Marietta Daily Journal

Joe Kirby:
by Joe Kirby
Columnist
July 25, 2010 12:00 AM

What has been the biggest and most incendiary issue in Georgia politics this year? Here are some clues: It’s not the economy. And it’s not education, although all of those have been much discussed.

No, the dominant issue this spring and summer has been illegal immigration and what to do about it. And that probably does not bode well for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Roy Barnes of Marietta.

Barnes will face either former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel or former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal this fall.

Barnes matches up very well with them on economic and education issues, and arguably is even stronger on them than they are. But to have any hope of winning, he must be strong on all three of the dominant issues – especially on immigration, since it is the most incendiary of the three. And right now he is not the strongest – although he has shown signs in the last 10 days of trying to catch that political “wave.”

He said at a Democratic gubernatorial debate July 16 that he would be willing to sign an Arizona-type law against illegal immigration, provided he was satisfied that it did not encourage racial profiling.

Barnes is trying to walk a hair-thin high-wire on the issue. If he were to take a pro-amnesty position typical of many Democrats, you could write the obituary right now for his hopes of winning. He immediately loses any hopes of support from stray Republicans. And my guess these days is that most Georgia independent voters – without whom he has little hope of winning – have views on immigration virtually indistinguishable from those of Handel or Deal.

Yet if he signals support for any immigration reform proposal that seems discriminatory, he immediately starts hemorrhaging support from the largest voting bloc among Georgia Democrats, African-Americans.

His debate comments were an attempt to send different messages to different constituencies at the same time.

Barnes until recent days had kept a low profile on the immigration debate, even as one of the biggest political stories of the year – the Jessica Colotl case – exploded in his own backyard.

Ms. Colotl is a Kennesaw State University student who was stopped for a minor traffic infraction while driving on campus, gave false statements to the police about herself, was discovered to be in the country illegally and then sent to an immigration detention center in Alabama. After the intercession of KSU President Dr. Dan Papp, she was released and told by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement she could remain in the country for another year to finish her degree. It’s not clear what good that would do her, because as the state’s best-known illegal alien, a “celebrity illegal,” as it were, it would be impossible for her to work legally in this state.

Barnes has finally weighed in on the Colotl case, although what he has said thus far appears somewhat contradictory. He told the Atlanta newspapers that illegal aliens should be barred from enrollment at public colleges and universities. But he said at the July 16 debate that it is wrong to expel students like Colotl who had been brought to this country by their parents at a young age. It was a compassionate response, but one that runs counter to prevailing sentiment in this state, where most people are outraged by the state Board of Regents’ position that coveted slots at the state’s public institutions of higher learning can be awarded to illegal aliens.

Yet to be determined are Barnes’ positions on immigration-related issues such as the controversial 287(g) program, used effectively in Cobb and Gwinnett counties to check the legal status of those arrested on other crimes and taken to jail; and whether he thinks the state’s 2006 law Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, which requires public employers, their contractors – and their subcontractors – to use the federal E-Verify database, should be vigorously enforced at the state level.

And what is Barnes’ position on the proposed DREAM Act which is now before the U.S. Senate and is strongly supported by Obama? That proposal is aimed at young people like Colotl who are in the country illegally after being brought here by their parents as children and who now, having enjoyed a K-12 education, desire to go to college.

It would give amnesty to virtually anyone who entered the country before age 16 and would apply to “kids” up to the age of 35. It also would let aliens “claim” to be eligible for the amnesty without offering any proof, would require the feds to undertake costly, lengthy investigations to disprove any such claims, would provide for U.S. citizenship for parents of such students, and would remove the federal ban on in-state tuition for future illegal aliens. In short, it would be a mass amnesty.

Obama and his fellow advocates for illegal aliens call it the DREAM Act, but for the rest of Americans, it would be a NIGHTMARE.

How ironic that Barnes’ candidacy, which is anchored in ever-more Democratic Cobb, could hinge on his positions this summer on an issue crystallized for most Georgians by the furor over an illegal alien in Cobb County who nearly no one had ever heard of as the year began.

Joe Kirby is Editorial Page Editor of the Marietta Daily Journal and co-author of the new “Then & Now: Marietta Revisited.”

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Joe Kirby A Hair Thin High Wire

From: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report

The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis. You are free to disseminate this information, but we request that you credit NAFBPO as being the provider.

Correo (Leon, Guanajuato) 7-20-10

Undocumented in Arizona prepare for the worst

Fearing the full implementation of the anti-immigrant law SB-1070 on July 29th, many residents are preparing to leave the state.

For the last three months the undocumented people of Arizona have prepared for the worst. Many have withdrawn their savings from the bank, informed the schools that their children will not be re-enrolled, and have sold their possessions to participate in an exodus of biblical proportions to other states such as New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and Minnesota.

Others have decided to remain in Arizona, fight the battle, rely on providence and stay in limbo until July 29th when the police may order them detained based solely on their appearance and deport them.

“We will not stop praying, but we are preparing for the worst,” assures Petra Falcon of Promise Arizona, an organization that is trying to stop the enforcement of SB-1070 and helps the migrant community cope with a hostile and persecutory campaign.

They have sent emissaries to Washington to lobby Democrat and Republican Representatives with collective prayers and direct action.

“We want them to recognize the abuse and suffering we will be subjected to and the attendant civil rights violations that go against the fundamental values of the United States,” says Sylvia Herrera of the Puente Arizona, a group that documents ill-treatment and attacks against the immigrant community.

Besides different action committees, there is a powerful coalition defending human rights that can render aid in the case of abuses and massive deportations resulting from this law.

HERE

WGCL-TV — Atlanta

Georgia lawmakers consider tougher immigration law

A number of state lawmakers are considering putting more teeth into Georgia’s immigration law, already one of the toughest in the nation. — “The Georgia law is almost tough enough if it were being enforced,” said D.A. King, who wants Georgia to enact an immigration law similar to one recently passed in Arizona…

HERE

KOLD-TV — Tucson

Coalition calls for non-compliance with S.B. 1070

Unless the court steps in, Arizona’s immigration enforcement law is set to take effect a week from Thursday. — A coalition of groups is planning a response. — They’re calling July 29th, a “Nationwide Day of Action.” — Several faith, humanitarian, and [illegal alien “rights”] groups are putting out an appeal for non- compliance with the law.

HERE

From the letters the AJC refuses to publish department : Here is one from our friend Paul Nachman in response to a letter that did see print at the AJC. ( as far as I can tell, I am blacklisted from the Opinion page of the AJC. It has happened before)

Editor:

Letter writer Caroline Knight must think the “Statue of Liberty” invites all disadvantaged people to move here. But the statue’s actual name is “Liberty Enlightening the World,” and it has nothing to do with immigration. Instead, it highlights the ordered liberty of American society as a worthy example for the world.

And the famous sonnet about “poor, huddled masses” isn’t part of the statue. It was attached to the pedestal years later without anyone’s permission, including that of citizens who’d have to make room for those masses.

Regarding Knight’s concern that America can’t survive “without an unskilled labor force,” we already have such an abundance of native-born high-school dropouts that 30% of them are unemployed.

Ed; My “30% unemployed” figure comes from the second bullet point in the executive summary of this report.

Here’s the letter to which I’m responding: (below- dak)

Paul Nachman
Bozeman, Montana

Statue of Liberty, broken legal system at odds

Regarding “Those urging reform don’t live near problem” (“Readers write,” Opinion, July 12): while the writer may claim he “did not invite any illegals to this country,” the Statue of Liberty clearly states: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses …”

Immigration restrictions put in place during the latter part of the 20th century meant that the only way the poor, huddled masses could enter this country was illegally. The immigration system is clearly broken. A nation cannot survive without an unskilled labor force. If we no longer believe in the principles inscribed at the Statue of Liberty, perhaps we should just give her back to France.

Caroline Knight, Atlanta

Rasmussen Reports

68% say political class doesn’t care what most Americans think

The frustration that voters are expressing in 2010 goes much deeper than specific policies. At a more fundamental level, voters just don’t believe politicians are interested in the opinions of ordinary Americans. — A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 68% believe…

HERE

HERE

WE HAVE MEDIUM (M), LARGE (L), EXTRA LARGE (XL) AND EXTRA EXTRA LARGE (XXL)

WE NEED HELP… T-SHIRT OFFER

After five years of hard work, the Dustin Inman Society is now a well known and respected source of information and action aimed at the crime of illegal immigration and illegal employment. We are making a difference. My personal funds, which we used to create and operate DIS for years are now exhausted.

I am very proud of what we have accomplished and that we have all the right enemies. Like La Raza, the SPLC, the ACLU and the open borders anti-enforcement mob at the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. Don’t let the contrived name fool you – GALEO is nothing more than a corporation set up by a far-left radical here named Sam Zamarripa to perpetually advance the cause of amnesty-again and to stop all enforcement of the immigration laws that don’t further that agenda.

Jane Fonda is a “founding friend”.. see HERE # 32.

GALEO gets assistance from the University of Georgia’s Fanning Institute, funding from State Farm Insurance, is assisted by Coca-Cola, Georgia Power and many other corporations that care little for the rights of everyday citizens when it comes to illegal immigration.

Here at the Dustin Inman Society, we depend on donations to continue our efforts.

HERE is a sample of who aids and assists the GALEO anti-enforcement goons when they have a fund raiser. (see “Thank you to our sponsors”)

I advise all of you to get on the GALEO email list and to look around their Website to keep up with their un-American agenda.

The long and the short of this message is that we cannot continue to fight the crazies without your help. I am humiliated when I must ask for help with the expenses that must be covered here each month.

As a way of saying THANK YOU to generous donors and to perhaps encourage more donations – which can be tax deductable if you choose – I have made up some t-shirts that are sure to annoy the open borders mob and make our position clear: NO MORE AMNESTY FOR AMERICA! and WE SUPPORT ARIZONA!

From now until Labor day or while they last, all donors who are able to make a TAX DEDUCTABLE CONTRIBUTION to the Dustin Inman Society of $100.00 or more will get one of our t-shirts mailed to them from here. We have two different t-shirts, you pick which one you want. Both are in English.

You can see both t-shirts HERE. WE HAVE MEDIUM (M), LARGE (L), EXTRA LARGE (XL) AND EXTRA EXTRA LARGE (XXL)

No laughing at the model! I am particularly proud of the message and design on the ‘No More Amnesty’ shirt. Click HERE to see where the pro-American message came from! Everyone knows that “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” is 21st century code for…amnesty-again!

I know times are bad all over and am very grateful for those of you who have sent in donations through the years. I don’t always have time to send a thank you letter, but please know your help will never be forgotten and that together, we are making a difference.

For anyone who wants to donate and get a t-shirt, please click HERE for directions on how to make your contribution tax deductable and don’t forget to let me know you have sent in a donation and tell me which t-shirt you want. I will need size and snail-mail address too.

I wore the “I SUPPORT ARIZONA” t-shirt to a large local event this week and got as lot of compliments and “hey, where can I get one of those…?” comments.

THANK YOU!

I know times are tough for many others too…if you are unable to help financially, please help us get more people on our list HERE. Please pass this around!

CLICK HERE IF YOU ARE ABLE TO HELP.

WE HAVE MEDIUM (M), LARGE (L), EXTRA LARGE (XL) AND EXTRA EXTRA LARGE (XXL)

Las Vegas Review-Journal

Fingerprint database to ID criminal illegals

A federal database that uses the fingerprints of convicted criminals to establish immigration status and determine criminal history went into effect this week in Washoe County, the first Nevada location to begin using the resource. — The program, called Secure Communities, is expected to come to Clark County by 2013…

HERE

Greg Farley — Sonoran News — Cave Creek, Arizona

Terry Anderson – A man’s man

An absolute icon of the anti-illegal immigration community, Terry Anderson passed away this week. Terry was the host of the Terry Anderson Show, broadcast on Sunday nights from Los Angeles (KRLA) for over ten years. Here is a man who deserved every bit of the title “patriot.”

HERE