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Guest Column – D.A. King:

Illegal Immigration Still A Big Issue For Many Georgians
By D.A. King

(3/16/10) Unemployment figures remain dismal, the Georgia Legislature is still focused on finding ways to create jobs and cut the budget, and a recent report from the U.S. Census tells us that the population of people who escaped capture while illegally crossing our borders has doubled in Georgia since 2000. Respected demographers and the ethnic hustlers who make a living assisting the foreign fugitives tell us that the illegal aliens come for jobs.

For most Georgians, the solution here is not the head-scratcher that it seems to be for many people running our state government. A few observations and some news from someone who sincerely wishes he didn’t know anything about any of this.

After today, there are only four session days left before cross-over day. Since they seem to be regarded as a closely guarded secret by the same media that is quick to report on illegal aliens as victims, here is a summary of a few bills pending in the Georgia legislature that would actually put teeth into the state code intended to protect jobs and benefits in the Peach State.

HB 1164:

Revisits the 2006 ‘Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act (GSICA).’

This bill clarifies procedures for compliance and would provide meaningful penalties for public contractors and official agencies – including local governments – that are in violation of the 2006 Act. That law requires all public employers and their contractors to use the no-cost federal E-Verify program to insure that tax dollars are not going to pay black-market labor. Since the law went into effect in 2007, compliance can most politely be described as “partial.”

Also provides language to provide for annual federal training of state law enforcement officers to assist ICE in enforcing federal immigration laws using the super- successful 287(g) program. It removes the exemption for verification of eligibility (using citizenship and/or immigration status) for applicants for publicly funded post secondary education. HB 1164 also provides strong penalties for local governments and official agencies that are now in violation of GSICA which also requires use of the federal “SAVE” system to verify eligibility of applicants for public benefits – including business licenses. The majority of local governments and agencies have chosen to ignore this law.

Presently, there are no consequences for violation. Illegal aliens who escape capture at our borders are currently being rewarded with a license to open a business in most counties and municipalities in Georgia.

This is a carefully worded and comprehensive sure-fire fix for the ‘loopholes’ in the 2006 law that all concerned have so industriously sought out on the original intention of denying Georgia’s taxpayer funded jobs and benefits to people who will soon march in Washington (again) demanding “justice”, citizenship and the right to vote for an end to enforcement. Not only of American immigration laws, but also our borders.

HB 1259

‘The Georgia Employer and Worker Protection Act of 2010’

HB 1259 would require use of the no-cost federal E-Verify system as a condition of obtaining or renewing a business license/occupational tax certificate for all businesses with more than three employees. The goal being to protect jobs in Georgia by verifying work eligibility – using immigration status – of all newly hired employees as well as to protect Georgia employers from the increasingly frequent federal sanctions for hiring illegal labor.

Presently, Georgia is one of thirteen states with E-Verify laws. This bill would expand required use from public employers and their contractors to all businesses. Mississippi, South Carolina and Arizona have such laws in place.

Nearly 13,000 Georgia employers are already voluntarily using the E-Verify system.

Knowingly hiring an illegal alien is a federal crime.

Personal observation: Doing so – especially while we watch our countrymen struggle with the unemployment crisis – is also immoral. If E-Verify cuts the number of job thefts in half, it is a very valuable improvement and its universal use is a no-brainer.

SB 136

Would codify into law the current Board of Pardons and Paroles policy regarding use of the federal REPAT program by which illegal alien state prisoners convicted of non-violent crimes and who are eligible for parole can voluntarily apply for deportation in the last third of their sentence…resulting in reduced incarceration costs to Georgia taxpayers.

SB 385

Would reward local law enforcement that voluntarily utilize federal programs which identify illegal aliens who are arrested for additional crimes. This bill would increase funding to local law enforcement by 10% for use of the Homeland Security Department’s “Secure Communities” fingerprint sharing initiative and 20% for use of the 287(g) program. The 287(g) program is despised by the anti-enforcement lobby. Because of its proven effectiveness’, the ACLU has formed the ‘Georgia Detention Watch’ group with the stated mission of stopping all 287(g) usage in Georgia.

SB 460

‘The Georgia Public Works and Contractor Protection Act’
Clarifies and expands already required procedures for use of federal E-Verify system by public employers and contractors to protect jobs on public works projects. The bill provides clear and meaningful penalties for violation of law regarding E-Verify use created in the 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act.

These bills have all of the right – and usual – enemies.

Georgians are looking for a better life in their own country. There is nowhere for us to migrate.

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D.A. King is a nationally recognized authority on illegal immigration and president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society.

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