Not many Georgians have heard the name “Robert Rosas.” Or know that on July 23, he was killed in the line of duty. Sadly, that includes elected and appointed officials who run our local governments.”

Leaving behind a wife, a 2-year-old son and an 11-month-old daughter, three-year Border Patrol veteran Rosas was gunned down at the California-Mexico border while tracking a group of suspected illegal border crossers.

While it was multiple bullet wounds that took his life, patrol Agent Rosas’ real cause of death was the organized crime of illegal immigration.

Another fact on which far too many Georgians are astonishingly unaware: According to the U.S. Census, between 2000 and 2005, Georgia suffered the highest rate of increase in the population of illegal aliens in the entire nation, at 114 percent — with Arizona, a border state, being second with 45 percent.

In December 2005, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Zogby poll showed about 80 percent of Georgians were fed up with the illegal immigration and illegal employment crisis here and demanded that the state government address the issue.

So the General Assembly did exactly that. Garnering international media attention, getting the legislation passed was a heck of a fight.

In April 2006, state Sen. Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, was successful in having his comprehensive reform legislation — the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act (GSICA) — signed into law by Gov. Sonny Perdue.

The law went into effect July 1, 2007.

At the time, not many people dreamed elected officials in most of the state’s local governments would fail to observe the “compliance” part of the title. But that is exactly what happened.

In addition to using the federal E-Verify system to verify employment eligibility of newly-hired employees of both public employers and their contractors, the law mandates that all local governments obtain a sworn affidavit attesting to U.S. citizenship or lawful alien status from all applicants for “Public Benefits.” False swearing is a felony.

All agencies administering these benefits are supposed to obtain a “Memorandum of Agreement” with the federal government to use a database called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements” (SAVE) system to verify non-citizens eligibility using immigration status.

While the term “public benefits” brings to mind welfare benefits, according to 1996 federal — and now state — regulations, they also include post-secondary education and all “professional licenses, or commercial licenses provided by an agency of a state or local government or by appropriated funds of a state or local government.”

Put a different way, not to mention common sense, by not having obeyed the state law designed to require Georgia governments to comply with federal law, each time a Georgia city or county issues — or renews — a business/commercial license without obtaining a sworn affidavit of lawful presence in the U.S. from the applicant and then verifying alien’s status using the SAVE program, that local government is in violation of the law.

They are also encouraging illegal immigration.

With brave Border Patrol agents risking — and loosing — their lives to apprehend illegal border crossers from all over the world, the concept that we would reward those who escape capture and make it to Georgia with a license to do business should be a matter of very focused attention by voters paying attention.

Not to mention the media.

One can only imagine the headlines if the same local governments illegally rewarding illegal aliens were to violate the laws granting education and no-cost “emergency” health care to the same people who are right now sneaking past Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas’ replacement.

According to an August U.S. Department of Homeland Security list, less than 20 local governments and agencies in Georgia are in compliance with the laws and authorized to use the SAVE system. There are 159 counties and 535 municipalities in Georgia. With little media coverage, the 2009 General Assembly, GSICA was clarified and expanded. But the intent of the original law always has been clear: Stop illegally rewarding illegal immigration.

Because all politics are local, curious readers may want to check with their local business license offices to see if their own governments are in compliance with the state law that, again, simply says that in Georgia, we must obey federal law.

Americans not only have the right to insist on the equal application of our law — we have that duty.

Robert Rosas did his duty. So should all of us.

D.A. King of Marietta is president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society, which advocates for the enforcement of immigration laws. He lobbied in favor the GSICA.On the Web: (http://www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org.)