa Monica College, according to federal prosecutors…

NRO online THE CORNER

March 08, 2010

Sending a Message with the Census [Mark Krikorian]

John: I haven’t gotten my letter from the Census Bureau yet asking me to make sure I fill out the questionnaire. But when I do fill it out, I’ll use it to send a message.

Fully one-quarter of the space on this year’s form is taken up with questions of race and ethnicity, which are clearly illegitimate and none of the government’s business (despite the New York Times’ assurances to the contrary on today’s editorial page). So until we succeed in building the needed wall of separation between race and state, I have a proposal. Question 9 on the census form asks “What is Person 1’s race?” (and so on, for other members of the household). My initial impulse was simply to misidentify my race so as to throw a monkey wrench into the statistics; I had fun doing this on the personal-information form my college required every semester, where I was a Puerto Rican Muslim one semester, and a Samoan Buddhist the next. But lying in this constitutionally mandated process is wrong. Really — don’t do it.

Instead, we should answer Question 9 by checking the last option — “Some other race” — and writing in “American.” It’s a truthful answer but at the same time is a way for ordinary citizens to express their rejection of unconstitutional racial classification schemes. In fact, “American” was the plurality ancestry selection for respondents to the 2000 census in four states and several hundred counties.

So remember: Question 9 — “Some other race” — “American”. Pass it on.

The Wonk Room (”Progressive” Twaddle)

Dick Armey Wants Tom Tancredo Out Of His Tea Party Tent

Recently, tea party profiteer and FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey has taken a more vocal stance against anti-immigrant rhetoric. In an interview with Charlie Rose that aired late last week, Armey went as far as to list former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) as representing part of the “tea party tent” that he feels “uncomfortable” with due to his “harsh and uncharitable and mean-spirited” immigration positions…

Three Georgia Republican state Senators join GALEO’s Nan Orrock (D), La Raza and the ACLU and some of the Democrat minority on the Senate Public Safety committee in endorsing a repeat of the 1986 amnesty for illegal aliens - Vote “YES DO PASS” on Senate Resolution 570.

You can read the as passed committee substitute version of SR 570 endorsing comprehensive immigration reform HERE.

Orrock’s original version HERE.

According to a recent DHS/census report, Georgia leads the nation in the growth rate of the illegal alien population. State laws aimed at compliance with federal immigration laws are being ignored.

The General Assembly is struggling to cut the budget while we fail to enforce federal and state laws that would drive more illegal aliens out of our state.

Yesterday, state Senators John Crosby (R- Tifton District 13), Johnny Grant (R- Milledgeville District 25) and Jeff Mullis (R- Chickamauga District 53) joined some of the Dems on the committee and voted “YES, Do Pass” on a Resolution introduced by Senator Nan Orrock ( Democrat Senator Freddie Powell Sims voted “NO” ) endorsing “Comprehensive Immigration Reform”

Yes

Senators:

Jones (D) , Mullis (R), Seay (D), Crosby (R), Grant (R) and Butler (D)

NO

Senators:

Sims (D), Douglas (R), Carter (R) and Jackson (R)

Nan Orrock, along with Jane Fonda, is a founding friend of former state Senator Sam Zamarripa’s Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) and replaced him in the senate when he resigned after passage of the 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act.

ACTION NEEDED: NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE, PLEASE CALL AND EMAIL THE OFFICES OF THESE REPUBLICAN SENATORS TO DELIVER YOUR THOUGHTS ON THEIR VOTE.

ALSO , AND THIS IS EQUALLY IMPORTANT: PLEASE CALL SENATOR FREDDIE POWEL SIMS TO THANK HER FOR HER PRO-AMERICAN VOTE AGAINST ENDORSING AMNESTY.

Contact info

Republicans who voted “YES” to endorsing amnesty with most of the Democrats

Senator John Crosby HERE

Senator Johnny Grant HERE

Senator Jeff Mullis HERE

Voted “NO” and against the Resolution endorsing amnesty:

Senator Freddie Powell Sims - THANK YOU FOR YOUR “NO VOTE” ON AMNESTY RESOLUTION! HERE

FAIR

New Polls Show Broad-Based Support for Immigration Enforcement

While pro-amnesty advocates increase their pressure on the Obama Administration to pass “comprehensive immigration reform,” recent polls show strong support for immigration enforcement, even among minorities, business executives, union members, and parishioners. In February, Zogby released the results of a survey of roughly 700 Hispanic, 400 African-American, and 400 Asian-American likely voters. The Zogby poll found that, when asked to choose between enforcement that would cause illegal aliens in the country to go home or offering them an amnesty, 52 percent of Hispanics, 57 percent of Asian-Americans, and 50 percent of African-Americans support the enforcement option.A Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) analysis of the poll results concluded that despite the perception that minority voters support amnesty as a monolithic bloc, the reality is that minorities “want enforcement and less immigration.” (Id.).

Read the full article

But first, read this one.

Google Grover HERE. ( it amazes me how many people don’t)

To be fair…Google me HERE. You decide.