UNG Vanguard, student newspaper

October, 6, 2015

Pro-Enforcement Activist delivers immigration speech

“Someone has got to be the adult in the room, so to speak, and do what is best for your country.”

These are the words that D.A. King charged the audience with Thursday Oct. 1, while delivering a talk on immigration.

King was the second speaker in the immigration series, arranged by political science lecturer Archibald Kielly.

King began his speech by saying that just over one million legal immigrants enter the United States every year and noted that his sister was adopted from South Korea.

King is pro-immigration law enforcement and believes the well-being of America should be the number one concern, when looking at the number of immigrants we take in each year. He also said America should set sustainable and logical levels of immigration numbers, which will benefit citizens of the United States.

“We are not helping ourselves as a country if we bring in more than it takes to sustain the American dream,” King said.

King offered some numbers on immigration and the workforce collected by the Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Department. Every year in the United States, four million people turn 18 and just over two million immigrants and guest workers enter the American workforce, according to the center’s numbers. King said that there is no data on how many illegal immigrants enter the country annually.

These numbers eliminate the argument that our workforce couldn’t get by without illegal immigration, King said.

King referenced the $10 head of lettuce analogy, which explains without illegal immigrant labor, something as simple as a head of lettuce would cost consumers ten dollars.

“This simply is not true. Less than 10 percent at retail price is cost of labor,” King said.

King offered an interesting perspective on the Syrian refugee crisis, and said he recently spoke on the phone with a friend who lives in the Black Forest in Germany and fears the refugees.

The European Union has an open border policy and anyone is welcome to immigrate to the first EU country that they come upon, King said. These individuals aren’t merely seeking refuge—they are going to the countries “with the most giveaways,” King said.

King also said that the words immigrant and refugee are not synonymous and the word refugee is “a word so abused it has no meaning.”

King continued and shared his belief that failing to enforce immigration laws will result in acts of terrorism.

“It is merely a matter of time before an act of terror results from not enforcing our laws,” King said.

King is the president of the Dustin Inman Society. The society was named for Inman, a 16-year-old Georgia resident who was killed in a car crash in Ellijay, Georgia on June 16, 2000. The driver of the car which struck the Inman family vehicle was living in the country illegally.

The first speaker in the series, Arturo Corso, opted for an open discussion format, leaning toward sympathy for the immigrants’ side. Corso concluded his discussion by telling students a few things about King. King spent the first few minutes of his speech addressing Corso comments.

King said that allegations made about him being a member of a hate group are untrue, while claims that he is a felon are true. In 1977, King pled guilty to illegal gambling. He was betting on football games, paid a $3,000 fine and spent two years on probation for the crime.

King then placed an enlargement of his certificate of honorable discharge on a tripod for the audience to see.

“There are no words to discuss the anger [and] disgust I feel over [Corso] telling a room of young people that I was dishonorably discharged,” King said.