My guest column in today’s MDJ

Contact info for each candidate for Georgia governor:

Nathan Deal HERE

Karen Handel HERE

Roy Barnes HERE

Marietta Daily Journal

July 28, 2010

COMMENTARY

D.A. King: Candidate questions

Trio of gubernatorial hopefuls quizzed on illegal immigration

Below are six questions on illegal immigration I sent to the three remaining candidates for Georgia governor (Republicans in a runoff, Nathan Deal and Karen Handel, and Democrat Roy Barnes) Tuesday:

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Georgia ranks 50th among the states in most year-over-year job losses and has lost more jobs than any other state except California.

Georgia ranks sixth in the nation for the population of “undocumented workers” and is home to more black-market labor than the state of Arizona. Most Georgians realize that illegal immigration is not a separate issue from “jobs, jobs jobs.”

1.) Will you commit to using the power of the Governor’s office to put in place legislation that requires use of the no-cost federal E-Verify employment verification system to obtain or renew a business license/ ‘occupational tax certificate’ in Georgia?

This is a YES or No question.

One requirement (OCGA 13-10-90) in the 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act is that all public employers and their contractors use the federal E-Verify system. According to a recent list provided by the E-Verify office there is not yet 100% compliance from local governments.

The effective date of the mandate was July 1, 2007.

2.) What will you do, if anything, to improve the law to protect jobs for Georgians on Public Works contracts for legal labor?

Georgia law requires all official agencies in Georgia to use the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to verify the eligibility of non-citizen applicants for Public Benefits, after an affidavit process.

The effective date was 1 July 2007 and then another on 1 January 2010. (OCGA 50-36-1)

There is no real penalty for ignoring the law and legislation aimed at creating sanctions has been gutted and defeated in each of the last two sessions (HB 2 in 2009, HB 1164 in 2010). According to a list provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as of July 1, there are only 211 agencies in the process of gaining SAVE authority with 189 active users.

There are 159 counties and 535 municipalities in Georgia. The number of other government agencies administering Public Benefits is unknown. There is no state oversight or educational agency to monitor and measure compliance or to improve effectiveness.

3.) Given the state of the Georgia budget, what will you do, if anything, to improve existing Georgia law and procedure to gain compliance with the code that is aimed at stopping Georgia’s finite and shrinking taxpayer-funded public benefits from going to ineligible illegal aliens?

Currently, there is much debate about the actual dollar cost of illegal immigration and illegal employment to Georgians. What is not in dispute is the high cost of K-12 education for illegals and the children of illegals. These costs are followed by medical treatment, incarceration and translation services.

4.) On the premise that we cannot effectively change what we do not measure, will you commit to putting in place questionnaires and monitoring procedures to ascertain the citizenship/immigration status of individuals and families receiving federally mandated taxpayer funded benefits so as to create an official database from which to gain public knowledge of the real cost of illegal immigration to Georgians?

This is a YES or NO question.

5.) If elected, will you do whatever necessary to prohibit illegal aliens from attending any school in Georgia’s university system and our technical college system?This is a YES or NO question.

According to multiple media reports people who have been residing and taking jobs illegally in Arizona are migrating out of that state in fear of recent state legislation, the ‘Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act’ (SB 1070).

Nationwide, it has been proven repeatedly that illegal aliens leave areas and communities and states where immigration, benefits and employment laws are enforced. Departing illegals leave behind job openings and allow wages to go up for lawful labor.

Strain on state and local budgets is relieved due to an increased tax base and a decrease in the need for providing benefits and services to ineligible, illegal, low wage recipients.

The Arizona law mirrors long standing federal law and most agree that it is a proven deterrent and like federal law, clearly prohibits the use of race or ethnicity as reasonable cause for enforcement.

6.) Will you commit to using the power of the Georgia Governor’s office to create, pass and sign into law legislation based on Arizona’s SB 1070 – including making illegal immigration a state crime in Georgia?

I will let you know their responses next week, right here.

D.A. King is president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society, which is opposed to illegal immigration. On the Web: www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – D A King Candidate questions