D.A. King: Battle lines drawn on immigration enforcement bill
by D.A. King

Columnist

The Marietta Daily Journal

February 18, 2011

Georgians will be interested to know about the latest United States Border Patrol apprehension figures.

Those brave American heroes captured 463,382 people from all over the world coming across our borders illegally and uninspected in fiscal year 2010, which ended Sept. 30. Official and very optimistic estimates are that they are able to catch about one of every four or five illegal crossers.

Please take a minute to do the math. And remember that many of the illegal aliens who escaped capture have made their way to Georgia and are now taking a job and using a benefit or service here. Maybe even testifying against pending bills aimed at immigration and employment enforcement in the legislative committees under the Gold Dome.

According to new General Accountability Office report, the Border Patrol only has “operational control” of 44 percent of the Southern border with that paradise to our south. That’s 873 miles out of the nearly 2,000 mile border supposed to separate the U.S. and Mexico.

If we want to effectively address illegal immigration in Georgia, we must do it ourselves.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, most illegal immigration comes from Mexico. Georgia ranks number 6 in the nation, with about 480,000 illegal aliens squatting here. (Many demographers tell us to double that number). DHS also reports that from 2000 to 2009, Georgia had the highest rate of increase in an illegal population in the nation, at 115 percent. Arizona, with fewer illegals (460,000) had an increase of 42 percent. We have an official unemployment rate of about 10 percent.

Which brings me to the current ongoing debate in the Georgia legislature on HB 87, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011.

The public comment hearings for HB 87 have concluded in the House Judiciary (non-civil) Committee. Next week they vote.

The lines between the pro-enforcement majority and the anti-enforcement special interest coalition were never on more clear display. Many shocked everyday Georgians in attendance saw for themselves the process of well-funded, professional special interest lobbying groups vs. “We the People” for the first time.

The common talking point from the Libertarians, the Chamber, the Farm Bureau, the ACLU and the snarling ethnic-based illegal alien lobby this year goes like this: “Because of the budget crisis, we can’t afford to put in place any law that would add actual teeth into the law we passed in 2006 to protect our jobs and public benefits. Because unemployment is so high, we should not consider statewide use of the E-Verify system already in place for public employers and public works contractors. It would force too many ‘undocumented workers’ – and their dependents – to migrate out of Georgia.”

I am not making this up.

The very mindless argument goes on sort of like this: “We have found extremely, um, ‘flexible’ laborers who will work for much less than we would have to pay legally present workers. Including construction, Americans will not do these jobs. The real answer is to pass a repeat of the 1986 federal comprehensive legalization program and create a path to citizenship for the black-market labor we are now using.”

What we are expected to overlook is the enormous hole in this nonsense. If Americans won’t do these jobs – a deeply offensive, un-American lie – who are the political bosses going to find to “do the jobs Americans will not do” were they to pass another amnesty and make the now illegal aliens into American citizens?

The battle lines on ending the ongoing de facto state amnesty, real enforcement in Georgia and the outcome of HB 87 have been drawn. On one side is the much of the business community, the Farm Bureau, the ACLU, the state Democratic Party – and the Chamber of Commerce Republicans.

The other side is made up of the Rule of Law Republicans and the majority of the citizens of Georgia.

Lucky for the latter group that the new governor has repeatedly promised to use the power of his office to put in place and sign such legislation and clearly endorsed state-wide use of E-Verify during the campaign.

But many working Georgians – including this writer – wonder out loud exactly when, and now if, those promises will be kept.

All of Georgia should be watching.

D.A. King is president of the Cobb-based Dustin Inman Society, which is pro-enforcement on American immigration laws. He is currently working in favor of HB 87 in the Georgia Capitol.

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – D A King Battle lines drawn on immigration enforcement bill

Wall Street Journal

U.S. Businesses Everywhere: Are your immigration papers in order?

The Obama administration’s somewhat under-the-radar crackdown on illegal immigration is expanding. And for now, one of its its primary targets is U.S. business. — The federal government is requiring as many as 1,000 companies to turn over their employment records for inspection…

HERE

Paul Bedard — U.S.News & World Report

Border Patrol controls just 44% of southern border

While they’ve made strides in arresting illegals and building a fence along the U.S.-Mexico line, the Border Patrol only has “operational control” of 44 percent of the southern border, and of that only 15 percent is air tight, according to new General Accountability Office report… ]

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Insider Advantage Georgia

( Insider Advantage Georgia is a premium subscription Website. The below is reposted here with permission. We thank Insider Advantage and Gary Reese, editor, for the courtesy)

D.A. King gives his unabashed update of the illegal immigration fight at the Gold Dome

D.A. King

February17 2011

The public comment hearings for Rep. Matt Ramsey’s state immigration and employment enforcement bill, HB 87, have been completed in the House Judiciary (non-civil) Committee.

Here are some observations from the Capitol on those hearings you aren’t likely to read elsewhere:

The lines between the pro-enforcement majority and the anti-enforcement special interest coalition were never on more clear or constant display. It was quite interesting for this reluctant denizen of the Gold Dome to watch the everyday Georgians in attendance see for the first time the process of well-funded and entrenched professional lobbying groups vs. “We the People.”

In a 2010 poll by the Georgia Newspaper Partnership, 68 percent of respondents said they support an “Arizona-style” crackdown on illegal immigration here in Georgia.

This clearly has the real powers in Georgia completely freaked.

The talking point shared by the Libertarians, the Farm Bureau, the ACLU, the business lobby, and the resentful, open-borders, ethnic-based, illegal-alien lobby this year goes like this: “Because of the budget crisis, we can’t afford to put in place any law that would add actual teeth into the law we passed in 2006 that says we must obey federal law on immigration, jobs and public benefits.

“Because unemployment is so high and the budget so stretched, we dare not consider universal use of the E-Verify system already in place for public employers and public works contractors because it would force too many ‘undocumented workers’ – and their dependents – to migrate out of Georgia.”

Got that?

The anchor to the very mindless argument goes like this: “We have found extremely flexible laborers who will work for much less than we would have to pay legally present workers. Americans will not do these jobs! The real answer is to pass a repeat of the 1986 federal comprehensive legalization program and create a path to citizenship for the black-market labor we are now using.”

What we are expected to overlook – and this is not being missed by the pesky Georgia citizenry – is the considerable hole in this nonsense. If Americans won’t do these jobs – a deeply offensive, un-American fable – who are the political bosses going to find to “do the jobs Americans will not do” were these bosses to pass another federal amnesty and make the now illegal aliens into … Americans?

This is a rhetorical question. The final goal is open borders. You read it here first.

A large part of the media are still very carefully omitting any mention of the H2A visa agricultural which allows that industry to import as many legal, temporary workers as needed (no ceiling).

Anti-HB 87, ultra-liberal, open borders op-ed writers – who may want to look into obtaining lobbyist credentials under the new Georgia transparency laws – are serving the anti-enforcement coalition by peddling an inane claim that goes like this: “Illegal, replacement laborers are actually an integral part of the state’s economy, particularly in rural agricultural areas. So because the ever-improving E-Verify system cannot yet catch all newly hired illegal aliens, it should be ignored.”

Got that?

Maybe anti-enforcement op-ed advocates lack the confidence to note the existence of the H2A Ag visa?

Left out of the kill-the-bill columns is that there are willing workers who want to feed their own families; workers waiting in dirt-poor nations for permission to come and work legally on a south Georgia onion farm, while earning a living wage and enjoying decent housing through the H2A program.

The Democrats continue to claim they are the party of the American working-class. But they will collectively vote “nay” on HB 87 and its intent to protect the out-of-work Americans and potential H2A visa workers.

Ending the de facto state amnesty that is currently being extended to both the illegal aliens and the illegal employers will come down to the winner of a coming battle on HB 87 in the Georgia legislature.

Stay tuned to see who wins. It will either be the coalescing alliance of the Dems and the business-interest Republicans, or the rule-of-law Republicans and the Georgia citizen majority.

Lucky for the latter group that the new governor has repeatedly promised to use the power of his office to put in place and sign such legislation and clearly endorsed state-wide use of E-Verify during the campaign. (Click here.)

From here in Marietta, we wonder out loud exactly when those promises will be kept. They will make the difference on the outcome of HB 87.

Tick tock…

D.A. King is a nationally recognized authority on illegal immigration and president of the Marietta-based Dustin Inman Society, which takes a pro-enforcement position on American immigration laws. He is working toward passage of HB 87. www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org

3.4 Free Trade and Migration

“We support the removal of governmental impediments to free trade. Political freedom and escape
from tyranny demand that individuals not be unreasonably constrained by government in the
crossing of political boundaries. Economic freedom demands the unrestricted movement of human
as well as financial capital across national borders. However, we support control over the entry into
our country of foreign nationals who pose a credible threat to security, health or property.”

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Most, but not all Republicans are friends of the effort to fight illegal immigration. As a party, the Republicans have the best record of securing the borders. Democrats as a party want wide scale amnesty in order to increase their voters base among low skilled workers. Libertarians have ideologically supported open borders for decades. Now, I do not want you to think that there are not some Democrats or Libertarians who do not recognize that the flood of illegal immigrants is a legitimate law and order issue that is neither oppressive nor insensitive to the needs to foreign citizens. Yet, the fact remains there are very few cases where the Democrat or Libertarian officials/activists are better on the border issues than the Republicans.

With that said, not all Republicans are on the right side of the American people. There is a freshman Republican State Representative who spoken out forcefully against state measures to fight illegal immigration and is leading the fight against requiring a basic understanding of English before taking a Drivers exam. There are veteran committee chairmen who are carrying the legislative water for industries and local governments opposed to the requiring of legal residential verification programs like E-Verify.

What can be done? One of the best arena’s to fight ideological battles within a party is at the local conventions. Georgia Republicans are having their County conventions in March, District conventions in April, and their State convention in May. The current party leaders will take resolution suggestions before these conventions. Long time conservatives will dominate the resolutions committee’s. If strong resolutions against illegal immigration are approved it will send a message that the grassroots opposes any moderation on this issue. We also need to identify those handful of elected Republicans resisting the will of the people on this issue.

URGENT!!!

ACTION NEEDED! YES TO HB 87!!! (please save this email for future use – unless there is a change, this is the only DIS alert you will receive this week)

The public comment hearings are over for Rep. Matt Ramsey’s HB 87, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011. See a three minute news video on the last hearing HERE. (Jan Barton rocks!)

HB 87 is in the House Judiciary (non-civil) Committee. It must get a majority “YES” vote to pass out and then go on to the House Rules committee, then another vote – then on to the House chamber for a “floor vote” by all of the Ga Reps.

WE MUST WIN EVERY VOTE TO GET THE BILL TO THE SENATE where we start all over again.

This is the bill that will put teeth into the 2006 Georgia law and save JOBS, JOBS, JOBS as well as budget dollars by denying new jobs and benefits to illegal aliens and encourage them to migrate out of Georgia. The crazies HATE us and this bill and have been making calls and sending emails to Reps as well as filling the Capitol with illegal political stickers and aggressively intimidating pro-enforcement Americans who dare to speak out for the rule of law in their own state Capitol. More on that later.

MOST OF THE PRESSURE AGAINST HB 87 IS COMING FROM THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND THE FARM BUREAU – BOTH ARE VERY RICH, WANT TO KEEP THE ILLEGAL LABOR AND HAVE A GREAT DEAL OF POWER. WE CAN BEAT THEM IF WE MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD!!!

HB 87 is the culmination of 7 years of work. We can keep Georgia safe for Americans and real, legal immigrants if you will help me for the next few weeks. Starting today and everyday this week. PLEASE KEEP UP THE “YES TO HB 87” CAMPAIGN UNTIL I ASK YOU TO STOP?

Right now we need two things each morning and afternoon this week. NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE!

Contact info below linked into each committee member’s name below! ( soon)

1) We need each of you to call all of the below Georgia Representatives who are on the Judiciary committee and deliver a polite, respectful message to the staffer who takes your call. THEN: send a back up e-mail with a similar positive message. ( note to those of you who cannot call from work, please make the calls in the evening and leave a message on the Rep’s voice mail, then send your e-mail. That includes you SUE!)

2) PLEASE pass this on to anyone you know who is pro-enforcement on American immigration laws. Also, ask them to sign up for our email list to receive further info on how to help.

Remember, the open borders, illegal alien lobby has millions of dollars and has been calling for weeks on this. IF you don’t make your voice heard, we can loose our children’s Georgia! HELP REP MATT RAMSEY. The job you save may be your own. The life you save may be a family member!

” Please tell your boss I am very concerned about the illegal immigration problem and its negative effect on jobs, benefits and public safety. E-VERIFY is the answer all Georgians have been waiting for. Please pass on my request for your boss to vote YES, DO PASS on HB 87, YES to E-VERIFY TO SAVE JOBS… I am a voting citizen and a supporter of the Dustin Inman Society and D.A. King. We are watching the bill carefully for our 2012 statewide voters guide. Please vote YES on HB 87 until it becomes law in Georgia..”

Your email can simply say “GEORGIA CITIZENS ARE WATCHING! PLEASE VOTE YES ON HB 87 !” Use you own words if you can, but keep the positive pressure on the Reps..they are getting a lot of pressure to vote no from the Chamber of Commerce and the Farm Bureau!

Just click on each committee members name to see contact info. IF I have made an error, the master contact list is HERE.

Rich GolickChairman

Mark HatfieldVice Chairman

Charlice ByrdSecretary

Alex Atwood

Doug Collins

Christian Coomer

Sharon Cooper

Bobby Franklin

Yasmin Neal – *A Dem, but new and a police officer. She is pro-enforcement.

BJ Pak

Matt Ramsey

Ed Setzler

All of the committee members listed above need polite, respectful calls and emails: (most GOP members are on the pro-American side of HB 87 – but they need to hear from people all over Georgia all this week to show them the level of support and that we are all watching. There is no need to waste time contacting most of the Democrat members. The myth that the Georgia Democrat party supports and defends American workers will be exposed when HB 87 is voted on in committee and on the floor. The Dems will vote NO.

If you are not using the FREE fax from your home computer ( you don’t need a fax machine) service from www.NumbersUSA.com. PLEASE START TODAY!

If you are already using the free service, please send the corresponding faxes that NumbersUSA has for this bill! IT’S FREE!

PLEASE MAKE THE CALLS IN THE MORNINGS AND IN THE AFTERNOON – WHEN YOU HANG UP, PLEASE SEND AN E-MAIL. EVERYDAY THIS WEEK. PLEASE HELP US! I’ll paint your house! 🙂

PLEASE see the DIS blog for updates

THANK YOU!

PLEASE make the calls!