Townhall.com

Unlike Mexico, Georgia is issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants

By Georgia state Senator Josh McKoon
Feb 10, 2015

The state of Georgia is issuing driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.

After years of explaining this fact to astonished Georgians all over the state, I have still not grown accustomed to the shock and outrage they so vocally express. “But Georgia is governed by Republicans! – what is this, California?” is the most common reply that is printable here. They seem to become even angrier when someone correctly points out that illegal aliens cannot obtain a driver’s license in Mexico.

For those readers who are wondering – no, this bewildering assault on our driver’s license integrity is not a result of an act of Congress – or the Georgia General Assembly.

Despite the efforts of very powerful forces in the state Capitol Georgia driver’s licenses had been off limits to illegal aliens. That all changed when President Obama issued his 2012 re-election campaign decree granting an official assurance of “deferred action” amnesty on deportations to illegals who said they came here as children. Obama dictated that his deferred action amnesty “for the children” – known as “DACA” also came with a work permit and a (genuine) Social Security number. Since then Obama has modified his decree. Now, “children” has no age cap – illegals in their 40’s and older are now eligible for DACA amnesty.

Under current – but pre-Obama – state law those last two documents make an illegal alien as eligible for a driver’s license in Georgia as a foreign businessman on a visa, a Legal Permanent Resident immigrant or a Georgia-born youth on his sixteenth birthday.

As a security measure, and to protect our jobs, I have introduced legislation – Senate Bill 6 – that will alter state law to end the practice of rewarding any illegal aliens with a Georgia driver’s license… Please read the rest HERE http://townhall.com/columnists/joshmckoon/2015/02/10/unlike-mexico-georgia-is-issuing-drivers-licenses-to-illegal-immigrants-n1955023/page/full

Then call Senator McKoon’s Capitol office Phone: (404) 463-3931 to say “thank you” for his leadership?

You can see a list of all state Senators and their contact info HERE

• Updated: Response from Co. McDonough, here

List of participating entities (federal records) – 287(g) here.

DPS ICE 287 g request to DPS

OPINION

Marietta Daily Journal

February 1, 2017

Dear Editor:

I read with great interest state Sen. Josh McKoon’s recent letter in the MDJ about his resolution to dump the rule that allows the Georgia senate to hold unrecorded hand votes. As a matter of fact, along with several friends, I went to the Capitol in Atlanta and watched the committee hearing that decided if Sen. McKoon’s bill would get a vote in the full Senate. The senate rules committee, dominated by Republicans, killed the legislation.

Sen. McKoon wrote here that “it is my experienced opinion that changing this outdated Senate rule will protect the reputation of all Senate members and aid in the public’s ability to understand the legislative process.”

Trust me, that is not a popular view in the establishment. Sen. McKoon is a brave man.

The room where the committee hearing took place was packed. Standing room only, but I wish more voters could have seen what took place. The senior Republicans on the committee acted as if Sen. McKoon had lost his mind in suggesting that all votes be recorded so that all citizens could see them anytime.

After a brief discussion on how bad an idea it was, and with the Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Cowsert asserting that the Senate was transparent enough already, Sen. Cowsert made a motion to kill the bill, which is exactly what happened.

The short version is that a resolution to stop unrecorded hand votes on important amendments in the state senate was killed in a senate committee — with a very quick, unrecorded voice vote.

I am so angry. It should be noted that Sen. McKoon’s Resolution, SR 24, only had one cosponsor supporter, a senator from Carrolton. There were no Cobb senators who cosigned to help Sen. McKoon. I watched as Sen. Judson Hill remained silent and texted on the iPad in his lap for the entire 30-minute hearing.

I dare the candidates to replace Sen. Judson Hill or the Cobb Republican party to ignore this as the primary debates begin, I will never forget what I saw under the Gold Dome on Monday.

Susan E. Stanton

Conservative Leadership Coalition

Kennesaw   HERE (paywall)

Photo: Tea Party

Here is a ‘take-away’ on the liberal media’s incomplete coverage of Georgia Governor’s race: The Dems did the “use it or lose it” law and former Secretary of State Brian Kemp is only ‘guilty’ of following that law.

It was the 1997 Georgia Democrats who introduced, sponsored and passed the now infamous and partially reported “use it or lose it” voter ‘purge’ law that the liberal media, loser Stacey Abrams and the 2018 Democrats are using to vilify Governor-Elect Brian Kemp. The exception on sponsors was Republican Robert Irvin.

It was Democrat Governor Zell Miller who signed the legislation, HB 889, into law.

It was introduced by Chatham County Democrat Rep Sonny Dixon and was cosponsored by Reps (the late) William Lee (D), Larry Walker (D), Jimmy Skipper (D), Robert Irvin (R), and Greg K. Hecht (D).

Sonny Dixon won a Best Anchor Emmy Award for his work in broadcasting in Savannah and has a major road intersection named in his honor.

Attorney and writer Larry Walker has served on the Board of Regents and on the state’s Georgia Department of Transportation Board.

Greg Hecht went on to the state senate and was the Democrat’s 2014 candidate for Attorney General.

Brian Kemp wasn’t in the Georgia legislature in 1997 when the Dems passed the bill they hate so vocally now that Comrade Abrams has finally admitted defeat.

We haven’t seen this in any liberal media outlets – but will do a complete search for a credible and compelling Georgia news article that we may have missed. But, maybe they are hiding it.

*Hat tip to real-conservative Georgia state Senator Josh McKoon for the expert detective work on the Georgia General Assembly’s website.

dak

Insider Advantage Georgia

October 23, 2018

D.A. King

This seems far, far away from “voter suppression.” The driver’s license Georgia issues to non-citizens – including illegal aliens who have already been ordered deported – is acceptable and “proper identification” when casting a ballot.

This, according to multiple staffers at the main office of the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration office in Marietta when asked multiple times by this early voter last week. To get an answer I had to explain what a limited term license is.

For those who are not well versed in the topic, the driver’s license DDS issues to foreigners is labeled “LIMITED TERM” across the top, which is the only difference between it and a U.S. citizen’s driver’s license.

Georgia’s temporary “Limited Term” drivers license. Photo: DDS.

The acceptance appears to be in compliance with Georgia law (OCGA 21-2-417) which merely says “proper identification shall consist of any one of the following: A Georgia driver’s license which was properly issued by the appropriate state agency;…”

This brings to mind the several attempts in the last few years under the Gold Dome to clarify the limitations of the limited term driver’s license, which, generally, is supposed to be valid for the period of an alien’s visa.

In the 2017 General Assembly, House Rep Alan Powell introduced a bill to add “INELIGIBLE VOTER” – which was a compromise to his original language, which would have added the term “NON CITIZEN” to the non-citizens driver’s license. Powell came under heavy fire from the illegal alien lobby and his attempt at driver’s license/voter ID reform died.

More than 20,000 aliens who have received a deferral in deportation proceedings or who have already been ordered deported also hold the same limited term license according to information from DDS early this year.

In 2016, the state senate passed a bill sponsored by Senator Josh McKoon that would have marked the limited term driver’s license held by this group with “NO LAWFUL STATUS.”

McKoon contended his bill would help prevent voter fraud and terrorism. The driving and ID credentials are also accepted as ID to enter federal buildings and to board airliners in America’s airports. Including the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), corporate -funded opponents argued such reform would “stigmatize” people and represented a ‘Scarlett Letter’ for “immigrants.” The legislation died in the House.

For this writer, the lunacy that a driver’s license designed and intended for foreign nationals is accepted as valid ID to vote in Georgia is surpassed by the fact that literally no official I have ever spoken to at my Cobb polling place over the years – supervisors included – had ever even heard of a “limited term” driver’s license.

For a memorable first-hand education, readers may want to ask about this when they vote.

You read it here first.

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

Brian Kemp silent on allowing voters to decide on official English

Pro-English voters should ask questions 

A December 2015 Rosetta Stone poll showed that a bipartisan 76% of Georgians support making English Georgia’s constitutional official language. The idea is English as official, not “English only” as goes the portrayal by dishonest opponents.

Policy differences for candidates in the race for Georgia governor may not extend to allowing Georgia voters to decide if the state constitution should be amended to make English the official language of government.

According to an AJC report last week, Democrat candidate Stacey Abrams promised to oppose constitutional official English in the General Assembly as governor and boasted of fighting against allowing voters to answer a ballot question when she was in the legislature.

We thought it surprising that the AJC did not include a quote or position from Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp on the voter-popular issue, so last Wednesday we sent a policy question and request for a quote to the Kemp campaign.

Brian Kemp – photo, Facebook

 “Do you support allowing Georgia voters to decide on a ballot question that would amend the state constitution to make English the official language of Georgia government and which would end current practice of offering the written road rules portion of the DDS drivers license exam in (eleven) foreign languages?

 If so, will you use the power of the governor’s office to promote that cause for the 2020 election?”

 A week later, we have not received a response from candidate Kemp. Maybe curious voters will ask him.

All concerned should be aware that Georgia has a 1996 statute in place that makes English the official language, but it also says officials can ignore that directive:

“State agencies, counties, municipal corporations, and political subdivisions of this state are authorized to use or to print official documents and forms in languages other than the official language, at the discretion of their governing authorities.”

The concept of allowing voters to have a voice on the matter is quite popular in the Georgia senate. Introduced by state Senator Josh McKoon, in 2016 SR 675  passed the Georgia senate with every Republican member voting “YEA.” It was not allowed a vote on the House floor.

McKoon’s Resolution created a ballot question voters would have considered that year which read:

“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to provide that English is the official language of the State of Georgia?”

 All persons desiring to vote in favor of ratifying the proposed amendment shall vote “Yes.”

 All persons desiring to vote against ratifying the proposed amendment shall vote “No.” 

 If such amendment shall be ratified as provided in said Paragraph of the Constitution, it shall become a part of the Constitution of this state.”

 Most conservatives would like to have the chance to answer that question in November, 2020.

 Readers who are not closely involved in Gold Dome politics are likely asking why they have not already been permitted to vote on making official English part of the state constitution. It helps to know that the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce are vehemently opposed to that idea.

It may also help to know that in metro-Atlanta’s DeKalb School District alone, administrators are dealing with students from 180 different countries who speak 140 different languages.

Without a constitutional mandate that English is the official language of government, readers can make their own predictions on how long it is before the angry marches in the streets begin with the demand that government in Georgia accommodate every imaginable language with the cry that “diversity is our strength.”

It seems like something a Republican candidate for Georgia governor would comment on. Comprende?

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

Insider Advantage Georgia

October 10, 2018 by D.A. King | Oct 10, 2018 | The Forum | 0 comments

What is Republican Brian Kemp’s position on allowing voters to decide on official English?

Candidate policy differences in the race for Georgia governor may not extend to allowing Georgia voters to decide if the state constitution should be amended to make English the official language of government.

A December 2015 Rosetta Stone poll showed that a bipartisan 76% of Georgians support making English Georgia’s constitutional official language. The idea is English as official, not “English only” as goes the portrayal by dishonest opponents.

Last week, Democrat candidate Stacey Abrams promised to oppose constitutional official English in the General Assembly as governor and boasted of fighting against allowing voters to answer an official English ballot question when she was in the legislature.

It is surprising that there doesn’t seem to be a quote or position from Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp on the voter-popular issue.

All concerned should be aware that Georgia has a 1996 statute in place that makes English the official language, but also says officials can ignore that directive. So, they do exactly that.

Introduced by state Senator Josh McKoon, in 2016 SR 675 passed the Georgia senate with every Republican member voting “YEA.” It was not allowed a vote on the House floor. McKoon’s Resolution created a ballot question voters would have considered that year which read:

“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to provide that English is the official language of the State of Georgia?”

If such amendment shall be ratified as provided in said Paragraph of the Constitution, it shall become a part of the Constitution of this state.”

Readers who are not closely involved in Gold Dome politics are likely asking why they have not already been permitted to vote on making official English part of the state constitution. It helps to know that the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce are vehemently opposed to that idea.

It may also help to know that in metro-Atlanta’s DeKalb School District alone, administrators are dealing with students from 180 different countries who speak 140 different languages.

Without a constitutional mandate that English is the official language of government, readers can make their own predictions on how long it is before the angry marches in the streets begin with the demand that government in Georgia accommodate every imaginable language with the cry that “diversity is our strength.”

It seems like something a Republican candidate for Georgia governor would comment on.

D.A. King of Marietta is president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society.    Here.

TOMORROW’S GEORGIA REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY RUN-OFF

GOP VOTERS SILENT AS RIVALS IGNORE HOT-BUTTON, POLL-TESTED IMMIGRATION ISSUES – SOROS DONATES $1 MILLION TO DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE

Lt. Governor Casey Cagle (left) and Secretary of State Brian Kemp – Photo courtesy Dawson News

D.A. KING

While the liberal media ignores the fact, both candidates in the bruising two-month Georgia Republican gubernatorial primary race have avoided immigration issues where the eventual governor can make the biggest difference.

With run-off day looming tomorrow, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp have mostly kept their immigration focus away from topics that may offend the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and narrowed to “sanctuary cities” and on illegal aliens who have already committed additional crimes in the United States – or “criminal illegal aliens.”

The main driver of illegal immigration is illegal employment, which was not mentioned in either campaign.

In addition to black market labor, they are also both dodging obvious and voter-popular immigration issues where a governor can play a central role, including drivers licenses to illegal aliens and official English for government.

No mention of protecting jobs for American workers

Silence on allowing voters to decide on constitutional official English

Nearly 86% of Republicans – and 76% of all voters polled – answered “yes” when asked “would you support an amendment to the Georgia constitution that makes English the official language of government?” in the same poll conducted by Atlanta-based Rosetta Stone Communications

Despite the objections of the business lobby and with a unanimous party-line vote, in 2016, the Republican-controlled Georgia state senate passed a Resolution that would have allowed all Georgia voters to answer a ballot question that year on English as the state’s constitutional official government language.

But the legislation quietly died with Democrat “no” votes when Republican House leadership instructed Republicans to stay away from a sub-committee hearing which killed the bill.

Official English is not a voluntary campaign topic for either of the Republican candidates for Georgia governor. This despite one metro-Atlanta school district boast that 140 foreign languages are spoken by its students.

While it is not widely understood by voters, currently, the state of ten million offers the written road rules portion of the drivers license exam in eleven foreign languages.

Drivers licenses for illegal aliens – not a campaign issue

The same statewide poll that asked about official constitutional official English showed that 80% of Republicans and 63% of all Georgians also want to end the practice of giving any drivers license to any illegal aliens.

Many voters are unaware of the fact that Republican Georgia has issued more than 20,000 drivers licenses and official state photo ID Cards to individuals who the United States Immigration and Citizenship Services classifies as lacking lawful immigration status – but who have been given work permits by both the Obama and Trump administrations.

This group of aliens includes recipients of the Obama DACA deferred action on deportation amnesty, aliens who have been granted deferred action outside of the DACA amnesty and aliens who have already been ordered to be deported by federal officials.

Work permits, officially known as Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) are issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services which is an agency in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The 2005 REAL ID Act implemented after the horror of 9/11 says that illegal aliens who have been granted deferred action on deportation or who have been ordered deported but then apply for permanent residence can use that temporary condition as “evidence of lawful status” for the purpose of obtaining a federally approved drivers license or state ID card. Nothing in the REAL ID Act says any state must issue drivers licenses to any illegal aliens.

• In a direct contradiction, USCIS says “Current law does not grant any legal status for the class of individuals who are current recipients of DACA. Recipients of DACA are currently unlawfully present in the U.S. with their removal deferred.”
• Through an official spokesperson, USCIS has provided a breakdown of the classification codes contained on the work permits that illustrate the immigration status of the bearer.
• USCIS also operates the SAVE verification system for official agencies to determine immigration status of applicants for public benefits. Drivers licenses and ID cards are public benefits in Georgia.
• Appointed by current governor Nathan Deal, Georgia’s Attorney General, Chris Carr, has told an Atlanta NPR affiliate that “We have continuously and clearly taken the position in ongoing legal cases that DACA does not confer legal status.” (July 17, 2017 WABE News).

Georgia is among the states that issues the identical drivers license to legal immigrants with ‘green cards’ and foreigners who entered the US lawfully on temporary visas – including Mercedes Benz executives – as are issued to the aliens the state Attorney General and USCIS says lack legal status. The defacto national ID, these credentials are used as valid ID to enter military bases, federal buildings and board airliners in America’s airports.

Drivers license issued to all non-citizens in Georgia, legal status or illegal status. Photo: DDS

Sponsored by conservative state Senator Josh McKoon, in 2016, legislation passed the Georgia Senate by a two-thirds majority – with every Republican vote except one – that would have clearly marked driving and ID credentials to note the illegal immigration status of the bearer. That measure was allowed to expire without a hearing in the GOP House, controlled by business-oriented Speaker David Ralston. McKoon also sponsored the official English Resolution.

Most Georgians do not realize that under state law the same aliens USCIS says have no lawful status but have been issued a work permit are eligible for state unemployment benefits.

The jobs-for Americans, drivers license/illegal alien/unemployment benefits issue are not topics in either Republican candidate’s campaign for the Republican nomination for Georgia governor.

Georgians deserve to know where the candidates stand.

The powerful Georgia business lobby has long worked against protecting jobs and wages for legal workers, use of E-Verify, immigration enforcement and official English. Georgia ranks ahead of Arizona in its population of illegal aliens, according to estimates from DHS and the Pew Research Center. One estimate is that the crime of illegal immigration costs Georgia taxpayers $2.4 billion annually.

The current governor, two-term, business-first Republican Nathan Deal, has avoided the illegal immigration issue since his first year in office. But, Deal boasts that Georgia is named number-one state in which to do business by Site Selection magazine.

The influx of migrants and the anti-enforcement power of the business lobby will eventually result in a Democrat in the Georgia governor’s office. This year’s far-left, anti-enforcement candidate for the office, Stacey Abrams, has a real chance of winning and has recently received a one million-dollar donation from Georgia Soros.

Updated 4:13 PM

Updated 10:05 PM

GALEO Inc. lobbyist Maria Palasios testifies against illegal alien drivers license reform legislation – March, 2018. Photo: Georgia state senate

 Insider advantage Georgia

Lawsuit from former illegal alien, anti-enforcement lobbyist candidate raises questions

May 23, 2018

D.A. King

As IAG Publisher Phil Kent recently noted here, a former illegal alien, Maria Palasios, is suing to reverse a decision from Secretary of State Brian Kemp that she is ineligible to run for a seat in the General Assembly. The story creates several important questions and probably exposes another lie from the Obama administration on the illegal executive DACA amnesty.

In their own coverage of the story, the AJC reports that Palasios “was brought by her parents to the United States from Mexico as an infant without authorization, and she became a U.S. citizen in 2017.”

Exactly how, we should ask, did an illegal alien become a U.S. citizen? Naturalization requires lawful status.

When he rolled out the DACA amnesty during the 2012 presidential campaign, Obama assured the nation: “now, let’s be clear — this is not amnesty, this is not immunity. This is not a path to citizenship.”
It is likely that Palasios was given DACA status, and given the possibility she will be elected to lawmaker status, that should be an integral part of the story. It is also likely that she exploited a process called “advance parole” in which an alien obtains permission to leave the U.S., then reenters with permission – that is to say lawfully. After that there can be a path to a “green card” and to citizenship.

As the Washington Post reluctantly explained in September, according to Senator Charles Grassley and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, 59,778 DACA recipients had applied for green-card status — and 39,514 had been approved.

Of the illegal aliens who had received green cards, 1,056 had become U.S. citizens as of September, 2017.

It is also quite relevant that would-be lawmaker Palasios is employed by the corporate-funded, anti-borders GALEO Corporation to lobby against immigration enforcement under the Gold Dome. You can see her in action (here 9:07 on the counter) in an official Senate Public Safety Committee video from March lobbying against former state Sen. Josh McKoon’s illegal alien drivers license reform bill that would have stopped the current practice of giving some illegal aliens the exact same drivers license as legal immigrants.

Note: This is the same hearing noted by IAG last month in which Dalton state Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton, asked how McKoon’s bill would be enforced “out of state” before he voted against it. Payne was re-elected in his primary race yesterday.

In the lawsuit Palasios – and the ACLU – claim she has been a “citizen” of Georgia since 2009, which was three years before Obama’s DACA amnesty. It looks like the “New Georgia” may be a place where illegal aliens can be considered “citizens.”

We’ll see.

D.A. King is president of the Dustin Inman Society   Here

Dalton Daily Citizen

April 29, 2018

Payne wrong about bill

Proving that Republican does not always mean conservative, state Sen. Chuck Payne has voted three times to stop the effort to change the drivers license Georgia issues to illegal aliens so that it is different from real, legal immigrant’s drivers licenses and cannot be used as federal ID to board airliners, enter military bases — or register to vote.

Voters should note that in 2016, 37 GOP members of the Georgia senate — including former senator Charlie Bethel — already voted for this common sense public safety concept.

In each case, four-term senator, seasoned pro-enforcement immigration authority and long-time attorney, Josh McKoon, sponsored the legislation. The idea that Sen. Payne can somehow see errors missed by these conservatives is laughably preposterous.

It was was stunning to see video of Sen. Chuck Payne tell the audience at the recent Daily Citizen-News candidate forum that “Georgia does not deal in immigration. We don’t have immigration laws.” Respectfully, this is ignorant nonsense.

As a pro-enforcement immigration authority, this writer has worked with state legislators since 2004 on state immigration laws. Sen. Payne’s lack of knowledge on this topic is alarming to those who work to make Georgia as unwelcoming as possible to the crime of illegal immigration — and it is dangerous.

• In 2006, Georgia passed a law to require official agencies that administer taxpayer-funded public benefits to insure those benefits do not go to illegal aliens. That is an immigration law.

• In 2006 and 2011 Georgia passed a laws requiring use of the no-cost federal E-Verify system to help deter illegal alien labor. Those are immigration laws.

• In 2009 Georgia passed a sanctuary city law — immigration law again.

Payne’s worldview clearly does not match up with President Trump’s pro-American agenda. But it does align with the Chamber of Commerce pro-amnesty, anti-enforcement policies pushed in Atlanta.

As he says, Sen. Payne may very well “read through” legislation before he votes. But it should be seriously considered that there is a very glaring difference between being a public servant and a servant of the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce.

In the same forum video, I was relieved to hear conservative candidate Scott Tidwell say “we need to do everything we can to keep Georgia from being a magnet for illegal aliens.”

Speaking for Georgia victims of the crimes perpetrated by illegals, we plead with Dalton voters to send a conservative to the state senate next year. Georgia still has more illegal aliens than does Arizona.

D.A. King

Marietta

King is president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society, a nationally recognized authority on immigration and has assisted state lawmakers with immigration legislation since 2004. He is not a member of any political party.

Here