CBS Atlanta 46

Mexican, Guatemalan citizens charged with trafficking guns and drugs in Gainesville

July 11, 2017
GAINESVILLE, GA (CBS46) –

Miguel Angel Rosas-Ramirez and Eduardo Estrada Medina have been arraigned on federal firearm and drug charges. A federal indictment charges that Rosas-Ramirez, a citizen of Mexico, used an unlawfully obtained concealed carry permit to purchase multiple firearms, which his alien status prohibits under federal law, and that he then sold the guns to others, including Estrada. The indictment further charges that Estrada, a citizen of Guatemala, illegally reentered the United States after being deported, purchased several weapons from Rosas-Ramirez, and trafficked in methamphetamine.

“Guns are an all-too-frequent part of the illegal drug business, and the majority of these guns arrive in drug dealers’ hands from illegal firearm trafficking as alleged in this case,” said U. S. Attorney John Horn. “This case is even more troubling because one of the alleged gun purchasers already had been deported once as a result of illegal drug trafficking, and yet found his way back to the United States and to the dangerous combination of methamphetamine and guns.

“ATF’s involvement in securing this indictment is a prime example of the successful use of federal laws to confront, engage and eliminate criminal activity. Criminals must understand that there are serious repercussions for illegal trafficking of narcotics and illegal possession of firearms and that ATF will contribute all necessary time and effort to ensure that the individuals responsible are brought to justice,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge John Schmidt.

According to U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges, and other information presented in court, Rosas-Ramirez falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen in order to obtain a Georgia Weapons Carry Permit. He then allegedly used the permit to illegally purchase over 100 firearms in the past year, several of which have been recovered in the hands of illegal aliens who were themselves trafficking drugs. The indictment charges that Eduardo Estrada Medina, who was also known as Miguel Angel Donis-Gonzalez, not only possessed firearms that Rosas-Ramirez purchased, but also had 8.8 kilograms of suspected methamphetamine, over $140,000 cash, and other drug paraphernalia in his home. Medina was deported in January 2013 after he was convicted of drug trafficking. He then illegally re-entered the United States.

Medina faces charges of unlawful possession of firearms by an alien, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking activity, possession of an unregistered silencer, and unlawful possession of firearms by a felon. Rosas-Ramirez has been charged with unlawful possession of firearms by an alien, unlawful dealing in firearms, unlawful claim to U.S. citizenship, and 18 counts of fraudulent statements to licensed gun dealers in connection with firearms purchases…Read the rest HERE.

Photo: New York Times -Buster Haddock, an agricultural scientist at the University of Georgia, in a field where cotton never had the chance to grow. Credit Grant Blankenship for The New York Times

I sent a version of the below reply to Mother Jones editors in San Francisco, but just in case they forget to post it, I also put it here. While I eat a Georgia peach.

dak

Tom Philpott’s recent Mother Jones rant on President Trump’s immigration enforcement policy (Trump’s Crackdown on Immigration Is Terrible News for Anyone Who Eats Food – And it’s particularly bad news for farmers.) strains credibility in multiple ways. That includes his wildly inaccurate premise that Georgia lost $103.6 million because our legislature took action to protect jobs, wages, benefits and services for legal residents. Note to Mother Jones editors: This is a very popular concept in mainstream America.

As a fellow eater and one who was proudly involved in the creation of the 2011 Georgia law, (HB 87) that Phillpot cites as yet another reason to ignore our borders and immigration laws, I offer some first-hand reality.

Philpott’s first paragraph starts him down the path of fiction when he tells readers “in the spring of 2011, Georgia’s fruit and vegetable growers faced a crippling drought. But it wasn’t for lack of rain; rather, their supply of farmworkers had dried up almost overnight. “

The reality is that 2011 brought a historically severe drought in South Georgia’s farmlands and across much of the nation.

The New York Times reported it like this:

“COLQUITT, Ga. — The heat and the drought are so bad in this southwest corner of Georgia that hogs can barely eat. Corn, a lucrative crop with a notorious thirst, is burning up in fields. Cotton plants are too weak to punch through soil so dry it might as well be pavement.

Farmers with the money and equipment to irrigate are running wells dry in the unseasonably early and particularly brutal national drought that some say could rival the Dust Bowl days.

“It’s horrible so far,” said Mike Newberry, a Georgia farmer who is trying to grow cotton, corn and peanuts on a thousand acres. “There is no description for what we’ve been through since we started planting corn in March.”

Our governor declared twenty-two South Georgia farming counties disaster areas because of the drought in 2011. We can’t imagine how Philpott missed this.

It is true that here in “the Peach State” the powerful Ag lobby struggled to blame the 2011 crop losses on HB 87 when they could not kill the legislation in the committee process. The law requires use of the no-cost E-Verify system for most private employers – including growers.

But it is also true that many Georgia growers have the same attitude on field labor and government regulations that their predecessors had in 1859.

Philpott has every right to argue against enforcement of our immigration laws and thereby support open borders. But he should not be allowed to invent his own “facts.” As he noted, HB 87 did require the Georgia Department of Agriculture to give a report on the law’s impact on farming. That January 2012 report shows that HB87 had little impact on agriculture. We hope people actually read it – our Agriculture Commissioner is the former head of a Big Ag lobby enterprise here.

Actually, reported losses in 2011 totaled $10 million – or what a math whiz tells me is roughly 0.015 percent of the state’s total agricultural output in 2009. About 1% of employers who hired fewer full-time workers blamed HB 87; 54 percent blamed the economy or the weather (7 percent of employers who hired fewer part-time workers blamed HB 87; 40 percent blamed the economy/weather). Thirty-four percent actually hired more workers. Dry stuff, ehh?

Philpott does correctly note there is a legal method for the Ag industry to obtain temporary foreign workers when they refuse to pay a wage that draws American workers. It’s called the H2A visa.

In the 2011 committee process on HB 87 in our state Capitol, I watched the growers and their arrogant and well-paid lobbyists plead with legislators to allow them to continue to use the “more flexible” black market labor they have abused for decades. The legal, “H2A workers are too costly” they fearlessly admitted then.

Philpott’s tale of immigration enforcement and plunging food supplies is not new. In 2011, there were caravans of liberal, anti-enforcement “journalists” flocking from glistening Atlanta TV studios to stand in the middle of dusty South Georgia onion and corn fields with drought-withered crops on camera telling us that because of HB 87, E-Verify and immigration enforcement, we would likely never eat a Georgia-grown fruit or vegetable again. Oh, my. Many of us laughed that “crops dying on the vine because of borders” was on the F4 key.

Fast forward: It is also true that in 2012, the value of Georgia agricultural exports topped $3.32 billion, a 26 percent increase from 2011. And that Georgia’s agricultural exports reached an estimated $3 billion in 2013, up from $1.8 billion in 2009. And that since 2011 and passage of HB 87 and our E-Verify law, Georgia has been declared “the No. 1 state in which to do business” three times by the influential Site Selection magazine.

Here in Georgia, where English is an optional language and the Ag industry continues to fight immigration enforcement, six years after HB 87 we still enjoy eating Georgia-grown veggies and fruit. The farmers are grudgingly moving to the legal labor that has always been available though the H2A visa.

President Trump’s immigration enforcement policy is working and Tom Philpott’s howls prove that happy fact.

##

*Updated July 12 at 3:42 PM. (added “or what a math whiz tells me is”)

photo: Georgia Southern University

VIOLATION OCGA 50-36-1

(blank official compliant form HERE)

* Attachment to July 12, 2017 complaint – Jaimie Herbert & Amy Perry
Working at Georgia Southern University

As designated in OCGA 50-36-1, adult education is a public benefit and administration of all public benefits by official agencies requires verification of eligibility by applicants. This verification process entails the administering or providing agency to offer and collect a sworn affidavit of eligibility from the applicant as well as secure and verifiable ID.

OCGA 50-36-1 (f) (1) Except as provided in subsection (g) of this Code section, an agency or political subdivision providing or administering a public benefit shall require every applicant for such benefit to:

(A) Provide at least one secure and verifiable document, as defined in Code Section 50-36-2, or a copy or facsimile of such document. Any document required by this subparagraph may be submitted by or on behalf of the applicant at any time within nine months prior to the date of application so long as the document remains valid through the licensing or approval period or such other period for which the applicant is applying to receive a public benefit; and

(B) Execute a signed and sworn affidavit verifying the applicant’s lawful presence in the United States under federal immigration law; provided, however, that if the applicant is younger than 18 years of age at the time of the application, he or she shall execute the affidavit required by this subparagraph within 30 days after his or her eighteenth birthday. Such affidavit shall affirm that:

(i) The applicant is a United States citizen or legal permanent resident 18 years of age or older; or

(ii) The applicant is a qualified alien or nonimmigrant under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, Title 8 U.S.C., 18 years of age or older lawfully present in the United States and provide the applicant’s alien number issued by the Department of Homeland Security or other federal immigration agency.

(k) It shall be unlawful for any agency or political subdivision to provide or administer any public benefit in violation of this Code section. Agencies and political subdivisions subject to the requirements of this subsection shall provide an annual report to the Department of Audits and Accounts pursuant to Code Section 50-36-4 as proof of compliance with this subsection. Any agency or political subdivision failing to provide a report as required by this subsection shall not be entitled to any financial assistance, funds, or grants from the Department of Community Affairs.

Jaimie Herbert, as president of Georgia Southern University has apparently allowed Amy Perry as English language instructor to not only teach adult education classes in violation of state law but to solicit other public employees to send prospective adult students to the GSU adult education classes with the email assurance (marked “A”) that “it is open to all, regardless of level or visa status. Is there any way to share this with ESOL parents?”

To head off the sure-to-come argument that “there is no application for our adult education classes…” I attach a GSU continuing education, (“ESOL Lunch and Learn”) flyer (marked “B”) that I obtained using Georgia’s public records law making it clear that the adult education classes described here require registration, which should reasonably be considered application.

I also attach my open records request (marked “C”) and the short reply from GSU legal affairs stating that there are no affidavits or copies of secure and valid ID as required by state law (marked “D”) .

OCGA 50-36-1 also mandates an annual report proving compliance with the law. The law makes clear that failure of an agency head top comply is an offense.

(q)“…intentional and knowing failure of any agency head to abide by the provisions of this chapter shall:

(1) Be a violation of the code of ethics for government service established in Code Section 45-10-1 and subject such agency head to the penalties provided for in Code Section 45-10-28, including removal from office and a fine not to exceed $10,000.00; and

(2) Be a high and aggravated misdemeanor offense where such agency head acts to willfully violate the provisions of this Code section or acts so as to intentionally and deliberately interfere with the implementation of the requirements of this Code section.

The Attorney General shall have the authority to conduct a criminal and civil investigation of an alleged violation of this chapter by an agency or agency head and to bring a prosecution or civil action against an agency or agency head for all cases of violations under this chapter. In the event that an order is entered against an employer, the state shall be awarded attorney’s fees and expenses of litigation incurred in bringing such an action and investigating such violation.

I contend that either Georgia Southern president Jaimie Herbert has not submitted the required compliance reports for the years he has allowed illegal adult education classes to be conducted at GSU – or the reports submitted proving compliance contain false statements.

I respectfully insist that the failure to comply with state law here be treated as the violations they clearly are and that the IERB and the Attorney General’s office conduct parallel and simultaneous sanctioning procedures without delay.

D.A. King

Re; HB 452

Questions sent to GBI Thursday, July 6 response received Sunday, July 9, 2017

Nelly Miles
Director
Office of Public Affairs
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Phone: 404-270-8330
www.gbi.georgia.gov
facebookLike us!www.facebook.com/Georgia.Bureau.of.Investigation
twitter Follow us! @GBI_GA www.twitter.com/gbi_ga

1) Will you please advise whether it is true that GBI has in place policy that will not allow sending the EID/LENS release info to the Georgia Sheriff’s Association as directed in HB 452?  This is not true.

2) Will you please advise whether it is true that GBI has in place policy that will not allow posting the EID/LENS info on its website as directed in HB 452? This is not true. It is not a GBI policy but a policy dictated by the Federal government.

3) Will you please provide a short statement on the reasoning for the GBI policy if it is contrary the language of HB 452? (is it GBI’s official position that federal does not allow sharing EID/LENS info with the Georgia Sheriff’s Association and/or the Georgia public?)

This new law contains a provision, “to the extent permitted by federal law.” The GBI was informed by the Department of Homeland Security/ICE that the State of Georgia does not have the authority to publicly release the information mandated in the state law (HB452). Title 8 of Code of Federal Regulations, Part 236.6, titled “Information Regarding Detainees,” was cited:

“No person, including any state or local government entity or any privately operated detention facility, that houses, maintains, provides services to, or otherwise holds any detainee on behalf of the Service (Service means U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and/or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whether by contract or otherwise), and no other person who by virtue of any official or contractual relationship with such person obtains information relating to any detainee, shall disclose or otherwise permit to be made public the name of, or other information relating to, such detainee. Such information shall be under the control of the Service and shall be subject to public disclosure only pursuant to the provisions of applicable federal laws, regulations and executive orders. Insofar as any documents or other records contain such information, such documents shall not be public records. This section applies to all persons and information identified or described in it, regardless of when such persons obtained such information, and applies to all requests for public disclosure of such information, including requests that are the subject of proceedings pending as of April 17, 2002.”

4) When did your office begin receiving the EID/LENS program data?
GBI Response: Georgia began receiving LENS notifications in August 2015.

6) Is this subscription program provided by GBI or federal authorities? If federal, which agency? See below/above.

7) How does a sheriff begin the subscription service? See below.

8) Is the subscription service available to all local law enforcement, or only sheriffs?
GBI Response: The following notification (pasted below – dak) was posted to the GCIC website on 6/26/2017.

And also to follow up, we received a list of subscribers from the LENS team. You can contact them for that information at LENS-Subscriptions@ice.dhs.gov .

Thanks!

Nelly Miles
Director
Office of Public Affairs
Georgia Bureau of Investigation

From: D.A. KING [mailto:Dking1952@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, July 7, 2017 5:08 PM
To: Miles, Nelly <Nelly.Miles@gbi.ga.gov>
Subject: Additional question – Re: Media request – update on HB 452

Ms. Miles,
One more question, for now, please: What counties are the sheriffs from that have subscribed to EID/LENS info?

dak

A unit of the Technical College System of Georgia

Michelle Siniard
Vice President of Administrative Services

Administrative Financial Services Division

80 Cohen Walker Drive

Warner Robins, GA 31088

P: (478) 218-3330

C: (478) 542-4617

Correction from CGTC received today:

My apologies, the exception is OCGA 50-18-72 (a)(1) and (37).

__

From: D.A. KING [mailto:Dking1952@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, July 6, 2017 3:49 PM
To: Siniard, Michelle <msiniard@centralgatech.edu>
Cc: Benjamin Vinson <ben.vinson@dentons.com>; James Balli <jballi@slhb-law.com>; Boyd Austin <boydaustin@dallas-ga.gov>; Mike Yeager <myeager@coweta.ga.us>; Shawn Hanley <shawnhanley@icloud.com>; Terry Clark <tdlfarms@yahoo.com>; Phil Kent <philkent@philkent.com>
Subject: Citation you sent – pls help me find those paragraphs? Re: Open Records Request – Adult Education – also, Ga law makes a clear difference between Adult Education and postsecondary education which is covered in FERPA

Ms. Siniard,
Thank you for your response. I will ask the Immigration Enforcement Review Board to subpoena the requested records. In the meantime, can you pls highlight the paragraphs you cite in OCGA 50-18-71? ( I paste the text of that law below)
I am familiar with reading Ga code, but cannot seem to find either paragraph. I am sure I am overlooking it.
Thanks.

D.A. King

Original request HERE 

XLS Attachment:  6.30.17 Copy of ESL for 2015 2016 and 2017

Note: The FERPA mentioned in the below letter seems to apply to children’s education and “post secondary education”. Not Adult Education. See it HERE.

And I need help finding the cited sections/paragraphs in OCGA 50-18-71 cited in the letter.

Sent today to IERB and the Georgia AG office:

To the members of the Immigration Enforcement Review Board and the AG office,

I am requesting that the IERB and or the AG office subpoena copies of SAVE affidavits and verifiable ID that should have been collected by Central Georgia Technical College for the Adult Education classes that school has conducted.
I also point out that in OCGA 50-36-1, Post Secondary Education and Adult Education are two different public benefits. The FERPA Act cited in the reply from CGTC seems to apply to children and post secondary education. Also, I cannot see the two paragraphs CGTC cites in OCGA 50-18-71.

I believe that the SAVE records should be provided for inspection as I requested, now that we are told they exist.

Thank you,

D.A. King

Photo: CAPS

GPB News

Feds Block Public List Of Immigrants In Georgia With Prior Felonies

By MAX MORAN • JUN 29, 2017

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is supposed to release a new database to the public next week. It’s a collection of information on immigrants and foreign nationals in the state with criminal records.

But the GBI doesn’t plan to do it. The reason? The Department of Homeland Security has told them that making the database would break federal law.

The GBI was ordered to publish the data under the “Protect Georgia Act,” which Governor Nathan Deal signed in May. The new law calls for posting information online about people without U.S. citizenship who were released from federal custody within Georgia’s borders… HERE.

“…and any further dissemination may be governed by the state’s laws and policies on information sharing.”

Privacy Impact Assessment Update for the Enforcement Integrated Database (EID) Law Enforcement Notification System (LENS)

HERE <–

DHS/ICE/PIA-015(g)
September 22, 2015
Contact Point
Thomas Homan
Executive Associate Director, Enforcement and Removal Operations U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(202) 732-5100
Reviewing Official
Karen L. Neuman
Chief Privacy Officer Department of Homeland Security (202) 343-1717

“This EID PIA Update addresses plans to further expand domestic law enforcement information sharing by notifying domestic law enforcement agencies when aliens convicted of certain violent or serious crimes, including felonies and misdemeanors, are released from ICE custody.2”

Page 2:

“The EID PIA published in January 2010 describes EID and the ENFORCE applications and reflects the system at that time. With the July 28, 2010 and November 7, 2011 PIA Updates,3 ICE increased the amount of information entered into EID to include comprehensive criminal history information for all aliens arrested for administrative violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). In these and subsequent updates, ICE also expanded the scope of external sharing of EID information with foreign governments pursuant to information sharing agreements and arrangements. With this PIA Update, ICE will further expand EID information sharing with domestic law enforcement agencies when aliens convicted of certain violent or serious crimes, including felonies and misdemeanors, are released from ICE custody.

SECTION 5-2. 

216 Said title is further amended by adding a new Code section to read as follows:
217 “35-3-14.
218 To the extent permitted by federal law, the bureau shall post on its public website the
219 information of persons who are aliens and who have been released from federal custody
220 within the boundaries of this state, as such information is presented within the Law
221 Enforcement Notification System of the Enforcement Integrated Database of the United
222 States Department of Homeland Security or the National Law Enforcement
223 Telecommunications System as received by the Georgia Information Sharing and Analysis
224 Center within the bureau or any replacement agency. Within 12 hours of receiving such
225 information, the bureau shall post such information as required by this Code section and
226 electronically send a copy of such information to the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association. The
227 bureau shall promulgate rules and regulations for the implementation of this Code section.”
HERE

Photo: CAPS

From: Hansell, Renae M [mailto:Renae.M.Hansell@ice.dhs.gov]
Sent: Monday, May 1, 2017 2:33 PM
To: Fisher, Terri
Cc: Miles, Nelly ; Jones, Machelle
Subject: RE: GA HB452 – Seeking DHS Opinion

Ms. Fisher,

Our prior guidance remains the same, with one exception. Since the issuance of President Trump’s Executive Order, the Privacy Act only applies to U.S. Citizens and lawful permanent residents.

However, as we noted previously, the State of Georgia does not have the authority to release information contained in EID on their website. Furthermore, ICE, CBP and USCIS are the agencies who have control over such information, to include information regarding detainees. 8 C.F.R. Section 236.6 states the following: No person, including any state or local government entity or any privately operated detention facility, that houses, maintains, provides services (Services means ICE, CBP, and USCIS) to, or otherwise holds any detainee on behalf of the Service (whether by contract or otherwise), and no other person who by virtue of any official or contractual relationship with such person obtains information relating to any detainee, shall disclose or otherwise permit to be made public the name of, or other information relating to, such detainee. Such information shall be under the control of the Service and shall be subject to public disclosure only pursuant to the provisions of applicable federal laws, regulations and executive orders.

If you need additional information or clarification, please let me know.

Thank you,
Renae

Renae M. Hansell
Deputy Chief Counsel
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
180 Ted Turner Drive, SW, Suite 332
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 893-1408
(404) 664-3126

__

From: Fisher, Terri [mailto:Terri.Fisher@gbi.ga.gov]
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 10:21 AM
To: Hansell, Renae M
Cc: Miles, Nelly; Jones, Machelle
Subject: GA HB452 – Seeking DHS Opinion

Ms. Hansell –

We corresponded in February 2016 regarding proposed legislation directing the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to post DHS Enforcement Integrated Database information on our public facing website and you provided feedback as to whether it would be allowable to post this information on a public website (see attached GA Senate Bill 6 – Posting of DHS EID Information)

Similar legislation was introduced in the 2017 legislative session and this legislation subsequently passed both houses and will be sent to Governor Nathan Deal for signature. A letter was sent to your attention on April 7th and I am sending a follow-up email to ensure that you received this request. In addition, for your convenience I have attached the letter that was sent (Deputy Chief Counsel – Federal Opinion on HB452) as well as the final version of the legislation (HB 452).

If you have any questions or need additional information, please do not hesitate to ask.

Terri Fisher
Deputy Director, GCIC
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
( 404-270-8631
* terri.fisher@gbi.ga.gov