http://www.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/civil-rights-groups-urge-lawmakers-to-change-unlic/nqrHx/

Civil rights groups urge lawmakers to change unlicensed driver laws

Latino civil rights organizations are arguing that an eight-year-old law is making felons out of immigrants who drive without a license in Georgia.

The Atlanta-based Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights and the Advancement Project from Washington D.C., released a report Wednesday that also says the law’s increased fines for driving without a license forces families who struggle economically deeper into poverty. The civil rights groups are urging lawmakers to revoke the law, although the 2016 General Assembly session ends Thursday and there has been nothing filed to do so.

Senate Bill 350, sponsored by former state Sen. John J. Wiles, R-Marietta, passed the state General Assembly in 2008. The law increased penalties for unlicensed drivers and made the fourth such offense in five years a felony.

People with no legal status are unable to obtain driver’s licenses under Georgia law (italics mine, dak)  but limited public transportation makes it difficult to get around without driving in the state.

Wiles said he sponsored the legislation after an unlicensed driver struck and killed Cobb County Sheriff’s Deputy Loren Lilly on New Year’s Eve 2006. The former state senator argues that the legislation does not discriminate against any groups but rather is designed to “protect citizens from unlicensed drivers.”

The two civil rights groups disagree and claim the law “was created in particular to look for people to self-deport” or leave the state.

Civil rights groups urge lawmakers to change unlicensed driver laws photo

“Some immigrants are not able to produce driver’s licenses, and if they’re arrested for the first time they’re paying between $700 to $1,000,” said Adelina Nicholls, executive director of Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights. “The city of Roswell is charging people $3,500 in bond for the first offense.”

Ignacio Portillo, a contractor, claims his family has suffered severe economic consequences as a result of Georgia’s unlicensed driver laws. Portillo said police have stopped him several times in the past few years and that his fines have increased with each traffic citation.

“What we have found is that it is a racially discriminatory law and it’s having a disproportionate impact on communities of color,” said Flavia Jimenez, senior attorney and project coordinator of immigrant justice for Advancement Project.

Supporters of the legislation argue that the law is not discriminatory in nature but rather seeks to address the risk that unlicensed, and often uninsured, drivers pose.

“As a taxpayer, we’re tired of people who are in this country illegally playing the victim,” said Shawn Hanley, vice chairman of the Georgia Immigration Enforcement Review Board. “I have to drive a four-year-old in my car, and I have to worry about a guy down the street who’s an unlicensed driver and who’s on his fourth ticket in five years and has no insurance.”

Wiles said, “The law simply seeks to punish people who have repeatedly violated the state law of Georgia by driving without a license four times in the last five years. If you want to exercise a driving privilege you must have a driver’s license.”

“You don’t want people to get prosecuted. You want people to follow the law. You don’t want to lock people up.”

Wiles also said neither organization reached out to him when making the report, and said it “lacks any balance.”

ImmigrationReform.com

Debt and Taxes: How Immigration Is Changing Our Schools (Even If No One Is Allowed to Talk About It)
MARCH 24, 2016

BY MARC FERRIS
Desk and chairs in classroomThe United States stands on the cusp of profound changes in its schools. Parents and taxpayers, get used to the new reality: increased tax burdens to pay for services and schools to accommodate new immigrants – including those here illegally and the children of those who came here illegally. But the subject is taboo because political correctness has stymied opposition to unfettered immigration, legal or otherwise.

There are many indicators that our schools are under strain from the recent wave of immigration, including tens of thousands of unaccompanied alien minors who crossed the border from Central America. Schools are required to provide services to anyone who shows up due to the Supreme Court’s 1982 Plyler v. Doe decision.

The federal government has sent 507 unaccompanied alien minors (UAM) who came across the border in the last three years to Nashville.

In a probing article, Nashville English teacher Wendy Wilson asks the prescient question “how much immigration diversity is too much?” and bemoans the politically correct culture that stifles any discussion of the issue.

The numbers in Nashville are staggering: almost one third of students in the public schools speak a primary language other than English. In 2008, 8,751 students required English language services, a number that has ballooned to 12,329 today. The district plans to hire 18 new teaching, supervisory and outreach positions to serve this population and two new schools with 855 total students opened in 2015. ELL costs rose 22 percent in 2015-2016 to around $16 million.

Now come allegations of lowered standards in Nashville, where district administrators are accused of gaming test scores to keep ELL students from dragging down overall school results. The same thing happened in El Paso: school officials manipulated computer records to allow low-performing students to skip out of statewide assessments given to 10th grade students, which are used to evaluate school performance. Other students simply disappeared from the school rolls. The school superintendent served a three-year prison term for his part in the cover up.

Government officials and their education lackeys, writes Wilson, want it all: “a welcome mat rolled out for immigrants who require numerous supports, and high graduation rates and test scores.” Don’t forget balanced budgets.
But dialogue on the impact of unfettered immigration on education – in Nashville or anywhere else – is nonexistent because the current political climate will not tolerate an evenhanded discussion on the issue. “One shouldn’t have to fear being tarnished as anti-immigrant for concerns about the strain on public schools,” writes Wilson.

“American families shouldn’t be made to feel like they’re ignorant if they wonder about the quality of a neighborhood school that has gone global, serving numerous students with language barriers and low skills,” she writes. “And educators, social workers, and others shouldn’t have to fear being presumed heartless for thinking, like me, that our immigration system has spiraled out of control.”

As Wilson indicates, those who question our chaotic immigration system and its effects are being shouted down and American schoolchildren and taxpayers must pick up the tab.

HERE

(click on ABOVE  PDF version for printing)

ATTENTION CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS – ACTION NEEDED AT COUNTY CONVENTIONS TOMORROW! Please use this handout?

Currently, GOP Georgia is giving about 22,000 illegal aliens the same drivers license card and official ID card that is given to legal, temporary visa holders like diplomats and Mercedes Benz executives. If a pending SCOTUS case goes for Obama, that number will increase by about 200,000 additional illegal aliens.

Senate Bill 6 has passed the state senate and will change the drivers license card to reflect the illegal status of the bearer and prevent illegal aliens from using it to board an airliner or enter federal buildings. The new card would be vertically oriented, brightly colored, easily recognized and valid for driving purposes only.

SB 6 is being held up in the Republican-controlled House committee process by Republican Speaker David Ralston on the orders of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. It has enough votes to pass if a floor vote is allowed. Mexico does not allow illegals to get a drivers license of any description. Georgia is to the left of Mexico on this lunacy. 

Currently, Georgia is administering the written test for a drivers license in 11 languages and spending millions on official document translations. A current state law making English the official language is weak and often ignored.

Senate Resolution 675 has passed the state senate and will allow We The People to vote on a ballot question in November asking if the Georgia constitution should be amended to make English the official language of Georgia government while protecting non-English speakers in public health, safety and legal proceedings. Polls show it has 76% approval by Georgians.

SR 675 is being held up in the Republican-controlled House committee process by Republican Speaker David Ralston on the orders of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. It has enough votes to pass if a floor vote is allowed.

County GOP conventions should focus on existing legislation and Republican Speaker David Ralston.

* Speaker Ralston’s Capitol office phone number is 404-656-5020. His email address is david.ralston@house.ga.gov

Thursday is the last day of the 2016 session and the last chance to EVER see these commonsense changes in Georgia. We have more illegals here than Arizona. The corporate-funded far-left radicals who lobby in the state Capitol are laughing at you because they are winning.
####

Dr. Hudson tells us he sent copies of the below letter to GOP Reps Tom Weldon, Johnnie Caldwell, Andy Welch, Trey Kelly, and Wendell Willard.

Dear Representatives:

Please allow a reconsideration vote on SR675, official English legislation.

We are on to what you did, (Tom)! You would only not show-up, if instructed to do so by your Chairmen Wendell Willard or Johnnie Caldwell (under the guise of you having “other business”) to allow for a vote with the majority ratio of Democrats to Republicans only if the intention was to kill the bill. There was no requirement for a vote on Thursday, March 10, 2016 in the sub-committee hearing! So, we would highly recommend that when a member of the sub-committee (Oh, say perhaps Representative Barry Fleming) requests a reconsideration vote, that you allow a new vote with all of the Republican members present!

Allowing for the SR675 to pass out of committee, and get to the House floor for a positive vote (Like with what the State Senate did on February 29th by a 2/3rds majority vote)!

If this does not come to pass each and everyone of the Republicans that were part of this scheme will be savaged in every County, District, and the State GOP Conventions, meetings, and any place else that we can hold sway! This is an unconscionable act that the GA. Republican Party will be livid over, and it will never be allowed to be forgotten!

BTW, Tom, I do not know if you have an opponent this election cycle, but if you do I hope you are defeated; and if you do not have an opponent, you should have one for being so despicable!

You along with Rep. Wendell Willard, Rep. Johnnie Caldwell, Speaker David Ralston, and the other Reps. Andy Welch, and Trey Kelley that were party to this scheme to do the bidding of the Chamber of Commerce have and will be exposed for your dirty deeds to not allow the citizens of Georgia to vote on this Constitutional Amendment to make English Georgia’s official language of government!

Respectfully,

Dr. Bill Hudson, Marietta                      

Insider Advantage Georgia

March 14, 2016

Reconsideration Vote Needed on English bill

by Dahlys Hamilton | Mar 13, 2016

SR 675, the official English-In-Government constitutional amendment, passed the full state Senate in February with all Republicans voting “yes.” However, pro-English Georgians have been cheated out of the choice to vote on this constitutional amendment on the November ballot. We have been betrayed by state House Judiciary Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Johnnie Caldwell and his boss, House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Wendell Willard– both Republicans.
Last week, Sen. Josh McKoon presented SR 675 to the Republican-controlled Judiciary subcommittee–and they killed it. The House Judiciary subcommittee meeting that day was comprised of four anti-English Democrats and only two Republicans, one of whom was the chairman — Caldwell. Four Republican committee members failed to show up. The legislation was quietly defeated by a 4-2 vote. (Editor’s note: GOP Rep. Barry Fleming voted yes and tells InsiderAdvantage he wants a new vote to reconsider.)

GOP Rep Johnnie Caldwell, from Thomaston

A recent poll that shows 76% of Georgians are in favor of English as the official language of government in our state. If we cannot turn this around, we will be denied the right to vote on amending the state constitution to make English Georgia’s official language of government when we vote in the general election. The Republican-controlled House Judiciary subcommittee let the anti-English Democrats do the Chamber of Commerce-directed dirty work and intentionally stopped SR 675.

GOP Rep. Wendell Willard of Sandy Springs

Anyone familiar with the basic workings of the Gold Dome committee process can see that Republican Chairman Caldwell would only call a vote with that ratio of Democrats to Republicans if the intention was to kill the bill.
If enough pro-English Georgians call and write the members of the subcommittee, asking for a reconsideration vote, we may be able to save it; otherwise, it will remain dead.

HERE

Senator Josh McKoon presents his bill, SB 6 to the House Judiciary subcommittee

UPDATE: The Republican-controlled state House never brought SR 675 up again. Led by Rep. Wendell Willard and Johnnie Caldwell, they killed the chance to vote on amending the state constitution to make English our official language of government. We will try again next year.

GEORGIA: Rep. Wendell Willard-directed sub-committee kills official English legislation under the Gold Dome today

• SR 675 likely dead forever – BUT: a chance for re-consideration if pro-English conservatives focus, unite and take action ASAP
•  ACTION NEEDED for possible SR 675 reconsideration

 Leave a message with these Republican legislator’s staff that we want a reconsideration vote on SR 675!

The corporate-funded illegal alien, anti-English lobby was there and is laughing at you. See photo at bottom of this post.

 

Despite a poll that shows 76% of Georgians in favor, you probably won’t be allowed to vote on amending the state constitution to make English Georgia’s official language of government when you vote for president in November. About 4:00 PM today, a Republican-controlled House Judiciary sub-committee let the anti-English Democrats do the Chamber of Commerce-directed dirty work and intentionally stopped SR 675.

Make no mistake: The leader of this little scheme is Republican state Rep Wendell Willard, with able assistance from sub-committee Chairman, Republican Rep Johnnie Caldwell and the Republican members of the sub-committee that did not show up for the hearing on SR 675. I was there.

You need to know that there was no requirement for a vote today. The Chairman has complete power to decide if there is a vote. As Chairman, if you want a bill to pass out of committee, you don’t call for a vote unless you are certain you have the needed votes in the room.

You should also remember that SR 675 passed the state Senate on February 29 by a 2/3rds majority.

For the people who wonder why Republicans are voting for Donald Trump…

The Chamber of Commerce-Republican parliamentary scheme for the death of SR675 and our chance to vote on official English in November goes like this:

As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee – Rep Wendell Willard (R) – appoint a “yes man” as one of your sub-committee Chairmen – Rep Johnnie Caldwell (R).

Have Caldwell hold a hearing on Senate Resolution 675 in which there are four (4) Democrats and two (2) Republicans present because you “suggested” that the GOP members stay away on “other business.”

Take quick testimony from the usual suspects in the illegal alien, anti-English lobby and then as sub-Committee Chairman, look around the room, insure that there are not enough GOP votes to pass out the legislation, and then make it clear that you are ready for a vote. Let the four Dems kill the Republican Resolution, and walk away with a grin. “The Democrats did it…”

The goal was to kill the legislation.

By the House rules any member of the sub-Committee can ask for reconsideration and perhaps get another vote when the Republican members show up. HERO ALERT: Rep Barry Fleming did attend today and is willing to request a do-over. WE MUST BE QUICK.

ACTION NEEDED: Leave a message with these Republican legislator’s staff that we want a reconsideration vote on SR 675!

Call and email the offices of Judiciary Chairman Wendell Willard, subcommittee Chairman Johnnie Caldwell and the offices of the Republican members of the Caldwell sub-committee who styed away on “other business” so the Dems could kill the bill when Caldwell took a vote. The below list shows the sub-committee membership and has the contact info for the Reps who need to be the focus of your opinion. Please see the red “CONTACT” note for the GOP legislators that should hear from We The People.

Shorter: How to intentionally kill SR 675, official English legislation.

Arrange for a committee meeting with two Republicans vs. four Democrats in a Republican-controlled General Assembly, a Republican-controlled House of Representatives, a Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee and a Republican-controlled Judiciary sub-committee:

Republican Rep Wendell Willard

Caldwell Subcommittee (Two) of the Georgia House Judiciary Committee
Members:

→ CONTACT: Rep. Johnnie Caldwell, Chairman (R) ATTENDED/ASKED FOR VOTE – directed scheme
404.656.0325
johnnie.caldwell@house.ga.gov

Rep. Ronnie Mabra (D) attended and voted NO
Rep. Taylor Bennett (D) attended and voted NO
Rep. Roger Bruce (D) attended and voted NO
Rep. Stacey Evans (D) attended and voted NO

→ CONTACT: Rep. Trey Kelley (R) DID NOT ATTEND
404.657.1803
trey.kelley@house.ga.gov

→ CONTACT : Rep. Andy Welch (R) DID NOT ATTEND
404.656.0213
awelch@smithwelchlaw.com

→ CONTACT: Rep. Tom Weldon (R) DID NOT ATTEND
404.656.5105
tom.weldon@house.ga.gov

Ex Officio members: (they do vote)

→ CONTACT : Rep. Wendell Willard (R) DID NOT ATTEND – is Chairman of Judiciary Committee – master-minded scheme
404.656.5125
wendell.willard@house.ga.gov

→THANK YOU! Rep. Barry Fleming (R) ATTENDED AND VOTED YES  <— HERO
404.656.0152
barry.fleming@house.ga.gov

GALEO, Asian-American victims of language, Latin American Association, and the usual Capitol America-haters laughing after Republicans killed official bill today.

UPDATE: THE GOP HOUSE REFUSED TO ALLOW SB 6 to be heard. It is dead.

SB6 has passed the Georgia state Senate. It is now in the Republican-controlled House and assigned to the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee. The last day of the 2016 session is March 24.

HERE is contact info for state Reps. Call them. Please. “Yes, to SB6.”

Image: This (above) is the Georgia drivers license currently issued to illegal aliens with Obama’s deferred action on deportation amnesty. It is exactly the same as the drivers license issued to diplomats families and non-citizens here on a legal temporary visa, like Mercedes Benz executives. Note: illegal aliens with deferred action on deportation are still illegal aliens. Deferred action on deportation does not provide lawful status.

Image – Georgia ‘driving safety card’ as is required in SB 6 that would replace the current drivers license (top) issued to illegal aliens with Obama’s deferred action on deportation.