Marietta Daily Journal
October 9, 2009

Open-borders lobby: Ignore ’96 immigration law!
D.A. King
Guest columnist

With more than 15 million Americans out of a job and “undocumented workers” – primarily from Mexico – still sneaking over our borders, most of us recognize that illegal immigration is not and never has been about a “labor shortage.”

From the illegal alien’s point of view, it is about the reality that life in the USA is better than in the Third World. For now.

From the far-left fringe like the ACLU and the rabid, ethnic-based open-borders lobby, illegal immigration – and the growing constituency it brings – is about increasing political power needed to tear down America, its traditions, common language and our national unity. Not to mention the hated immigration laws.

Groups like the ACLU, La Raza and the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials oppose every action aimed at punishment for the fugitives who have avoided capture at our borders. Their constant race-baiting smears have become merely a transparent reminder of their true allegiance.

For the chamber of commerce it is about a constant supply of “cheap” labor. Witness the years-long series of lawsuits by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce intended to stop a Bush-era executive order that mandates use of the federal E-Verify database for federal contractors. The order was only recently actually enacted. Score one for the American worker – if it is actually enforced.

The common enemy of all of the groups in this un-American alliance? Enforcement of American immigration laws. Which brings us to section 287(g) of the 1996 federal Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Simply known as “287(g),” it provides for expanding the existing and inherent authority of local law enforcement to help the under-staffed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency locate and deport illegally present aliens who have been arrested for additional crimes. That includes any crime. 287(g) was never intended to focus only on illegals arrested for felonies. And that no one is deported for a broken tail light. The singular reason for deportation is violation of immigration laws.

Because it is far too successful, 287(g) is under relentless nationwide attack. The demand from those who depend on illegal alien “victims” is that Obama end the program that has been so efficient in repatriating illegals discovered in our jails.

Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren was the first in Georgia to use the 287(g) program. He has found thousands of illegal aliens in his jail and turned them over to ICE since July 2007. There are now three other sheriffs with 287(g) authority, with Sheriff Butch Conway in Gwinnett sending 18 deputies who work in his jail to be federally trained next week.

The open-borders extremists are apoplectic. Their assumption was that President Obama would somehow stop enforcement of immigration laws – especially use of 287(g) – when he moved into the White House. He can’t. He must be able to at least claim he is trying to enforce immigration laws when he begins to peddle another amnesty early next year.

So the absurd howls that screening all foreign-born prisoners coming into local jails for immigration status is “racial profiling” and that removing illegal aliens from our midst somehow “makes the community less safe” have increased in volume and frequency.

As I write, the ACLU and a group called “Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment” are reportedly planning a Monday protest against 287(g) on Marietta Square. Interested readers can “Google” an ACLU “how to” publication on opposing 287(g) titled “Local Police and Immigration Laws Workshop” to see what to expect in the way of mindless talking points.

In the Gwinnett jail during a 26-day trial run for 287(g) this year, more than 900 illegals were discovered and deported. More than half had a previous criminal history. New charges included murder (13), rape (15), kidnapping (11), child molestation (23) and 154 for felony drug offenses.

If the anti-enforcement fringe actually shows up on the Square Monday – about 10 a.m. – readers may want to stop by and ask the protesters exactly how deporting any illegal aliens has made any American community “less safe.” I will.

D.A. King is president of the Cobb-based Dustin Inman Society, which advocates for enforcement of immigration and employment laws.

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