Photo: The Hill

Marietta Daily Journal
January 6, 2020

Campaign promise on illegal immigration broken

DEAR EDITOR:

Regarding the “Q&A: Gov. Brian Kemp talks budget cuts, education and other legislative priorities.”

We were drop-mouthed astounded to see that Governor Kemp was not asked about his broken campaign promises on illegal immigration when the MDJ interviewed him recently. It cannot be said too many times that Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than green card holders and that Kemp presented himself as a pro-enforcement champion during the campaign. He promised to create a “track and deport plan” and a “database of criminal aliens.”

In last year’s legislative session, a simple bill (HB202) that would have made public a quarterly count of criminal illegal aliens in the state prison system was kept from a vote by the Speaker David Ralston-controlled Republican House without a murmur from Kemp. This would have allowed voters to see one monetary cost of the vaunted illegal “cheap labor” the donor class employs with impunity while taxpayers foot the bills.

Many Georgia families have been permanently separated at the hands of illegal aliens. How many more innocents must die before this overtakes “business-friendly” as “an issue?” Perhaps Gov. Kemp should go talk to our dear friend Kathy Inman in Woodstock and ask about her son Dustin who was killed by an illegal and is forever age sixteen.

There are many conservatives out here who remember Kemp’s immigration campaign promises and we can hear the complete silence of Gov. Kemp on the topic since the election. Now we wonder about the silence from the MDJ. We stopped wondering about the silence on illegal immigration from Georgia Republicans years ago.

My wife is a proud immigrant. So we hope the silly “that’s an anti-immigrant letter” idiocy that will likely follow is ignored. Here

John Litland

Marietta

Savannah Morning News/SavannahNow.com

OPINION

Letters to the editor

January 2, 2020

Gov Brian Kemp. Image: The Resurgent

Kemp falling short on immigration promises

The “Our View” editorial published Dec. 20 praising Gov. Brian Kemp for his business-first approach to governing and further enhancing the climate for corporate profit neglected to note the tradeoffs he has made. Or the trusting conservative voters he has betrayed. Or the campaign promises he has ignored.

Illegal immigration seems to have dropped off of the governor’s radar since Election Day, 2018. The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute says Georgia is home to more “undocumented workers” than green card holders. DHS says we host more illegals than Arizona.

This, despite state laws passed nearly every year since 2006 to make Georgia inhospitable to illegal immigration. The regulations in place, including the state’s the E-Verify laws, would serve the intended purpose if they were actually enforced — or even noted by Gov. Kemp.

Georgians should realize that most illegal immigration is a direct result of illegal employment and must be recognized as the organized crime that it is. Kemp is silent on the entire issue. “Business friendly” is a term that is counter to “pro-enforcement” on immigration.

Conservative voters who can remember back to the summer of 2018 may recall “Brian Kemp’s Track and Deport Plan” which was an extremely detailed campaign promise aimed at illegal aliens who commit additional crimes. “As governor, conservative businessman Brian Kemp will create a comprehensive database to track criminal aliens in Georgia. He will also update Georgia law to streamline deportations from our jails and prisons” went the pledge. We challenge readers to find any mention of any of this from the governor — or the Georgia media — since he was elected.

All this is yet another brilliant example of “silence is consent” and will continue until GOP voters find the courage to challenge the governor and the business lobby that has taken over the Gold Dome.

D.A. King, Marietta

Here.

photo; Kingman Daily Miner

The below letter was copied here on June 22, 2019

—

Governor Kemp,

I am writing you to let you know that I am not supportive of your appointment of John King as Insurance Commissioner.

Mr. King has a background that does not support our Georgia values. His association with GALEO is dangerous. We do not need ANYONE in office that is sympathetic to illegal immigration.

I trust you will listen to your critics and STOP this appointment.

Kathy Statham

Grayson, GA 30017

We received this letter today as a Bcc. I added the link back to Ms. Grabar’s original letter and one to Gov Kemp’s “big truck” ad.

—–

Governor Kemp,

About two months ago I wrote explaining that as a proud immigrant and American I was asking you to pass over Dax Lopez for a judicial promotion due to his association with the radical and leftist GALEO group. I was glad to see you ultimately make the right decision on that case.

The idea of encouraging and rewarding a sitting state court judge who served as board member and fundraiser keynote speaker for the GALEO activists while they fight enforcement of our immigration laws and a long list of other conservative ideals, including reporting criminal aliens to federal authorities, seemed contrary to the way you presented yourself during your campaign.

To my disappointment, I now see that you have appointed to a statewide, constitutional office, John King, someone who is greeted by GALEO as a “close friend” and who served as keynote speaker at a GALEO fundraiser while he was a police chief and while GALEO was fighting against local law enforcement aiding ICE in locating criminal aliens.

I am not aware of a single move from your office to use your power to rid Georgia of illegal employers or illegal aliens. Even the most generous observer would judge that you are much more on the side of GALEO than you are the majority of Georgians who trusted you to be strong and effective against the crime of illegal immigration.

Your campaign pledges on the criminal aliens and illegal immigration ravaging Georgia and Georgians now appear to be empty promises.

I cannot further explain my anger and disappointment, and I assure you this will not be forgotten.

Mary Grabar

Member, Board of Advisors

The Dustin Inman Society

404-**-****

Left, Insurance Commissioner appointee John King with GALEO Executive director Jerry Gonzalez. Image: Facebook, GALEO.org

The below posted letter was sent here this AM. I understand many other conservatives have sent letters to Gov Kemp about this matter. I added a photo and a link and am happy to see that people use the info we post.

BTW: The email address for Gov Brian Kemp is brian.kemp@georgia.gov . His office phone is 404-656-1776.

—-

June 19, 2019

Dear Governor Kemp,

John King, friend of GALEO, for constitutional office, really?

This is the second time in less than six weeks that I have felt it necessary to write a letter to you concerning the leftist GALEO group that fights against immigration enforcement and all things conservatives hold dear.

I had to read the news twice to fully soak up the fact that a Republican governor (you) who ran on “rounding up illegals” has actually appointed a man (John King) who helped GALEO raise funds to operate and who is a close friend of GALEO director, leftist Jerry Gonzalez.

Appointing someone to a high and powerful office because he was born in Mexico in a hope to produce more Hispanic votes is insanity. It is clear that the Kemp administration is operating on the “diversity at any cost” theory and has lost all commonsense. You may want to stop listening to the AJC’s liberal political insider and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce on immigration and policy – and you definitely need to at least appear to honor your campaign promises on illegal aliens.

I see vote records on D.A. King’s website that show even the gift of amnesty did not help the Republicans with Hispanic votes since 1986. If I can see it, why can’t you? I offer some help in the form of facts from the Dustin Inman Society website that your advisors may be hiding from you:

“After the “one time” Reagan amnesty of 1986, Hispanics rewarded Republican George H.W. Bush with 30% of their vote – Trump got 29% in 2016.

Clinton finished the San Diego border fence in 1994 and still got 72% of the Hispanic vote in 1996. It doesn’t look like capitulation pays off for Republicans or that enforcement costs Democrats.

Stats from LatinoVoteMatters.org :”If one hopes to analyze current trends and anticipate where we’re going, one must understand where we’ve been. Below, you’ll find the Hispanic voter breakdown for presidential elections from 1980 to present.”

1980 Jimmy Carter, 56% Ronald Reagan, 35% +21
1984 Walter Mondale, 61% Ronald Reagan, 37% +24
1988 Michael Dukakis, 69% George H.W. Bush, 30% +39
1992 Bill Clinton, 61% George H.W. Bush, 25% +36
1996 Bill Clinton, 72% Bob Dole, 21% +51
2000 Al Gore, 62% George W. Bush, 35% +27
2004 John Kerry, 58% George W. Bush, 40% +18
2008 Barack Obama, 67% John McCain, 31% +36
2012 Barack Obama, 71% Mitt Romney, 27% +44

*2016 Hillary Clinton, 65% Donald Trump, 29% +36

*According to widely accepted estimates in the liberal Atlanta Journal Constitution and the conservative National Review.

And doesn’t this mean that Amnesty-en-Espanol John McCain and “Build the Wall” Donald Trump had the same spread?

Huh…”

If the amnesty prize doesn’t change the Dem votes to Republican, your bizarre choice of John King isn’t going to either.

Governor Kemp, my friends who are Hispanic and conservative already vote Republican. It looks like you are trying to change that fact. I wish I hadn’t voted for you.

It was pandering, weakness and political expediency that killed Dustin Inman. This appointment is a very good example of why I am a conservative who is not a Republican.

Shaking my head in anger and amazement,
Bill Buckler
Kennesaw, GA.

Immigration Politics Georgia

June 13, 2019

Georgia Governor Appoints Replacement Insurance Commissioner with Ties to Anti-enforcement Immigration Lobbying Group, GALEO

D.A. King

Yesterday, Georgia Republican Governor, Brian Kemp, announced his appointment of a metro-Atlanta police chief, John King, to be the replacement for the now-suspended elected Insurance Commissioner, Jim Beck. In Georgia, Insurance Commissioner is a statewide, constitutional office.

Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of the corporate-funded, anti-enforcement lobbyist group, GALEO, was quick to send out a media release praising the “historic” appointment and boasting that King had assisted the activist group as keynote speaker at a GALEO breakfast fundraiser several years ago.

“Congrats to Chief King, close friend of @GALEOorg !” was the much-repeated celebratory post on the GALEO Facebook page.

Kemp’s Insurance Commissioner appointee has no background or experience in the insurance industry.

Kemp’s appointment of the GALEO-connected police chief to Insurance Commissioner comes as a shock to many Republican voters in the state. Georgia’s conservative U.S. Senator David Perdue stopped the Obama nomination of a one-time GALEO board member, Dax Lopez, to a federal bench seat in 2016 because of his concern with the GALEO relationship.

Perhaps unknown to most Republican voters, in addition to marching in the streets of Atlanta against enforcement of existing federal laws on immigration, GALEO and its director are well-known in the state Capitol for lobbying against state legislation aimed at reporting criminal aliens to federal authorities and establishing an official database of illegal aliens serving time in the state’s prison system.

GALEO lobbies against voter ID, official English and local jails honoring ICE detainers. Executive Director Gonzalez is known to verbally attack female legislators when he does not approve of speeches or positions on illegal immigration. In 2011, Gonzalez posted this angry explanation of being asked to leave the Georgia Capitol when he lashed out at state Senator Renee Unterman for a speech she made on the floor of the senate.

In 2011, GALEO’s Gonzalez was escorted out of a Rome, Georgia luncheon that featured a panel discussion on immigration when he began yelling at diminutive state Rep Katie Dempsey as reported by the Rome News Tribune.

Read the rest here.

Another letter. And a note to Ms. Owen. Yes, Gov Kemp knows all about GALEO.

—

Dear Gov. Kemp:

Up to this point I have been very PLEASED with the decisions that you have made!

This one baffles me, however! WHAT IN THE WORLD POSESSED YOU TO CHOOSE JOHN KING TO TAKE JIM BECK’S PLACE? Do you really know WHO he is??? Do you KNOW WHAT GALEO IS? Did you really do your homework? WHY would you choose someone who is pro-amnesty, pro-illegal immigration…….. in ANY POSITION in the GA bureaucracy?

Needless to say, I am VERY disappointed! PLEASE DO YOUR HOMEWORK THE NEXT TIME…..and thoroughly vet candidates such as this!

Sincerely,
Chris Owen

The below letter was copied to us today on GALEO and John King. I added a link to more information.
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Dear Governor Kemp,

Re: Your choice of John King for Insurance Commissioner

Both of us here are outraged to learn that you have appointed a fundraiser speaker for the GALEO anti-enforcement operation to office. This is not what we expected when you ran for governor and promised to round up illegal aliens.

Your choice here proves the old saying that Republican does not always mean conservative.

“Diversity” does not require Republicans who value the rule of law and a commonsense approach to filling government posts to put friends and supporters of nasty and radical enemies of immigration enforcement, voter ID, and secure borders like GALEO in positions of power.

My wife is a proud immigrant. We honor legal immigration and understand that to do so, we must take a pro-enforcement position on the issue. By his support for GALEO, we see that John King does not agree with that premise.

What next – an appointment for the rabid Jerry Gonzalez?

You will lose votes in your apparent attempt to be more like the Democrats. You may have lost both of ours.

John Litland
Maria Litland

Marietta

The below letter was copied here today. I added a link to more information. – dak

____

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp – photo, Facebook

June 17, 2019

Governor Kemp,

I am Robert M. Trent, Senior Special Agent, USINS (Ret.). My final assignment was at the U.S. Immigration Officers Academy, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Glynco, GA. . I served as the Assistant Director for Enforcement Training.

Having spent most of my life fighting for public safety through enforcement of our immigration laws, I am shocked and extremely disappointed to learn that in your recent appointment of John King to Insurance Commissioner, you have chosen to elevate a friend of the notorious GALEO organization to a position of power in our state government. John King has served as a valuable assistant in GALEO’s fundraising.

GALEO’s Executive Director, Jerry Gonzalez is giddy in his excitement over King’s appointment and boasting of the friendship and connection with your choice for an appointment to constitutional office. Like most conservatives, we expected to this happen only after the Democrats gained control of our state government.

I have also just learned that you have lent your own prestige to a GALEO fundraiser with your attendance in the past.

Left, Insurance Commissioner appointee John King with GALEO Executive director Jerry Gonzalez. Image: Facebook, GALEO.org

GALEO is shamelessly dedicated to stopping enforcement of the immigration laws I swore to uphold and has a verified history of opposition to literally every tenant of commonsense policy that conservatives elected you to implement. If you have even mentioned illegal immigration since you took office it hasn’t filtered down to our attention here in South Georgia.

Like many of my friends and colleagues, I am outraged beyond the words I send you today. This appointment and your association with GALEO is a memorable mistake on your part and it is obviously far away from your campaign promises on illegal immigration in Georgia.

GALEO is a clear enemy of enforcement. John King is an active friend of GALEO. My own opinion of you as governor has been greatly and permanently diminished.

Robert M. Trent
**** ***** **
Saint Mary’s, GA 31558