February172011The public comment hearings for Rep. Matt Ramsey’s state immigration and employment enforcement bill, HB 87, have been completed in the House Judiciary (non-civil) Committee.

Here are some observations from the Capitol on those hearings you aren’t likely to read elsewhere:

The lines between the pro-enforcement majority and the anti-enforcement special interest coalition were never on more clear or constant display. It was quite interesting for this reluctant denizen of the Gold Dome to watch the everyday Georgians in attendance see for the first time the process of well-funded and entrenched professional lobbying groups vs. “We the People.”

In a 2010 poll by the Georgia Newspaper Partnership, 68 percent of respondents said they support an “Arizona-style” crackdown on illegal immigration here in Georgia.

This clearly has the real powers in Georgia completely freaked.

The talking point shared by the Libertarians, the Farm Bureau, the ACLU, the business lobby, and the resentful, open-borders, ethnic-based, illegal-alien lobby this year goes like this: “Because of the budget crisis, we can’t afford to put in place any law that would add actual teeth into the law we passed in 2006 that says we must obey federal law on immigration, jobs and public benefits.

“Because unemployment is so high and the budget so stretched, we dare not consider universal use of the E-Verify system already in place for public employers and public works contractors because it would force too many ‘undocumented workers’ - and their dependents - to migrate out of Georgia.”

Got that?

The anchor to the very mindless argument goes like this: “We have found extremely flexible laborers who will work for much less than we would have to pay legally present workers. Americans will not do these jobs! The real answer is to pass a repeat of the 1986 federal comprehensive legalization program and create a path to citizenship for the black-market labor we are now using.”

What we are expected to overlook – and this is not being missed by the pesky Georgia citizenry – is the considerable hole in this nonsense. If Americans won’t do these jobs – a deeply offensive, un-American fable – who are the political bosses going to find to “do the jobs Americans will not do” were these bosses to pass another federal amnesty and make the now illegal aliens into … Americans?

This is a rhetorical question. The final goal is open borders. You read it here first.

A large part of the media are still very carefully omitting any mention of the H2A agricultural visa that allows that industry to import as many legal, temporary workers as needed (no ceiling).

Anti-HB 87, ultra-liberal, open borders op-ed writers – who may want to look into obtaining lobbyist credentials under the new Georgia transparency laws – are serving the anti-enforcement coalition by peddling an inane claim that goes like this: “Illegal, replacement laborers are actually an integral part of the state’s economy, particularly in rural agricultural areas. So because the ever-improving E-Verify system cannot yet catch all newly hired illegal aliens, it should be ignored.”

Got that?

Maybe anti-enforcement op-ed advocates lack the confidence to note the existence of the H2A Ag visa?

Left out of the kill-the-bill columns is that there are willing workers who want to feed their own families; workers waiting in dirt-poor nations for permission to come and work legally on a south Georgia onion farm, while earning a living wage and enjoying decent housing through the H2A program.

The Democrats continue to claim they are the party of the American working-class. But they will collectively vote “nay” on HB 87 and its intent to protect the out-of-work Americans and potential H2A visa workers.

Ending the de facto state amnesty that is currently being extended to both the illegal aliens and the illegal employers will come down to the winner of a coming battle on HB 87 in the Georgia legislature.

Stay tuned to see who wins. It will either be the coalescing alliance of the Dems and the business-interest Republicans, or the rule-of-law Republicans and the Georgia citizen majority.

Lucky for the latter group that the new governor has repeatedly promised to use the power of his office to put in place and sign such legislation and clearly endorsed state-wide use of E-Verify during the campaign. (Click here.)

From here in Marietta, we wonder out loud exactly when those promises will be kept. They will make the difference on the outcome of HB 87. Tick tock…

D.A. King is a nationally recognized authority on illegal immigration and president of the Marietta-based Dustin Inman Society, which takes a pro-enforcement position on American immigration laws. He is working toward passage of HB 87. (http://www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org)