Check this Website out.

Illegalimmigrationcounters.com

Pass it around – I am.

The Committee on Energy and Commerce has scheduled a two-day field hearing entitled “Examining the Impact of Illegal Immigration on the Medicaid Program and Our Healthcare Delivery System.” The first day of the field hearing will take place on Thursday, August 10, 2006, at 10:00 a.m. in the Main Room at the Brentwood City Hall, 5211 Maryland Way, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. The second day of the hearing will take place on Tuesday, August 15, 2006, at 10:00 a.m. in the Lecture Hall at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center, 2211 Dug Gap Battle Road, Dalton, Georgia 30720. The hearing will focus on the impact of illegal immigration on our healthcare system and provide a forum for Members to examine recent legislative efforts that help address this growing problem, such as §6036 and §6043 of the Deficit Reduction Act (P.L. 109-171).

Witnesses

Brentwood, Tennessee: On August 10, 2006, the Committee will hear the testimony of three panels. The first panel will consist of The Honorable Bill Ketron, member of the Tennessee State Senate, and The Honorable Donna Rowland, member of the Tennessee State House of Representative. The second panel will consist of Mr. Darren Gordon, Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Tenncare, and Mr. Dennis G. Smith, Director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The third panel will consist of Mrs. Jone Koford, President of American Division for LifePoint Hospitals; Mr. Bob Duncan, Vice President for Advocacy and Government Relations for Methodist Healthcare-LeBonheur; and Dr. Corey M. Slovis, Professor of Medicine and Chairman of Emergency Medicine for the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Dalton, Georgia: On August 15, 2006, the Committee will hear the testimony of three panels. The first panel will consist of The Honorable Casey Cagle, member of the Georgia State Senate; The Honorable Chip Rogers, member of the Georgia State Senate, and The Honorable Curt Thompson, member of the Georgia State Senate. The second panel will consist of Ms. B. J. Walker, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR), and Ms. Jean Sheil of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations for CMS. The third panel will consist of Mr. James E. Gardner, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Northeast Georgia Health System; and Mr. Charles Stewart, Chief Executive Officer of Hutcheson Medical Center.

Purpose

The purpose of this field hearing is to provide Members of the Energy and Commerce Committee with a forum within which to examine the impact of illegal immigration on the health delivery systems of the areas surrounding Brentwood, Tennessee, and Dalton, Georgia, and how recent legislative efforts may impact this growing problem. Specifically, witnesses at the field hearing will be prepared to provide testimony on how §6036 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (Improved Enforcement of Documentation Requirements) is being implemented in Tennessee and Georgia, and any State plans to potentially implement §6043 of the DRA (Emergency Room Co-payments for Non-emergency Room Care).

The March 2005 Current Population Survey (CPS), produced by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, estimates that there are 11.1 million illegal aliens residing in the United States. However, it is difficult to precisely enumerate a population which is trying to avoid detection by the government, and as a result, estimates on the number of illegal immigrants as well as their impact on certain sectors of the economy vary widely. Since it is extremely difficult to get accurate data on illegal aliens, many studies make assumptions about the number of illegal aliens, their service usage, and their revenue contributions. As a result, many studies which attempt to estimate the cost of health care for illegal aliens in the United States focus on limited geographic regions (e.g., border communities, States, or cities). Some of these studies survey immigrant communities and ask immigration status, while others ask for local agencies to estimate the cost of services provided to illegal aliens. Other studies use proxies, such as those who provided a false Social Security number or foreign-born workers who are low wage earners, to determine who is an illegal alien.

In May 2004, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study entitled Undocumented Aliens: Questions Persist about Their Impact on Hospitals’ Uncompensated Care Costs. The study concluded that since hospitals do not generally collect information on patients’ immigration status, an accurate assessment of the impact of illegal aliens on hospitals’ uncompensated care costs “remains elusive.” GAO surveyed 503 hospitals, but as a result of the low response rate to the survey, was unable to determine the true cost of uncompensated care provided to illegal aliens.

Look for the Bush White House and the rest of the amnesty-again crowd to push again for amnesty after the Congressional break.

Latest title? The Pence – Hutchison Plan.

Read what Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions has to say about the plan in the WashingtonTimes.

Reform the immigration debate
TODAY’S COLUMNIST
By Jeff Sessions

The Pence-Hutchison immigration-reform proposal, like the other prominent plans, fails to address critical issues relating to meaningful immigration reform. It must not become law.
The legislation fails to provide a real solution for a number of important reasons. Namely, the proposal: 1) will allow for a virtually unlimited number of immigrants to come to the United States; 2) favors low-skilled workers; 3) provides more preferences to the eight NAFTA and CAFTA countries over the rest of the world; and 4) gives no preference for English-language or employment skills that help make immigrants successful in our dynamic economy.
This plan swallows hook, line and sinker the idea that as long as there is a foreign worker wanting to come to America, and an American company that wants to hire the individual, the foreign worker should be admitted, allowed to work and put on a path to citizenship. This concept violates the principle followed by every other nation in the world, that immigration policy should be based on the needs of the nation, not the desires of those that want low-cost labor.
Under the Pence-Hutchison plan, foreign workers will initially be granted two-year work visas, automatically renewable for an additional 12 years. Then the foreign worker is given an “X-Change” visa, newly created by the legislation. After five years, the “X-Change” visa will allow the worker to transition to permanent resident status (a green card holder). Permanent residents are entitled to citizenship after five years. Because “temporary” workers will have the right to bring their families, the right to stay and work for 17 years and then the right to stay permanently, the vast majority will certainly do so.
A temporary worker program can play an important role in our immigration reform policy, but the Pence-Hutchison proposal, like the flawed Senate bill, does not create a real “temporary” worker program. To be truly “temporary,” the workers’ stay must be limited, for instance, to 10 months each year, and they cannot be allowed to bring dependents. This is common sense — we cannot expect that workers invited to move their entire families to America and live here for years will want to go home. Who will uproot these long-settled families if they become temporarily unemployed? The answer is that no one will.

Senator Sessions has more to say, read the rest here.

Dan Stein of FAIR calls the plan “amnesty with a road trip”…read it here.

For those who may have missed the news, Governor Perdue has begun the process of having about fifteeen State Troopers trained to enforce American immigration law under the 287 (g) provisions of the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act.

Here is an AJC report:
State troopers may enforce federal laws
Mary Lou Pickel – Staff
Tuesday, July 18, 2006

About a dozen state troopers could be trained to enforce immigration laws in Georgia as the state moves toward implementing an immigration reform bill passed in the spring.

“It’s not like we’re going to be out there as a branch of the federal government,” Georgia Department of Public Safety spokesman Gordy Wright said. “But the trooper who does encounter an immigration problem during a traffic stop would have the power to take action.”

An agreement for local officers to enforce federal immigration laws is one of the provisions called for in Senate Bill 529, the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act sponsored by Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) and signed into law by Gov. Sonny Perdue in April.

Col. Bill Hitchens, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, has met with Ken Smith, special agent in charge of investigations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Atlanta, to talk about how his troopers will be trained to enforce such laws. Right now, only state troopers are under consideration.

Hitchens would like to start with 12 to 15 troopers statewide in the department’s interdiction unit. Those troopers work drug cases and are equipped with small electronic devices that can translate questions into several languages during a traffic stop, he said.

Read the rest of the AJC report here.

Thank you Governor Perdue!

While the president and the U.S. Senate push for amnesty – again for illegal employers, bankers and aliens, many state and local governments around the nation are taking advantage of tools provided to them by Congress – 10 years ago – to fight illegal immigration themselves.

What a concept – American law enforcement enforcing American laws. The open borders/illegal alien lobby is having a cow. So are the drug-dealing gangs.

Section 287 (g) of the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act provides an opportunity to expand existing authority of state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce the immigration laws that have been so inadequately addressed by our federal government.

Under the language of existing law, a state or local government can enter into a “Memorandum of Understanding” with the feds and then send officers to a four to six week federal training program. The officers are then authorized to not only arrest and detain illegal aliens in the normal course of their duties, but also to investigate immigration violations and build a case for deportation – similar to how Mexico does it.

Here in Georgia, we should all be thankful to Gov. Perdue for recently having begun the process of using the 287(g) section of the 1996 law to train Georgia State troopers and effectively have them deputized by the feds to perform the duties of an immigration officer. We also should all be grateful to state Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) for including the requirement for 287 (g) implementation in the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act (SB 529) he authored that was passed by the Legislature this year.

This access to increased authority is not limited to governors or state police, as legislation is not required. Nationwide, city and county governments can, and are, obtaining the training that serves to multiply the intended effect of the under-staffed Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At around 2,000 agents, ICE is in desperate need of all the assistance it can find to deal with what many experts recognize to be more than 20 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. with little real fear of American law.

Put simply: Cops can make a difference in our community on illegal immigration.

We should be asking why our county and city governments in Georgia are not sending some of their police and deputies for the training and additional authority to deal with a crisis that Georgians will no longer ignore. According to the ICE “Fact Sheet” on 287 (g), any head of law enforcement or government has the ability to apply for the federally funded training (about $500 per officer). That includes police chiefs, sheriffs, county commission chairs and mayors.

Because of Gov. Perdue’s action, state enforcement officers in Georgia will soon join their counterparts in Alabama, Arizona, California and Florida in becoming immigration crime-fighters. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 14 other states are considering similar action.

With illegal immigration out of control in the Peach State, it is time that Georgia counties and cities join the city of Costa Mesa and Riverside, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties in California, the Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina and others around our republic that are taking advantage of the law to protect their communities.

As a result of a recent Freedom of Information Act request for data on the results of using 287(g), Judicial Watch – a non-profit, public interest law firm – reports that “287(g)-trained law enforcement officers have accounted for 820 immigration-related arrests since the program began in 2002.”

The 1996-vintage 287(g) program works. It will reduce not only the potential for additional crimes committed by people with no legal right to be in Georgia, but will also serve to convince them to relocate to places less likely to actually enforce the law.

We should be asking our local elected officials in Georgia why Mecklenburg County, N.C. is ahead of us on dealing with illegal immigration.

And we should demand answers that we will remember in November.

MEDIA ADVISORY
House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections

For immediate release: August 9, 2006

Impact of Illegal Immigration on Georgia Workforce to be Subject of U.S. House Hearings in Gainesville

(Gainesville, GA) – The impact of illegal immigrant workers on American workers and their communities will be examined during field hearings in Gainesville by members of the House Education and Workforce Committee, chaired by Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Charlie Norwood (R-GA9).

What: “Immigration: Economic Impact on American Workers and

their Wages”

Where: U.S. Courthouse/Federal Building, 126 Washington Street, S.E., Gainesville, GA 30501

When: August 14, 11:00 AM -1:00 PM

Who: U.S. Representative Charlie Norwood

U.S. Representative Nathan Deal

U.S. Representative Tom Price

Witnesses: Phil Kent, Americans for Immigration Reform

State Senator Chip Pearson

Gary Black, Georgia Agribusiness Council

D.A. King, Dustin Inman Society

*Additional House members and witnesses may be announced at a future date.

House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections

U.S. Representative Charlie Norwood, Chairman

2452 Rayburn Building, Washington, DC 20515

Phone (202) 225-4101; Fax (202) 226-0776; Contact: John Stone, john.stone@mail.house.gov

John Lilpop writes:

Can America afford to grant amnesty to third-world peasants equal in population to the entire nation of Australia? Or five times the population of Ireland? Sixty seven percent the population of Canada?

[note from D.A. ummm….no]

Hat tip – Wiz Bang blog

“In terms of sheer numbers, if the population of illegal aliens currently here was a separate state, that state would be the most populous in the United States, excepting California.

On a global scale, that “Illegal Alien State” would rank among the most populous in the world based on current data”:

Canada:
33 million

Iraq:
27 million

North Korea:
23 million

Australia:
20 million

Ireland:
4 million

Senate votes to fund the fence
By Stephen Dinan and Brian DeBose
THE WASHINGTON

The Senate did an abrupt about-face yesterday, voting overwhelmingly to begin paying for 370 miles of fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border, just three weeks after voting against the same spending.
The amendment’s sponsor said senators were so embarrassed by that July 13 vote that most felt they had to reverse course and vote for it this time — especially after so many were on record in May voting to build the fence in the first place. The amendment, which provides nearly $2 billion for the project, passed 94-3, with 66 senators switching from “no” to “yes” votes since last month.
“I think people wanted to get right,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican. “People heard from their constituents after they voted to authorize the fence in May and then voted against funding it a couple of weeks ago.”
The fence has become one of the flash points as Congress and President Bush try to craft a new immigration enforcement policy this year piece by piece. Mr. Bush travels to Texas today to review operations at the border, including the success of his plan to deploy the National Guard to assist the U.S. Border Patrol in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
This week, the president reached his goal of assigning 6,000 Guard troops to the border states by Aug. 1. Still, of the 6,340 troops assigned as of yesterday, only 2,675 troops, or 42 percent, were “forward deployed.” The rest are at joint task force headquarters, in training or in transit.
But the Guard’s presence has led to a 25 percent drop in apprehensions at the border compared with the same time last year, suggesting the troops are having success in preventing illegal aliens from trying to cross.
That good news, though, was tempered by a government report that found Department of Homeland Security employees were fooled by counterfeit driver’s licenses in nine different tests by undercover investigators at U.S. border crossings. The Government Accountability Office said that hole in security “potentially allows terrorists or others involved in criminal activity to pass freely into the United States from Canada or Mexico.”
Democrats seized on the report as evidence Mr. Bush has fallen short on a key measure of homeland security.
“The record is clear: for more than five years, the president has failed to secure our borders and to enforce our immigration laws,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, who added that Republicans in Congress have let Mr. Bush get away with underfunding the Border Patrol and have delayed “real immigration reform” by fighting among themselves over whether to do enforcement first or pass a broad bill……

read the rest here. See the photo of the existing fence in San Diego! It works!

We need help!

HOUSE FIELD HEARINGS IN GEORGIA! Two days, Monday, August 14 & Tuesday August 15, 2006

Attention Americans! An opportunity to demonstrate your thoughts on America’s unsecured borders, illegal immigration and amnesty again! America needs you here!

These hearings are open to the public! MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

We need people to attend the hearings and to peaceably assemble outside the event to hold signs

[SECURE OUR BORDERS! – ENFORCE OUR LAWS! NO – MORE AMNESTY!]

Please arrive 45 minutes before start of hearings.

The open borders/illegal alien lobby will be there.

The Dustin Inman Society will provide some signs with above sentiments, or you can bring your own signs with similar polite and reasonable text.

The national and local media will be present to capture the mood of Americans in Georgia and the Southeast on the senate bill and the amnesty-again that it would provide. If there were ever a day to take part of the day off your job or business, this is it!

Please attend!

This from the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

“The House Education and Workforce Committee is scheduled to have a hearing Aug. 14 in Gainesville, the epicenter of the state’s chicken processing industry, a major employer of immigrants. The hearing will focus on the impact illegal immigration is having in the workplace.

The Energy and Commerce Committee on Aug. 15 will have another hearing in Dalton, a national hub for carpet manufacturers — another source of jobs for immigrants— on how illegal immigration affects medical facilities and “individual American taxpayers.”

“Though more than 1,000 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, Gainesville and Dalton have been roiled by many of the same issues once limited to border states…”
Please note: If we do not fill the hearing room with Americans, Sam Zamarripa Inc./MALDEF/ La Raza will – with illegal aliens! As Zamarripa did in the recent Georgia Senate proceedings on the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act .

U.S. Congressional Field Hearings coming to Gainesville and Dalton, Georgia August 14 and 15

U.S. House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee Field Hearing

Chairman: Congressman Charlie Norwood

What: Federal hearing to discuss the impact of illegal immigration on the American Workforce and what is the impact on American workers and businesses of the Reid-Kennedy bill’s provisions mandating Davis-Bacon wage rates for guest-workers?

When: August 14, 2006 at 11:00 a.m.

Where: Federal Courthouse in Gainesville, GA -121 Spring Street, S.E., Room 201
Gainesville, GA 30501

Note: D.A. King is scheduled to be a witness at this hearing.

Driving directions below alert.

AND:

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Field Hearing
Chairman: Congressman Nathan Deal

What: “Examining the Impact of Illegal Immigration on the Medicaid Program and Our Healthcare Delivery System.”

When: Tuesday, August 15, 2006, at 10:00 a.m.

Where: Lecture Hall at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center, 2211 Dug Gap Battle Road, Dalton, Georgia 30720.

Please arrive 45 minutes before start of hearings.

Driving directions below alert.

Driving directions also please use Mapquest if needed. See you there!

Driving Directions to Gainesville Federal Courthouse: [Contact courthouse: (770) 532-1361]

From Interstate 985

Exit to US Highway 129 (Exit 22) and turn north. US Highway 129 is also called E.E. Butler Parkway.
Follow E.E. Butler Parkway to Washington St.
Turn left on Washington St.
Turn left on Green St. and the courthouse will be on the right.
From Cumming and Highway 400
Follow GA Highway 369 (Jesse Jewell Parkway) east to West Academy St.
Turn left on West Academy St.
Follow West Academy Street two blocks and turn right on Spring St.
The courthouse will be on the left after passing the downtown square.
Driving directions from other Georgia locations click here. http://www.usmarshals.gov/district/ga-n/locations/index.html

Mapquest driving directions to Dalton Hearing here

Here in Georgia we have two up-coming opportunities to give the media, the senate and the president a very clear view on how Americans in Georgia view the amnesty-again legislation the senate has passed.

Below from the AJC:

“House leaders are betting that increased public pressure will help them defeat a Senate plan that includes a guest-worker program for immigrants [note from D.A. – “immigrants” do not need a guest worker program nor do they require amnesty] and path to citizenship for those already living illegally in the United States”

House leaders announced Thursday that eight committees would conduct about 20 hearings on various immigration issues in 12 states in August, including two in Georgia.

The House Education and Workforce Committee is scheduled to have a hearing Aug. 14 in Gainesville, the epicenter of the state’s chicken processing industry, a major employer of immigrants. The hearing will focus on the impact illegal immigration is having in the workplace.

The Energy and Commerce Committee on Aug. 15 will have another hearing in Dalton, a national hub for carpet manufacturers — another source of jobs for immigrants— on how illegal immigration affects medical facilities and “individual American taxpayers.”

“Though more than 1,000 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, Gainesville and Dalton have been roiled by many of the same issues once limited to border states…”

I will be at both hearings with my sign that reads:
NO MORE AMNESTY! SECURE OUR BORDERS! ENFORCE OUR LAWS!

I hope to see a lot of Americans from around the Southeast at both events. I have plenty of signs – or you can bring your own with a similar, polite message.

Who knows, maybe Sam Zamarripa will be there leading the illegal aliens -his bank customers- in their own protest demanding that we DON”T enforce the law, secure our borders and that we DO grant another amnesty like we did in 1986.

See you there! More info posted here soon., but we think the hearings will begin at 11AM.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD WHILE YOU ARE STILL ALLOWED!