The below complaint was sent to the Hall County Sheriff this morning. I have received confirmation of receipt.  Update, 17Sept: Amendment to complaint on bottom.

__

 

15 September 2020

D.A. King

 

Complaint

Re: Multiple violations

 OCGA 36-60-6 & OCGA 50-36-4 & OCGA 50-36-1

To:

Sheriff Gerald Couch, Hall County Georgia

Headquarters
2859 Browns Bridge Road
Gainesville, Georgia 30504
Phone: 770-531-6900

Sheriff Couch,

Please regard this as an official complaint against the following Hall County officials for repeated and ongoing violations of OCGA 36-60-1 (E-Verify requirement for private employers) and OCGA 50-36-4 (requiring agencies to submit annual immigration compliance reports) and OCGA 50-36-1 (verification of lawful status for public benefits).

Richard Higgins, Commission Chairman

Kathy Cooper, District 1 Commissioner

Billy Powell, District 2 Commissioner

Shelly Echols, District 3 Commissioner

Jeff Stowe, District 4 Commissioner

Susan Rector, Business License Division Director

I ask that you conduct an official investigation and assuming your investigators agree with my own research and findings, forward my complaint to the state Attorney General for prosecution. *My curiosity and open records requests have produced what should be regarded as a confession and confirmation of the violations I outline below.

The E-Verify law

As part of HB 87, in 2011 language that is now OCGA 36-60-6 (posted here) went through a long and arduous committee process, was passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by then Governor Nathan Deal. The intent of the law is to protect lawful workers by reducing the possibility of illegal employment and the black market labor that costs Georgia taxpayers billions of dollars annually.

In a general description of the measure, as a condition of issue of business licenses and under penalties of false swearing (OCGA 16-10-20), the law requires private employers applying for business licenses to report the number of their employees. Those with more than ten employees are required to swear on an affidavit they are authorized by the federal government to use the no-cost federal E-Verify system and that he or she utilizes this federal work authorization program in accordance with federal regulations.

The law requires employers subject to the E-verify requirement to enter on the affidavit the date they were authorized to use E-Verify and the unique user/ID number for E-Verify assigned by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) which is the federal agency inside DHS that operates E-Verify.

The law mandates agencies that issue business licenses collect this affidavit before issuing the business license and to further collect information upon annual renewal/re-issue that reflects the employer’s current number of employees and to again collect the subject employer’s E-Verify user number. From the law:

“(2) Upon satisfying the requirements of paragraph (1) of this subsection, for all subsequent renewals of a business license, occupation tax certificate, or other document, the person shall submit to the county or municipality his or her federal work authorization user number or assert that he or she is exempt from this requirement, provided that the federal work authorization user number provided for the renewal is the same federal work authorization user number as provided in the affidavit under paragraph (1) of this subsection. If the federal work authorization user number is different than the federal work authorization user number provided in the affidavit under paragraph (1) of this subsection, then the person shall be subject to the requirements of subsection (g) of this Code section.”

This repeat process is to insure continuous authority to use E-Verify.

The user number will change if the employer were to cancel his authorization with USCIS to use E-Verify after the original business license is issued and then obtain a separate and new E-Verify agreement.

Issuing agencies, including Hall County Business License Division, are supposed to check the E-Verify user number at annual renewal/re-issue and if it is different than the number on the original affidavit, obtain a sworn explanation of why the user number had changed before renewing/re-issuing the license.

“(g) Once an applicant for a business license, occupational tax certificate, or other document required to operate a business has submitted an affidavit with a federally assigned employment eligibility verification system user number, he or she shall not be authorized to submit a renewal application using a new or different federally assigned employment eligibility verification system user number, unless accompanied by a sworn document explaining the reason such applicant obtained a new or different federally assigned employment eligibility verification system user number.”

The drafters of the law foresaw the likelihood of different agencies inventing their own style and format of forms and affidavits and sought to eliminate confusion and baseless violation defense of “we didn’t know…we have our own way of doing things…” by requiring the Attorney General to create a standardized form which the law says “…shall be used…” I have posted that form here. Please note the area on the bottom for Notarization.

As proof of compliance with the law, issuing agencies – such as the Hall County Business License Division – are required to provide an annual report validating compliance to the Department of Audits and Accounts pursuant to Code Section 50-36-4. Guidelines from Audits and Accounts can be seen here.

“(e) Counties and municipal corporations subject to the requirements of this Code section 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 Code section. Subject to funding, the Department of Audits and Accounts shall annually conduct an audit of no fewer than 20 percent of such reporting agencies.”

In addition to my involvement with the creation of this regulation in 2011, using public records laws I have recently spent considerable time and effort to establish that Hall County Government is in clear and ongoing violation of this state law.

Obvious violations:

 OCGA 36-60-6

* As you can see from one response to my request for open records (full response here, business license docs here), Hall County does not use the Private Employer Affidavit mandated by law and has invented their own form which is incorporated into the application for a business license and does not involve Notarization (as the AG affidavit requires) as far as I can see.

It appears that Hall County has combined their business license application with an invented version of the affidavit required for an entirely different (but equally important) state law (OCGA 50-36-1) which pertains to verifying the legal immigration status of applicants for public benefits (which does have a space for a Notary) thereby violating the language of the verification of lawful status law while ignoring the requirements of the E-Verify law designed to deter illegal employment and illegal immigration.

* Hall County government cannot produce copies of the required documents that are supposed to be collected before the annual re-issue/renewal of the business license.

An August 27, 2020 email from the Business License Division explains why and contains an admission that the law is not followed on annual renewals/re-issue.

 * “Mr. King,

 We only require an E-Verify number one time when any new application is made.  During our renewal process, we only send out a bill to the business owner and they are not required to send their E-verify number again.  I hope this helps.

 Have a Blessed Day!

 Brandi Smith

Hall County Business License

Licensing Specialist

2875 Browns Bridge Rd.

Gainesville, GA 30504 – 770-531-6815”

I respectfully trust this admission of non-compliance/guilt will reduce the time and effort involved in your investigation and the Attorney General’s prosecution.

“(j) The Attorney General shall be authorized to conduct an investigation and bring any criminal or civil action he or she deems necessary to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Code section.” 

OCGA 50-36-4

 * I submit that filing a report that validates compliance with the E-Verify law when compliance is not happening is filing a false report.

I have asked Hall County Business License Division for copies of the required compliance reports from 2012-2019 and am told to expect that information late this week. Your office should be able to access them from the Dept. of audits and Accounts.

OCGA 50-36-1

 The law requires that a standardized affidavit for verification of lawful presence be used for this purpose as well.  OCGA 50-36-1: “(2) The state auditor shall create affidavits for use under this subsection and shall keep a current version of such affidavits on the Department of Audits and Accounts’ official website.”

 * The Hall County Business License Division is using an affidavit of their own concoction in place of the mandated affidavit created for use by the Dept. of Audits and Accounts, which can be seen here. This is yet another violation for each application taken since the language was effective.

Apparently, these abuses have been going on since 2012 when OCGA 36-60-6 became effective.

I have used an open records request to attempt to get an estimate of how many business licenses have been issued and renewed/re-issued in the violation of the law described here but am informed that Hall County does not have ready access to documents that would show total issues and re-issues from 2012 to and including 2019.

I apologize for the length of this complaint, but intend to pursue this flagrant disregard for state law by Hall County and wanted to make the issue as clear as possible for those who do not spend their time fighting illegal employment, which is the main driver of illegal immigration.

Official figures show that Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than is Arizona and more illegal aliens than green card holders.

It is long proven that enforcement of the law works to reduce illegal immigration. I am confident that your office will handle this exposure of the likely thousands of violations of state law and malfeasance in Hall County government with the gravity it merits.

On a personal note, as a USMC veteran who has dedicated his life to immigration enforcement for the last seventeen years and as the grandson of a 25-year veteran of the Detroit Police Dept. (Detroit Police Academy Class of 1928)  – please be advised of my admiration for your own dedication to public safety through your use of the lifesaving 287(g) tool. I am proud to actively advocate for 287(g) and to have assisted in the implementation of 287(g) in Cobb and Gwinnett counties.

You have my entire family’s sincere gratitude and respect for your courage and the tireless protection you and your deputies provide to Hall County and our state.

At our house, we are proud to actively and vocally support all law enforcement officers.

Please contact me with any questions. I would be grateful for a response from your office so that I know this complaint has been received and is active in your investigations.

Very respectfully submitted,

D.A. King

President, the Dustin Inman Society

TheDustinInmanSociety.org

Proprietor, ImmigrationPoliticsGA.com

Marietta, GA. 30066

New York Times profile here.

______

Amendment to complaint sent 17 Sept:

17 September 2020

Re: Complaint dated 15 September 2020 – Hall County Government

Re: Multiple violations

 OCGA 36-60-6 & OCGA 50-36-4 & OCGA 50-36-1

To:

Sheriff Gerald Couch, Hall County Georgia

Headquarters
2859 Browns Bridge Road
Gainesville, Georgia 30504
Phone: 770-531-6900

Sheriff Couch,

I write to amend my complaint of 15 September and to save your office time and effort in your investigation.

Please disregard the section of the complaint entailing OCGA 50-36-4 and the required compliance reports.

After a triple-check review of the language of that law and the format for the compliance reports set up by the Dept. of Audits and Accounts (DOAA) and lengthy conversation with a senior staffer at DOAA I no longer am convinced that Hall County Business License Division is in violation of the that reporting requirement as the requirements are currently laid out by DOAA.

The evidence I have sent to your office on violation of the other two state laws is overwhelming and concrete. Please know this amendment has no bearing on the admitted violations of OCGA 50-36-1 and OCGA 36-60-6.

Kindly confirm your receipt of this note and amendment.

Respectfully,

D.A. King

_

Sent Sept 26, 2020. I received conformation of receipt.

26 September 2020

Re: Complaint dated 15 September 2020 – Hall County Government

Re: Multiple violations

 OCGA 36-60-6 & OCGA 50-36-4 & OCGA 50-36-1

 

To:

Sheriff Gerald Couch, Hall County Georgia

Headquarters
2859 Browns Bridge Road
Gainesville, Georgia 30504
Phone: 770-531-6900

 

Please forward my complaint to the G.B.I.

 

Sheriff Couch,

I write to ask that you forward my complaint of 15 September 2020 against various members of Hall County government to Director Vic Reynolds of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation instead of the AG’s office.

Please forgive my ignorance the system.

Kindly confirm your receipt of this note.

Respectfully,

D.A. King

Marietta