Newton Citizen ( Newton County Georgia)

April 27, 2007

Newton GOP hosts anti-illegal immigration activist

By Adam Thompson
Staff Reporter
adam.thompson@rockdalecitizen.com

COVINGTON — Fresh off of a rally within shouting distance of the White House, Marietta-based activist D.A. King brought his anti-illegal immigration message to a cozy meeting of the Newton County Republican Party this week.

King, speaking on Thursday to a group of about 15 that included three local state legislators, cast the current enactment of U.S. immigration policy as “national suicide.”

“I came here to beg you to help me and a growing number of Americans opposed to what’s coming out of Congress,” said King, standing in the meeting room of the Covington Women’s Club.

In the picture painted by King, wealthy interests are keeping border security and immigration reform efforts out of Congress and the White House while the United States is being infiltrated by about 1 million illegal immigrants each year.

“I would challenge anyone to say we are not being invaded,” he said.

The presence of an estimated 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States — King claims it’s more like 25 million — poses a threat to the country’s national security and its identity, he said.

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.
King is a former Marine and a former insurance agent who used to travel around the region, spending two or three days a week in Newton County, he said.

He quit his job three years ago and now funds all of his activities himself through his savings and two refinancings of his home in Marietta, he said.

As the founder of the Dustin Inman Society — named after a friend’s son who was killed seven years ago in a car wreck involving an illegal immigrant — King contributes his opinion to newspapers and television news shows, and delivers his message at large rallies and grass-roots gatherings.

He has been asking federal and state legislators for an “equal application of the law” when it comes to immigration.

He is quick to point out that he represents neither Republicans nor Democrats and does not tolerate any anti-immigration rhetoric motivated by race — his is a legal argument, he said.

King’s group has also asked that English be formally declared the national language, “so that nobody misunderstands us,” he said.

Congress has yet to pass any illegal immigration reform despite various proposals being tossed around, including the guest worker program supported by President George W. Bush.

Though full amnesty has not been a popular proposal, the temporary visa and guest worker proposals amount to just that, King said.

On Thursday, he advocated what he called “attrition through enforcement”: securing, at any cost, the United States’ border with Mexico and then enforcing existing laws a little at a time — a process that “won’t be solved overnight.”

State Rep. Doug Holt, R-Social Circle, who attended the meeting Thursday, thanked King for his efforts to prevent what “could ultimately lead to the balkanization of the United States.”

Along with Holt, State Rep. John Lunsford, R-McDonough, and State Sen. John Douglas, R-Covington, were in attendance.

Steve Bray, the Newton Republican Party’s new chairman, invited King to speak and said he hoped the activist’s address would “kickstart” a new, energized period for the party.