Photo: Foreigndocuments.com

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“As someone who has been a reluctant and involved denizen of the Gold Dome since 2005, let me note that I cannot recall a piece of legislation that was more contrived in language and purpose or more poorly written and passed with any greater lack of vetting, knowledge or integrity. And that is quite an inclusive statement.” 

Marietta Daily Journal

February 25, 2016

OPINION

D.A. King

Did you smell something foul last week but could not locate the origin of the odor? Maybe it was Senate Bill 320.

SB 320 passed out of the GOP-controlled state senate last week with zero “nay” votes. Voters in the political bleachers should remember the old truism that “all politics is local.” Presidential primaries are very important, but so is the Republican-controlled state legislature and our public safety — and SB 320 is a serious threat to the latter – brought to us by the former.

As someone who has been a reluctant and involved denizen of the Gold Dome since 2005, let me note that I cannot recall a piece of legislation that was more contrived in language and purpose or more poorly written and passed with any greater lack of vetting, knowledge or integrity. And that is quite an inclusive statement.

If SB 320 ever becomes law, visitors to Georgia from other countries driving with foreign drivers licenses could expect their licenses to be ‘presumed valid’ if verified by Georgia law enforcement officers. If the officers on our streets risking their lives to protect us cannot verify the validity of a foreign drivers license, it will be presumed valid if the bearer has come from a country with which the USA has a visa waiver agreement and other complicated immigration “ifs”.

Somebody tell the legislature: Aliens visiting Georgia lawfully can already drive legally with their foreign drivers license.

The bill actually says that if a cop cannot verify validity of the foreign license, he should verify that the alien entered the U.S. legally – by checking his passport or immigration papers or visa and then presume the license is valid if the alien has evidence of “lawful entry.” That’s a lot of “ifs,” isn’t it?

Why is this bill an odoriferous fraud? Because according to many senior Georgia local law enforcement officials – including Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren – they do not have the ability, training or equipment to verify a foreign drivers license. Never have. The sheriffs I have spoken to don’t even know if such equipment exists. There is no federal or state law that requires a foreign visitor to carry a passport for the cop to inspect, if he had the guidance to do so. Also, Sheriff Warren says his deputies do not have any training to decipher “lawful entry,” or visas and immigration documents or agreements made at the federal level.

Like the constant push for officially open borders from American business interests, SB 320 is a product of the power and endless effort from the Georgia Chamber of Commerce to “make Georgia more business friendly.” It was introduced into the senate system and quietly shot through an obedient committee system and passed on the senate floor in a whirlwind period of seven legislative days.

Word on SB 320 has gone nationwide, and fascinated retired Border Patrol Agents and other federal immigration officers from Georgia and across the nation have sent letters to the state legislators sounding the alarm on SB 320. As I write on Sunday night, Sheriff Warren says he is preparing his own letter to the Cobb Delegation on SB 320.

Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway also has given SB 320 a drubbing. “It is my professional and personal opinion that SB 320 poses needless danger to the safety and security of our state and to the citizens my office is charged with protecting. I see no gain to public safety with the passage of this bill. Contrarily, I believe it will weaken enforcement of driver’s license laws with regard to foreign nationals” wrote Conway in a warning to state legislators.

Sheriffs’ Warren and Conway along with Union County Sheriff Mack Mason report that to their knowledge, no Georgia law enforcement was ever asked for input on the bill.

There were four senators who did not vote on SB 320 because of excused absences — Senators Hunter Hill, David Lucas, P.K. Martin and Josh McKoon. The bill is now in the House.

SB 320 was sent through the senate in just seven legislative days, while badly needed legislation, SB 6 – aimed at changing the Georgia drivers license currently given to illegal aliens – has languished for more than a year in the same Senate Public Safety Committee that rushed SB 320 out. Friday is the last day of life for SB 6 unless it sees a hearing before then.

More? Senate Resolution 675 is precariously pending in the GOP-ruled senate. It would allow us all to vote in November on amending the state constitution to make English the official language of government in Georgia.

Both SB 6 and SR 675 are strongly opposed by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

Readers should share their own views with legislators.

D.A. King is president of the Cobb-based Dustin Inman Society.

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Odiferous state legislation has law enforcement opposition

8 U.S. Code § 1304 – Forms for registration and fingerprinting”

“(e) Personal possession of registration or receipt card; penalties

Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d). Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.”

To:
From: Frank V. Rotondo, GACP Executive Director
Re: Foreign Driver’s License
Date: October 15, 2009

Recently, I was contacted by Charles “Chuck” Olson with the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia (PAC) regarding complaints that he has received from several of the foreign consulates in Atlanta that law enforcement officers have issued citations to their citizens for driving without a license because they didn’t have their passport with them when they were stopped for a traffic violation. Please read the following message from PAC regarding this issue. The information below should provide clarity to this issue and guidance for training to your officers.
Should you have questions or need additional information, you may contact Mr. Olson at 404.969.4001 or via email at colson@pacga.org

SPECIAL MESSAGE:

Visitors to Georgia from foreign countries are allowed to drive in Georgia for up to one year if they have a valid driver’s license issued by the driver’s licensing agency in their home country and they are lawfully admitted to the United States. Rocha v. State, 250 Ga. App. 209, 211-212 (2001), Schofield v. Hertz Corp., 201 Ga. App. 830, 832 (1991).

This Summer, there have been complaints from several of the foreign consulates in Atlanta that law enforcement officers have issued citations to their citizens for driving without a license because they didn’t have their passport with them when they were stopped for a traffic violation. According to the Office of the Legal Counsel of the United States Department of State, there is no Federal law or regulation that requires foreign visitors to the United States to have their passport on their person at all times. There also is no Georgia law that would require foreign drivers to keep their passport on their person at all times.

In 2008, the legislature, in an attempt to make it easier for police officers to recognize valid foreign driver’s licenses, amended O.C.G.A. § 40-5-21 to add a requirement that if the foreign driver’s license is a language other than English, the driver must also have in his or her possession an International Driver’s Permit (IDP) in addition to their home country license. This amendment became effective on January 1, 2009.

The IDP is a translation of the foreign license which generally must be obtained in the driver’s home country before departing for the United States. It is valid for one year from the date of issuance. Driver’s from English speaking countries, such as Australia, Bahamas, Canada, Great Britain, Guyana, Fiji, Ireland, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, Nigeria or Uganda, do not have to carry an IDP.

However, if during that time, a foreign national becomes a legal resident of Georgia, they must obtain a Georgia driver’s license within 30 days of becoming a resident. O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20. However, they no longer have to surrender their foreign driver’s license. O.C.G.A. § 40-5-20(c)(2).

Charles. C. Olson
General Counsel
Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia
Suite 400
104 Marietta St.
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-969-4001
Fax: 404-969-0020
email: colson@
URL: http://www.pacga.org/

Cobb Sheriff, Neil Warren

Letter Regarding SB 320 from Sheriff Neil Warren 

Click on link above.

Photo: Wikipedia

Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway is (very) opposed to SB 320, which passed (at light-speed) the Georgia Senate this week. VOTE RECORD HERE.

We are grateful to Sheriff Conway for sharing this email with us. His staff tells us it was sent to the members of the Senate Public Safety Committee, the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee and the entire Gwinnett delegation to the Gold Dome.

Senate Bill 320 is sponsored by: Senators Ben Watson of the 1st, Tyler Harper of the 7th, Brandon Beach of the 21st, Frank Ginn of the 47th, Butch Miller of the 49th, Mike Dugan of the 30th and others

Senator Tyler Harper is the chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee where SB 6 has been sitting for more than year. This bill (SB 320) flew through in seven (legislative) days.

NOTE: We double dog dare you to find this gem on the AJC legislation navigator…

Scroll down from this post to see the growing number of law enforcement officials who have similar objections to this legislation.

Sheriff Conway’s email:

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: SB 320
From: <Butch.Conway@gwinnettcounty.<mailto:Butch.Conway@gwinnettcounty.c>>
Date: Fri, February 19, 2016 4:27 pm
To: <Butch.Conway@gwinnettcounty.c<mailto:Butch.Conway@gwinnettcounty.c>>

Good afternoon –
I don’t often speak on pending legislation, but as a thirty-seven year law enforcement veteran who has served as Gwinnett County Sheriff for nineteen years, I urge you to carefully consider the potential dangers of SB 320. As Gwinnett County is a top destination for immigrants, both legal and illegal, this legislation is of great importance to our county.

I am concerned that SB 320 appears to charge law enforcement officers with the duty of verifying the validity and authenticity of foreign driver’s licenses on Georgia’s roadways and to interpret immigration documents and foreign passports. Additionally, the language of SB 320 seems to assume that an officer on the street would be able to discern what reflects “lawful entry” into the United States by an alien through inspection of a foreign passport or visa.

As one of the best equipped law enforcement agencies in Georgia, please understand that my deputies don’t have the equipment or training to accomplish these duties. We cannot verify a foreign driver’s license on the street. Budget constraints currently do not allow for the new equipment or training these additional duties would require.

I am also uncomfortable with the concept that any foreign consul or Georgia Commissioner of Economic Development would be given authority to appoint an official to be the arbiter of the validity of a foreign driver’s license, as SB 320 seems to read.

It is my professional and personal opinion that SB 320 poses needless danger to the safety and security of our state and to the citizens my office is charged with protecting. I see no gain to public safety with the passage of this bill. Contrarily, I believe it will weaken enforcement of driver’s license laws with regard to foreign nationals.

Thank you for your careful consideration of this matter.

(Butch Conway – Sheriff, Gwinnett County, Georgia)

22 February 2016

Retired Border Patrol Agent Dave Stoddard was kind enough to send us the below copy of a letter he sent to the entire House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee under the Gold Dome. We are grateful for the heads up. And we note this letter is exactly why SB 320 was rushed through the state senate.

If you want to help stop it in the House, you can leave a message with state Rep Alan Powell, who is chairman of the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee 404-463-3793

To whom it may concern,
Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee

Re Georgia Senate Bill 320

I am contacting you from here in Arizona, where I live as a retired Border Patrol Agent of 27 years in hopes that you will carefully consider SB 320 in your committee. I have lived on the border with Mexico for most of my 69 years. I currently live within 5 miles of the U.S. /Mexico border and I am a daily witness to lawlessness on the border. I have never quit trying to get the USA to secure its own borders. I can tell you that never before has our border been so open and the situation gets worse as states and municipalities get more and more illegal alien friendly.

I have read over the proposed law that this bill sets forth and want to warn all concerned that adding any “presumption of validity” of any foreign issued document, including a drivers license, is an invitation to increased fraud and abuse. SB 320 is just another illegal alien friendly bill that victimizes the legitimate citizens of Georgia by sanctioning the lawlessness of illegal residents of Georgia.

Charging local police officers with the job of interpreting the information on immigration documents and foreign passports is very unwise and potentially dangerous. The ease and frequency of document alteration and abuse is difficult to outline here, but I hope that saying even seasoned, qualified immigration enforcement agents can frequently be fooled by document venders offering their counterfeiting services to illegal aliens is sufficient to get your attention on this matter.

Speaking from a career of experience, I can tell you that careful training and constant continuing education is required to be effective in inspecting immigration documents, including foreign passports. I will be surprised if any local law enforcement officers possess even a beginner’s level of proficiency in this complex assignment and they should not be burdened by forcing their endorsement of criminally produced documents.

Even a cursory inspection of this legislation makes it apparent that law enforcement was not consulted. I cannot accept that any local law enforcement department head would give a favorable report on the contents of SB 320.

About half of the total number of illegal aliens currently hiding in plain sight in the USA did not come here illegally, they entered lawfully and then refused to leave. You must realize that “lawful entry” – even if it could be proven by a roadside inspection of a passport – is not a certain reflection of an alien’s legal presence.

This legislation has become known to retired immigration enforcement agents across the nation and I will be very surprised if this is the only letter you receive on SB 320. I urge you to stop this poorly vetted legislation from becoming law.

Thank you,
Dave Stoddard

Hereford, Arizona 85615

Sheriff Mack Mason SB 320

The below letter was forwarded here by Mr. Robert Trent. We are grateful for him sharing with us.

19 February 2016

Dear members of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee,

I write to express my professional concerns regarding Senate Bill 320, which I understand has passed the Georgia Senate and is now being considered in your committee.

I spent 25 years as an immigration agent actively involved in enforcing our federal immigration laws and last served as the Assistant Director, Enforcement Training, U.S. Immigration Officer Academy, which was located at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Glynco, Georgia. In addition, I have also served as a uniformed municipal police officer.

I have read through the language of SB 320 and am quite confused about its purpose. As I understand the explanation on the Department of Driver Services website, when visiting our state, legally admitted, non-resident aliens can already legally drive in Georgia using their home nation’s drivers license if accompanied by a translation into English, if needed.

Concerning language in SB 320 aimed at enforcement, as a practical matter I don’t see how a local or state government could expect a local police officer to be competent in determining if an immigration document has been altered, photo substituted, page altered, date altered etc. or why we would add that verification burden to their already demanding and dangerous mission.

Well-trained CBP and ICE officers can and do miss counterfeit visas and altered passports. How could we expect street cops to perform this forensic procedure? Why are we trying to change this part of the Georgia code?

In addition, requiring local law enforcement officers to become knowledgeable on the visa waiver program and other complex immigration details does not appear to be realistic goal. I fear that one day busy and dedicated officers may avoid interviewing or dealing with aliens – who could represent a possible terror threat – in an effort to avoid the complicated and burdensome new responsibility SB 320 would put on them. I have already witnessed Georgia State troopers waving motorists through roadblocks here in the Brunswick area when they hear a foreign-sounding accent. From my own experience, when laws become to convolute for a police officer to navigate, they will generally avoid enforcement action.

We all desire a more prosperous Georgia, but there should be limits to our risks in that mission. I hope the goal of this legislation is not to increase the security of Georgia or our mutual safety, as I am of the educated opinion that it may have the opposite effect.

I urge you to discard SB 320.

Thank you

Robert Trent
Senior Special Agent (Retired)
U.S. Immigration Service
(912) ***- ****

Brunswick, Georgia 31523

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