The below email (on the bottom) was received here this morning. We have added some links to educate the reader. We hope several people in the Forsyth (Middle Georgia, near Macon -not Forsyth County) area can attend , take notes and video and report back what was said.

–> The meeting notice says is at 10:00 AM and located at the Georgia Forestry Association, 551 N Frontage Rd, Forsyth, GA 31029

Ag lobbyist Bryan Tolar is an “anything for a buck” sort of political fellow. He is so courageous that he has me blocked on Twitter. More on pro-amnesty lobbyist Bryan Tolar here and here.

We see that a Resolution passed the Republican-ruled state senate in April just before the end of the last session that creates a “study committee” aimed at increasing the number of workers for the Ag industry. From experience, I can tell you that if they think they can get away with it, they will recommend even more illegal aliens get drivers licenses – like in California – so the growers can increase their profits. Illegal aliens with Obama’s illegal DACA amnesty and other illegal already get Georgia drivers licenses. About 22,000 of them. See also here.

Here is info on the study committee and membership. It is filled with the usual suspects who push for amnesty for illegal aliens and mo’ money.

Contact

The following person contacted us at TheDustinInmanSociety.org on October 15, 2019:

Name:** ******

Address:**********

Phone number:#########

Email address: ************

Comments:

I hope y’all have someone planning to attend the senate ag and landscaping labor study committee in Forsyth on Thursday. Senator John Wilkerson and his landscaping lobbyist friend Brian Tolar are In thick with the folks at urban ag Council that want illegal immigrants to have drivers licenses. The landscapers want illegals to be able to drive Commercial trucks so they can keep taking American jobs. Please stop them

Note: As I write, it occurs to me that maybe there should be some kind of local or state opinion column – maybe in a ‘compelling’ newspaper – that would have curious and neutral journalists who keep watch over powerful people who invent their own facts in working toward a political goal…

Ag lobbyist Bryan Tolar outside of formerly smoke-filled rooms and in the AJC:

A fixture in the Georgia state Capitol, most Georgians have never heard of Bryan Tolar, but they should pay attention to him and his willingness to hide the truth on the current push for another amnesty for illegal aliens.

Tolar, (for Twitter users, @BTolar) is not just another integrity-challenged lobbyist. He is also president of the Georgia Agribusiness Council , which is the immensely powerful advocate for the growers in the state. We have been following his antics for years.

Neither is it Tolar’s first anti-enforcement expedition in the AJC. Here is a 2011 guest column desperately pleading with Georgia state legislators to kill the 2011 E-Verify section of Georgia’s illegal immigration law that year. In it he tells us that pay and benefits totaling $14.00 and hour is too much for the Ag masters to pay farm workers. At least he put a number on it.

Last week, Tolar was able to get a plea for readers to contact their congressmen (“Farm labor shortage costly to state”) urging passage of “immigration reform” in the June 18 edition of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. He offered the usual goop about the shortage of farm labor, the concept that when it comes to workers wages, “money is not the issue” and the need for legalization – again – of illegal alien farm workers.

In his guest column, Tolar is selling the 2013 U.S. Senate amnesty bill and the component in it written by the Ag lobby to create a “guest worker” program for the illegal farm workers his industry hires and employs. The scheme is called a “Blue Card” program.

Tolar didn’t disappoint those of us who know his work. But we have to give him credit. He did mention that there already exists a federal visa – H2A – for the Ag industry to bring in legal farm workers. But he overlooked telling readers that the H2A visa has no limit to the number of workers who can be imported. Or that agriculture is the only industry in the nation with its own un-capped visa process for foreign workers.

Or that according to CNBC net cash farm income rose from the record high in 2010 of $99.4 billion to a then record high of $134.7 billion. Only 35.5 percent profit growth! Not bad for a struggling industry, eh? (taken from CNBC “Phony Farm Labor Shortage: We Need to Talk About It” CNBC, September 2012.)

But what he did write on the Blue Card was worth noting so that you can decide if anything this character says in the future is worthy of acceptance?

From Tolar’s AJC column:

“Recent federal legislative proposals would have met the labor needs of farmers through a “blue card” proposal. The program would not allow for amnesty; it would only allow foreign farm workers to apply for the card if they pay a fine, undergo background checks and prove they have farm work experience. A blue card would certainly not grant citizenship. It would only allow the applicant to legally remain in the country to do farm work for a limited time.”

Pro-enforcement Americans who haven’t read the Blue Card proposal in the senate bill should have access to some facts on this sales pitch. And should remember the old Latin warning: “Caveat Emptor.”

• “Amnesty” is any process that allows any illegal alien to shed that illegal status and/or remain in these United States. The Blue Card scam is amnesty. The fine prescribed in the senate amnesty bill? It’s $400.00. MORE HERE.

* “A blue card would certainly not grant citizenship.” Um, no, that is more goop. A blue card grants “Lawful Permanent Residence” – known as a green card. It is the green card status that allows the lucky former illegal alien to then obtain U.S. citizenship. Odd that Ag lobbyist Bryan Tolar didn’t make that clear, huh?

• HOT PANTS! Tolar then gets deep in the weeds on the blue card with “It would only allow the applicant to legally remain in the country to do farm work for a limited time.” Complete, indefensible nonsense. Having obtained a blue card, the formerly illegal alien recipient is now on his way to a green card (lawful permanent status) and then to the jackpot: U.S. citizenship. And the ability to vote. “Limited time” indeed.

See what we mean about Bryan Tolar? The section of the 2013 Senate amnesty bill (s744) that deals with what becomes of blue card holder is section # 2212. The first sentence explains that the holder can access permanent legal residence. The first sentence! That section reproduced HERE.

We are grateful to the AJC letters editor for the space involved in running my June 20, 2014 letter exposing Tolar and the blue card scheme, which I paste below.

Farm column skirts immigration reality

The “Blue Card” amnesty program for illegal alien farm workers that Big Agriculture lobbyist Bryan Tolar is pushing (“Farm labor shortage costly to state,” Opinion, June 18) would eventually make it easier for beneficiaries to move one step closer to obtaining American citizenship — the same end result as the failed 1986 amnesty.

Work requirements include seven years of agricultural employment, rather like 21st century indentured servitude under the Ag bosses for whom Tolar works. After that term, lessons learned from the Ag amnesty of 1986 show us that the former illegals, now on a path to U.S. citizenship, migrate to work in an air-conditioned warehouse and leave the miserable field work — and the grower’s preset wages — to the next wave of black-market labor. Blaming a 2011 worker shortage for profit losses in his sales pitch, Tolar omitted any mention of the damaging drought that produced a crop shortage that year.

It is clear the agriculture masters are unwilling to pay wages for which Americans will work. Updating and streamlining the existing H2A agriculture visa — along with real immigration and employment enforcement, so that the Ag industry would be forced to use genuinely temporary, legal and protected foreign workers — is the solution the powerful agriculture lobby works to ensure never happens. So far, they have nothing to worry about on that one.

D.A. KING, MARIETTA

News article on letter HERE

From: “Bryan Tolar”
Georgia Agribusiness CouncilGeorgia Agribusiness Council
1655 South Elm Street
Commerce, GA 30529-2700
(706) 336-6830

Date: April 4, 2011 3:45:08 PM EDT

Subject: Immigration Reform vs. Georgia’s Economy

Dear Representative –

The Georgia Agribusiness Council is pleased to have worked with a broad coalition of business interests to offer the attached letter stating our concerns with the direction of state immigration reform legislation. In a 24 hour period, 270 businesses, large and small, from all across Georgia asked to be included in this letter to you, our elected leadership. Other business interests may weigh in on this issue as well as the week progresses. Our economy is at stake. The letter is attached for your review.

We ask that you work with employers, law enforcement, elected officials and government entities to study the immigration reform efforts in other states and communicate the need for a federal remedy to a federal challenge. Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully,

Bryan Tolar, President

Georgia Agribusiness Council

****************************

April 4, 2011

Dear Representatives:

Thank you for the time and effort you have devoted to the difficult topic of illegal immigration in Georgia. We especially appreciate the opportunity to share our concerns with legislators throughout this process.

While the business community agrees that this issue must be addressed, we encourage you to consider both the cost and the overall impact on Georgia’s economy of the provisions included in the bills that come before you in these final days.

The General Assembly wisely requires fiscal notes for bills with financial impact, yet none have been produced for the bills addressing this issue – one with significant impact on business and agriculture as well as state and local government. In addition, a recent report estimated that employers nationally spent $95 million in 2010 to comply with the E-Verify system, concluding that it costs small businesses an average of $127 per new hire to comply with the E-verify process. While we encourage all businesses to abide by Federal law and only hire legally documented workers, our state’s unemployment rate still leads the nation, and we should look for alternatives to adding new costly mandates that could discourage legal job creation. Mandating the E-Verify program will harm Georgia’s economy, not enhance it.

We must also weigh the unintended potential cost of losing major conventions, tourism, and international business opportunities. We have worked for decades to build Georgia into an international business and tourism destination and today our products are welcomed around the world. The needed expansion of the Savannah Port is a testament to the success of selling our goods worldwide. We urge you to consider the message we send to the foreign investors and workers that are vital to our success on the global stage.

Finally, we would also encourage a more thorough discussion of programs implemented in other states – some are creating their own verification programs and others have chosen to accept a valid driver’s license. Whatever verification program you decide is best for Georgia, we hope you will consider using an incentive for compliance as opposed to an unfunded mandate.

It is unfortunate that this matter has fallen to the state as a result of inaction on the part of the Federal government and we have appreciated having the opportunity to be a part of the discussion. Please know that the Georgia business community will continue to advocate in Washington D.C. for a unified and balanced approach to immigration reform, including manageable guest-worker visa programs. We hope that you will consider the points made above, and are confident that your final decisions will keep in mind what is best for our economically-strapped businesses and industries, large and small, that are so vital to our economy.

Sincerely,

Marty McLendon, Owner 1-800 RR Emergency, LLC

Jim McLeod 4 P Farms

Bob Delbridge 404-CUT-TREE

Linda Lighthill, Owner A Passion for Pruning

Roger Flota, Owner Abbey View Farms

Jimmy Adams, Owner Adams-Briscoe Seed Company

Jon M. Harris, Vice President AgSouth Farm Credit

Dan Bremer AgWorks, Inc.

Duke Lane Jr. All Lane Southern Orchards

Joseph A. Manning, Owner Allen Pritchett & Bassett LLP

Richard Bare, President / CEO Arbor-Nomics, Inc.

Mark Keightley Artistic Landscapes, Inc.

Deana Price Atlanta Pinestraw

Pete Waller Atlantic Insulation & Refractory

Van Murphy B.C.T. Gin Co., Inc.

Doug Baker, Owner Baker Environmental Nursery Inc.

Joe Barrentine, Owner Barrentine Poultry Equipment Installations, Inc.

Anthony Bentley Bartow Farm & Lawn, Inc.

Johnny Bell, President Bell Irrigation Pipe & Supply LLC

Alan & Vana Bennett Ben-Wood Harvest

Tim McMillan Berrien Peanut Co.

Lamar Vickers Berrin County Farm Bureau

Jason C. Berry, Owner Berry Farms

Scott Reinblatt Big Blue Sky Landscaping

Stu Brown, Owner Bio Lawns Inc.

Cale Blocker, Owner Blocker Farming Enterprises LLC.

Jason C. Berry Blueberry Farms of Ga.

Jim Bone, Owner Bone Agricultural Consulting

Brandon DeWitt Brandon DeWitt Farms

Robert B. Brannen Brannen Farms

James A Brannen Brannen’s Tobacco Whses.

Marty McLendon, Owner Bullneck Contracting, LLC

Rich Chastain C & L Packing

Michael C. Staley, President C&M Residential Services

Joyce Calhoun Calhoun Produce, Inc.

Ben Carter, Owner Carter Land Services LLC

Adair Chambers-Peterson Chambers Brothers Blueberries, LLC

Jimmy Champion, Owner Champion Groves, Inc.

Donald Chase, Owner Chase Farms, Inc.

Scott Chatham President Chatham Landscape Services

Hardy Kaplan, Owner Chattahoochee Home & Garden

Sam Watson Chill C Farms LLC

Tim Thoms, Owner Christmas Acres

John Newman Classic Landscapes, Inc

David Cleveland, Owner Cleveland Organics

David Cleveland , Owner Cleveland Tree Farm

Joe Burns Color Burst

Chuck Cartledge Cotton Partners, LLC

Larie W. Cooper Courtland Mini Storage

Terry Danforth, Owner Danforth Farms

Jay Stephens Davis Landscape

Tony Eaton Delta Fresh Sales, Inc.

Randy Dewitt Dewitt Farms

Randy Dewitt DeWitt Produce Co., Inc.

Paul Chappell, Owner Diversified Trees, Inc.

Buck Anderson Dixie Peanut Co.

Jaclyn D. Ford Dixon Farm Supply

Jaclyn D. Ford Dixon Gin Co., Inc.

Joe M. Dixon, Owner Dixon Seed & Chemical

Gregory M. Walker Docia Farms

Philip Grimes Docia Farms Inc.

Jane Grimes Docia Farms Partnership

Paul and Angie Bagley Downey Trees, Inc.

Jon Ladson Dykes Farms

Alice Adams Early County Gin, Inc.

Wendell T. Ebbett Ebbett Business Solutions

Gail Williams, Office Manager Eddie’s Landscaping, Inc.

James Myrick, Owner Edward L. Myrick Produce

Michele Ambler, Owner Elegant Elements

Roy Embry, Owner Embry Farm Service

Roy Embry, Owner Embry Transport Inc.

Charles B. Evans, Jr., Owner Evans Farms

Tom Shannon Ewing Irrigation

Linda Exum Exum Farms

Linda Exum Exum Pecan Company

Jon Ladson Farmers Gin & Peanut Co. Inc.

Jon Ladson Farmers Trucking Co. Inc.

Wayne Cloud, Owner Fertigation Products & Equipment Co.

F. W. (Bill) Fogg III, Owner Fogg Farm

Jon Ladson Fowler Farms

Lee Bonecutter, Vice President FPL Food LLC

Phil Walters Frank A. Smith Nurseries

Bill Franklin, Owner Franklin Battery and Supply Company

Stephen Feitshans Garden Fresh LLC

Susan Gworek Garden Wonders, Inc.

John Hausler, Owner GardenBuilder

Gary H. Paulk, Owner Gary H. Paulk Farms

Gene Mobley, Owner Gene Mobley Investments

Bryan Tolar, President Georgia Agribusiness Council

Richey Seaton Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commission for Cotton

Steve Mullis, President Georgia Blueberry Growers Association

Zippy Duvall, President Georgia Farm Bureau

Charles Hall Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association

Chris Butts Georgia Green Industry Association

Chris Keith, Owner Georgia Horticulture

Don Koehler Georgia Peanut Commission

Charles Griffin Georgia Pork Producers Association

Franklin Burch, President Georgia Tobacco Growers Association

Mary Kay Woodworth, Executive Director Georgia Urban Ag Council

Billy Thomas Georgia Vegetable Co., Inc.

Charles Hall Georgia Watermelon Association

Billy Phillips Gerrald INC.

Terry L. Gerrald Gerralds Vidalia Sweet Onions Inc.

Tony Gibson, Owner Gibson Landscape LLC

Pat Cooney Golf Club of Georgia

Donny Wilson Grande Creek Blueberry Farm

Marta and Mike Garland Greenland Landscape & Masonry

Mike Holland Greenline Distributors

Andrew Grimes Owner Grimes Farms

Paula Dodson H.C. Dodson Farms

Bob Hammock, Owner Hammock Landscapes Inc.

Alex Hardy, Owner Hardy Farms Peanuts

Gerard Krewer Harriett’s Bluff Farm, LLC

Jon Davis, Plant Manager Hart-AgStrong, LLC

Richard C. Sloan Helena Chemical Co.

Jim McCutcheon, CEO HighGrove Partners, LLC

Jamey Adams HighMark Seed Company, LLC

Brandon Houseman, Owner Houseman Pest Control, Inc.

Ken Anders Howard Fertilizer and Chemical

Gary H. Paulk, President Irwin County Farm Bureau

John V. Bennett Jab-J Corp dba Alma Sunbelt Blueberries

Jacob W. Paulk, Owner Jacob W. Paulk Farms Inc.

J.W. Paulk Jr., Owner Jacob W. Paulk Jr. Farms

Janet Humareda John Bowen Turf Company

Mike Mobley John Mobley & Sons

Bob Krueger, Owner Krueger Family Farms

L.G. Herndon Jr., Owner L.G. Herndon Jr. Farms, Inc.

Jon Ladson Ladson Farms

Mark Thelen Landmark Landscapes

Mike Easter, President Landscape Plus

Mark Sanchez, CEO Lane Pecans and Vegetables

Mark Sanchez, CEO Lane Southern Orchards

Ron Lee , Owner Lee Farms, GP

Buddy Leger, Owner Leger and Son, Inc.

Rick LeVan LeVan Irrigation

Ed Walker Lewis Taylor Farms

Dee Ritter Little River Produce LLC

Neal Kicklighter LTF Greenhouses

Eric Lutz, Owner Lutz Berry Farm

Marty McLendon, Owner MAI Services, LLC

Marty McLendon, Owner MAI Trucking, LLC

Joe Jenkins, President Manicure Touch Lawn Care

Matthew Kiefer, President Matthew’s Strawing Service

Ron Lee McCleskey Cotton Company

Jeff McKinley, President McKinley Group, Inc.

Marty McLendon, Owner McLendon Acres, Inc.

Craig McManus, Owner McPlants

Patrick Yi MediPurpose, Inc.

Steve Meeks, Owner Meeks’ Farms & Nursery, Inc.

John Lapide Melon 1 Inc

Moises Desantos MEM Landscaping, LLC

James Allen Miles, Sr. Miles Berry Farm

Micheal E. Miles Miles Brothers Timber

James Allen Miles, Jr Miles Sunbelt Blueberry Corp.

Ken Roberts Miller County Gin Company

Richard Minor, Owner Minor Brothers Farm Partnership

Richard Minor, Owner Minor Produce Inc.

Marty McLendon, Owner MMTM, LLC

Mark Mobley Mobley Gin Company

Jerry Lee, Human Resource & Environmental Services Manager Monrovia Nursery Cairo

Tim Moore, Owner Moore Farms

Linda Nall, Owner Nall Blueberry Farm

Tyron Spearman, Executive Director National Peanut Buying Points Association

Bob Morrissey National Watermelon Association, Inc.

Jody C. Chumbler, President NatureCare Landscape

Rick Upchurch NatureScapes

Steve Murray, President New Leaf Landscape Services

Pete Knapik New Life Landscapes, Inc.

Jake Daughtrey New River Produce LLC.

Kevin Paulen Oasis Landscape and Irrigation

Scott Hart, Jr. Ochlockonee Ridge Farms

Walter McDaniel Okefenokee Botanicals Inc.

Pete Waller Ottawa Farms

Rick Kaldrovics, President Outside Landscape Group, LLC

Jason C. Berry Patriot Gas Co.

Ben Copeland, Jr. Patten Seed Company

David Cleveland , Owner Peach Palette

Al Pearson, Owner Pearson Farm

Tammy Pearson Pearson Landscapes, Inc

Rusty McDaniel, General Manager Pinecliff Planters Cotton Gin, LLC

Bob McLeod Pineview Peanut Co.

Dwayne D. Halbig Pinnacle Environmental Corp.

Timmy Pittman, Owner Pittman Family Farms

Tom Delaney, Director of Government Affairs PLANET – The National Landcare Network

Rachel S. Mizell Poultry Health, LLC

Rachel S. Mizell Poultry Housekeeping Services, Inc.

Clayton Danforth Quality Feedstuffs Inc.

Bill Brim Quality Produce Inc.

Deborah Kelley, Owner R. G. Kelley Co

Ed Cooper Rainey Creek Farm

Michael Davis, Owner Raintree Lawn and Garden

Paul Long, Owner Redbud Lane Nursery

Allen Coleman, Manager Roche Farm and Garden

Mike Ford, Owner Royal Landscaping

Garett Backman Rubicon L.C.

Sam Williams Sam Williams Advertising

Floyd Tanner Sandy Bottom Berries LLP

Richard Saul Saul Nurseries

Pete Wilkerson, Partner Scapes

Tim Floyd, General Manager Sconyers Gin & Whse. Co.

Scott & Janice Craft, Owners Scott & Janice Craft Farms

Allen Miles Sergio n Diaz

J. Simmons Simmons Farms Inc.

Jenny Hardgrave, Owner / President Simply Flowers, Inc.

Don Smith, Managing Partner Simply Green Lawn Care

William H Smith, III & Steve Healy, Owners Smith-Healy Farms, Inc.

Ken Morrow, Owner Sod Atlanta, Inc.

Dixie Speck, Owner Solterra Landscape

Lamar Beamon Southeast Lime & Stone Co.

Dusty Findley Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association, Inc.

Kent Fountain & Roger Branch, President / CEO & Vice President Southeastern Gin & Peanut

Steve McMillan Southern Grace Farms Inc.

John Boudrot, President Southern Sod Sales, Inc.

Edward J. Klaas, II, Owner Southern Sprinkler Systems, LLC

Kent Hamilton Southern Valley Fruit and Vegetables

Brad Glen Sowega Cotton, Inc.

Bill Brim Springhill Produce

David Youssi, Owner / President Sprinkler Solutions, Inc.

Steve Montgomery Steve Montgomery and Company

Charles Cowart Still Pond Inc.

Lorne Stipe, Owner Stipe Comtronics

Ben Strickland, Owner Strickland Farms

Jon Ladson Stripling Farms

Elam Rusk Sumter County Producers Gin LLC

Chip Blalock, Executive Director Sunbelt Ag Expo

Phil Walters Sunbelt Turf

John R. Duval SunnyRidge Berry Center

Tony Bass, Owner Super Lawn Trucks

Andy Stone Superior Berries Company

Andy Stone Superior Pine Products Company

Ben Copeland, Jr. Super-Sod

Alan Parrish Sweet Dixie Melon Co.

Ronald Deal Sweet Vidalia Farms

Swede Nelson Sweetwater Irrigaion

Jeff Wainwright Taylor Orchards

Jason Royal, Access Control Manager The Fence Guys

Jimmy Hill, Owner The Hill Group, Inc.

Hugh Glidewell The Landscape Guys, LLC

Joe Edmonson The Other Side, Inc.

Rick Smith The Pruning Guru

Ken Morrow The Turfgrass Group, Inc.

James Kelley The Yard Man Inc.

Tim Thoms, Owner Thoms Trees and Plants, Inc.

Paul Massey Tifton Turf Farms

Paul Miller, Owner Timberline Nursery

Jeff Beasley, Owner Transplant Nursery, Inc.

Jason M. Harris & Jimmie Turbeville, General Manager Tri County Gin, Inc.

Tim Thoms TTPF, LLC

John Boudrot Turfmovers

Gary A. Branch Ty Ty Peanut Company

Todd Guilmette, President Unique Environmental Landscape

Toby Moore USA Poultry & Egg Export Council

Tom Daughtrey Valdosta Plant Co. Inc.

Johnny H. Veazey, President Veazey Plant Company, Inc.

Carlos Vickers Vickers Farms Berrien County

Howard & Kim Brown, Owners W. Howard Brown Farms

Sherry Waldrop Waldrop’s Lawn Care, Inc.

Warren Bicknell, III, Owner Warbick Farms

John J. Kenna Water, Color & Stone Inc.

Wavell Robinson, Owner Wavell Robinson Farms, LLC

Wayne & Paulette Lee, Owner Wayne Lee Farms

Everett Williams, Owner WDairy LLC

Bobby N. Webb Webb Farms

Greg Mullis West End Blueberries

Bob Delbridge Wholesale Wood Products

Albert Wildes, Owner Wildes’ Blueberry Farm

Richard Best, President Wildlife Foods Ltd., LLC

Blake Williams, Owner Williams Blueberry Farm

This is ZIPPY DUVAL of the Ga. Farm Bureau – you can contact him about his anti-enforcement advocacy if you want
Georgia Farm Bureau
1620 Bass Road
P.O. Box 7068
Macon, GA 31209
Telephone: +1 478 474 8411
E-mail: websites@gfb.org

Bryan Tolar Watch Bryan Tolar tell a legislative committee that legal labor (H2A workers) is like a Cadlillac – and not everyone can afford a Cadillac. Or, apparently, a country. slimy critter?
Georgia Agribusiness Council
1655 South Elm Street
Commerce, GA 30529-2700
(706) 336-6830

The Georgia Urban Agriculture Council appreciates your interest in our organization.
You can contact us by calling Mary Kay Woodworth, UAC President at 770-359-7337, by mail or email.
P.O. Box 119, Commerce, GA 30529
info@urbanagcouncil.com

Georgia’s farming, landscape industries raise concerns about immigration legislation

Monday, April 4, 2011

By Jeremy Redmon

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A group of 270 farmers and other businessmen mostly representing Georgia’s agricultural and landscaping industries is warning lawmakers about the impact their immigration enforcement legislation could have on the state’s economy.

In a letter delivered to the lawmakers Monday, the group raised concerns that proposals to give police greater power to question suspected illegal immigrants and to require business to verify the immigration status of potential employees could harm the state’s tourism and convention industry and make it more costly for them to do business.

The sponsor of one of the immigration bills said Monday he had not yet read the letter, but he dismissed it as a “scare tactic.”

Parts of Georgia’s $68.8 billion agricultural industry have issued similar warnings in recent weeks, but Monday’s letter is their strongest and most unified yet.

Scores of vegetable and fruit farmers, landscapers and agricultural industry representatives signed the letter. Among them are Zippy Duvall, president of the Georgia Farm Bureau; Bryan Tolar, president Georgia Agribusiness Council; and Mary Kay Woodworth, executive director of the Georgia Urban Ag Council.

“We must also weigh the unintended potential cost of losing major conventions, tourism, and international business opportunities,” the letter says. “We urge you to consider the message we send to the foreign investors and workers that are vital to our success on the global stage.”

Tolar said Monday other Georgia industries are discussing sending similar letters to lawmakers this week.

Georgia lawmakers are weighing two immigration enforcement measures, House Bill 87 and Senate Bill 40. Both measures would empower police to question certain suspects about their immigration status. The bills would also require many businesses to use a free federal program called E-Verify to confirm their newly hired employees are eligible to work in the United States.

The letter cited an estimate that employers nationwide spent $95 million last year complying with the E-Verify system. “Mandating the E-Verify program will harm Georgia’s economy, not enhance it,” the letter says.

Republican Rep. Matt Ramseyof Peachtree City, who is sponsoring HB 87, dismissed the critics’ concerns about the potential costs of his legislation and underscored that E-Verify is a free federal program. Ramsey has repeatedly complained that illegal immigrants are burdening taxpayer-funded resources in Georgia, including the state’s public schools and jails.

“This is the same stuff that these special interests lobbyists have been saying from day one,” Ramsey said of the letter, noting that he had not yet read it Monday.

Sen. Jack Murphy, R-Cumming, the author of SB 40, could not be reached for comment Monday.

HB 87 and SB 40 are partly patterned after a measure Arizona enacted last year. About 40 conventions planned for that state have been canceled or relocated since the law was enacted, according to the Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association.

Last month, dozens of corporate executives — including representatives from US Airways Group, Intel Corp. and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona — signed a letter noting the boycotts and urging Arizona lawmakers not to pass any new laws targeting illegal immigrants. Arizona’s Senate later voted down five related immigration bills last month. The votes were seen as a victory for the Arizona business lobby.

Find this article at:
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/georgias-farming-landscape-industries-898444.html

Just a wild guess – but I am thinking we won’t soon see an AJC “PolitiFact” inspection on this one.

. Whole-cloth fabrication from Karen, Zippy, and Bryan et al on E-Verify – the palpable desperation is clear. If they were going to make up a number – why not $127,000.00 per employee/query?

From the official DHS E-Verify Website:

“E-Verify is an Internet-based system that allows an employer, using information reported on an employee’s Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to determine the eligibility of that employee to work in the United States. For most employers, the use of E-Verify is voluntary and limited to determining the employment eligibility of new hires only. There is no charge to employers to use E-Verify. The E-Verify system is operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration.”

HERE

The Georgia Restaurant Association has sent a letter to the legislature urging that they kill any enforcement bill and telling them that each E-Verify query to insure new employees are legal costs $127.00. They are using false information given to them by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. They are all desperate.THE TRUTH IS E-VERIFY IS FREE TO USE AND COSTS ZERO TO VERIFY A WORKER. See the letter HERE See their reply to mail from pro-enforcement Americans HERE . They are solid amnesty-again proponents. Contact them if you want.

The Georgia agriculture industry sent a letter to the legislature this week telling them to kill any enforcement bill – ridding Georgia of illegal aliens and hiring real legal immigrants would be bad for the state they say. They are led by someone who many believe to possibly be unstable because of his conduct in the Capitol a man named Bryan Tolar. You can read the letter HERE • Note that they also use the bogus scare tactic that E-Verify somehow costs $127.000 per query. If they are making up a cost, why not use $127,000.000?

This is what the agribusiness lobbyist is sending out. Please make the calls to the Senate to agree to the House version of HB 87. We do not want the bill to go to conference committe. The Lt. Governor will take even more out of the bill. DAK.

————

From: Georgia Agribusiness Council [mailto:dcartee@ga-agribusiness.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 12:13 PM
To: Georgia Agribusiness Council
Subject: Immigration legislation update – action needed asap

Dear GAC Members,

We are reporting to you this morning with some good news on HB 87, the immigration reform legislation. Under the leadership of Senator John Bulloch, the Senate voted to remove the E-Verify mandate for private employers, which has been our desired outcome since the legislation was introduced in early February. There are still some issues in the legislation that passed the Senate relating to 1099 forms and the use of E-Verify, but this is a huge step in the right direction. Senator Bulloch shared the industry letter with 270 business signatures with each senator and referenced it during his comments. With your help, we made a difference in the future of this bill. BUT, it isn’t over.

The bill now goes back to the House where indications are that it will go to a Conference Committee. This process could provide the needed opportunity to take out other issues that are harmful to Georgia agribusiness.

Please contact your State Representative and State Senator as soon as possible and request that HB 87 go to a Conference Committee and that the E-Verify mandate remain excluded from the bill. They are hearing from a number of people who may not understand the impact this legislation will have on the business community and they need to hear from you! CLICK HERE to access State Representatives and CLICK HERE to access State Senators.

Also, please send a note of thanks to Senator Bulloch at your convenience. His email is: john.bulloch@senate.ga.gov. His efforts in standing up for businesses in Georgia made a great difference last night and we need to finish the drill and make sure that, if this legislation passes, it will not be detrimental to agribusiness and our state economy.

Thank you,

Bryan Tolar & Daniel Groce
Georgia Agribusiness Council
www.ga-agribusiness.org

___________________

ADDED APRIL 9, 2011 – The video that was here has been made “private.” I can tell you what happened- Angry Jerry Gonzalez realized that too many Americans were getting far too much close up and real insight into the socialist, we-hate- America revolutionary agenda of his mob and told the young man who put up the video remove it from public view. Maybe someone made a copy… for later. 🙂

Below is a 4:47 minute video that I found proudly posted on the GALEO facebook page. These are the people who our children will have to deal with if we lose the fight with the Democrats, the ethnic hustlers like angry Jerry, the ACLU, Bryan Tolar and Zippy Duval et al and the Chamber of Commerce who will be able to buy some GOP votes. IF we can even get a vote on an effective bill which is the HOUSE VERSION of HB 87. Please pass it along to your state Senator and anyone else you want to educate.

YES TO ENFORCEMENT IN GEORGIA YES TO HB 87! How many times have YOU called and emailed the legislature to try to save Georgia from the invasion and sell-out by the business lobby and elected officials?

The illegals are calling right now. The legislators are out until Monday but you can call NOW! Next week is the last week with only THREE LEGISLATIVE DAYS to save our Georgia by seeing HB 87 langauge passed.

“I believe the rule of law is important, but over-regulation on businesses would just not be right and we’re not going to see it happen this session,’’ Casey Cagle, Lt Governor and president of the Georgia senate.

HERE

New York restaurant owner:“We always, always hire the undocumented workers,” he said. “It’s not just me, it’s everybody in the industry. First, they are willing to do the work. Second, they are willing to learn. Third, they are not paid as well. It’s an economic decision. It’s less expensive to hire an undocumented person.”

HERE

HB 87, the most well-written and potentially effective state-level illegal immigration enforcement legislation in the nation, is in serious trouble in the Georgia legislature. I know it can be confusing, but it has NOT passed and the anti-enforcement members of the Georgia government – many of them Republicans who are siding with John Lewis– are now working along with the others in the illegal alien lobby to either run the clock out on the session or to neuter or kill the bill outright. And doing everything possible to misdirect and confuse you. It is possible that the language we want could be considered as SB 40- so please pay attention.

I will post info HERE and HERE

The quote above will give you some idea of how high the fire sale on Georgia’s future goes.

I am putting the ACTION NEEDED right in the top for those of you who want to know what to do starting this very instant. Below that is an explanation of what has been going on with our enforcement legislation, politicians and the black-hearted traitorous business lobby .

No matter what you have done to help so far or how many phone calls or emails you have sent, here is the ACTION NEEDED:

* Call and email Governor Deal’s office: 404 656 1776 email HERE

“I am a voting Georgian who has had enough of illegal immigration and the job loss that crime creates. Please give this message to the Governor: Thank you for your campaign promises to get an Arizona style immigration enforcement bill and E-Verify in Georgia. Time is running out and I am very confused about your silence while so many far left radicals and profiteering business leaders who hire illegal aliens are so loud in their opposition to the enforcement language in HB 87…I am watching carefully and will remember all that happens on this very serious matter to decide Georgia’s future.”

* Call and email Lt. Governor Casey Cagle who is president of the senate
TEL: (404) 656-5030
FAX: (404) 656-6739
Email

“Please tell the Lt. Governor that I am watching, I can read the press reports and I can see his quotes on illegal immigration enforcement legislation and E-Verify. If HB 87 language does not pass with E-verify for all industries in the state, I will assume that it is because of his cooperation with the illegal alien lobby which includes most of the business community. I will not forget.”

* Call and email Senator Tommie Williams, the senate president Pro Tem
Tommie Williams
tommie.williams@senate.ga.gov
Phone: (404) 656-0089
Fax: (404) 463-5220

“Please tell Senator Williams that I am watching and fear for Georgia’s future. American workers, including construction workers, stand in unemployment lines while employers hire illegal aliens that we the voting taxpayers are forced to subsidize. I have had enough. We must have a law this year with language from HB 87 including E-Verify for all Georgia industries.”

* Then…call and email your state Senator – no matter who he/she is, to say:

“I am watching what is happening with the infighting in the senate and on illegal immigration. I understand the tricks the Senate Judiciary Committee tried with HB 87. I expect you to vote for language contained in the House version of HB 87 complete with E-verify for all Georgia industries. I will not forget the outcome. I am one of the never-silent-again majority who will no longer tolerate the business community running our state government while they hire taxpayer subsidized illegal alien labor.”

Senate contact info HERE

Some of you tell me there is too much information in some of the alerts. Some complain because I don’t sift through readily available news items to give you the entire story. If you want background info to understand what is going on, read further.

Here are some facts on what has been happening to catch everyone up:

The new Georgia governor, who ran on the record and promise of pro-enforcement and putting in place an Arizona-style law and E-Verify has remained silent on illegal immigration since he took office. Even with the majority of Georgians on the record as supporting state enforcement. HERE is what the Governor’s office sends in reply to our pleas

The Lt. Governor who is also president of the senate and controls which bills get voted on has reportedly struck a bargain with senate Democrats and has long opposed use of E-verify to protect jobs for Georgians. You can see more of this part of the story HERE and HERE and HERE .

Cagle sends the following letter to mail HERE .

The Georgia House Judiciary (non civil) committee substituted the terrific language of HB 87 into the fraud of a bill SB 40, BUT then the Senate Judiciary committee – without debate or notice of hearing – changed the House version of HB 87 by watering it down and limiting the industries that would be required to use E-Verify. This was as slimy a trick as I have seen in a while. Senator Bill Hamrick is the Chairman of the senate Judiciary committee. I would post a link to a news story on this action from Senator Hamrick but despite me spending most of an entire day (Friday) making this fact clear to reporters, I am unaware of any such report.

The Georgia Restaurant Association has sent a letter to the legislature urging that they kill any enforcement bill and telling them that each E-Verify query to insure new employees are legal costs $127.00. They are using false information given to them by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. They are all desperate.THE TRUTH IS E-VERIFY IS FREE TO USE AND COSTS ZERO TO VERIFY A WORKER. See the letter HERE See their reply to mail from pro-enforcement Americans HERE . Contact them if you want.

The Georgia agriculture industry sent a letter to the legislature yesterday telling them to kill any enforcement bill – ridding Georgia of illegal aliens and hiring real legal immigrants would be bad for the state they say. They are led by someone who many believe to possibly be unstable because of his conduct in the Capitol a man named Bryan Tolar. You can read the letter HERE • Note that they also use the bogus scare tactic that E-Verify somehow costs $127.000 per query. If they are making up a cost, why not use $127,000.000?

Jerry Gonzalez of the radical open borders GALEO Inc. has obtained a toll free number phone service in English and Spanish that connects to the Georgia senate. He is urging the illegal aliens to call and try to kill the enforcement bills. YOU CAN USE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE NUMBER HE HAS SET UP TO CALL THE SENATE, THEN DELIVER YOUR OWN PRO-ENFORCEMENT MESSAGE IN ADDITON TO THE ABOVE INSTRUCTIONS.•

Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO)
Have you called yet? Call 866-877-5529 (Spanish) or 866-998-2910 (English) and you will be connected to a Georgia Senator’s office. Feel free to call more than once! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Let’s make Georgia’s future a prosperous one!

HERE

Last month about 5,000 screaming, chanting, resentful illegal aliens and the remora-like subversives who support them took over Washington Street in front of the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Many carried signs that said “UNDOCUMENTED AND UNAFRAID” and “WE WILL NOT LEAVE!” and “NO TO HB 87!” and “LEGALIZATION FOR ALL” and “WE WILL NOT COMPLY!” The Capitol grounds looked and sounded like the televised mass rallies that take place in chaotic Third World nations on the way to revolution. The hated object of the angry, riotous protest was any enforcement of American immigration laws in general and HB 87, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011 authored by state Rep. Matt Ramsey, in particular. HB 87 is the most well written and most potentially effective state immigration enforcement bill in the nation.

As Americans in America, we are fighting a large anti-American coalition that wants to end enforcement of our immigration and employment laws. This would not change with another amnesty. If you don’t help, we will lose.

Atlanta Business Chronicle

Lawmakers may toughen state’s immigration laws

by Dave Williams
November 4, 2010

Georgia lawmakers are expected to take another crack at the thorny problem of illegal immigration this winter, five years after passing the nation’s toughest law against hiring undocumented workers.

Other states have upped the ante since 2006, when the General Assembly acted to require Georgia businesses seeking government contracts to make sure their employees were in the U.S. legally.

Legislative leaders will be looking for ways to catch up with their peers when the 2011 session convenes in January, likely through some combination of tightening existing Georgia laws or piggybacking on other states’ laws.

Georgia and other states have become more active on illegal immigration in recent years, citing a need to act because Congress has failed to address the issue.

“The way we’re going to get the federal government involved is for the states to come up with legislation on their own,” said state Sen. Jack Murphy, R-Cumming, co-chairman of a special joint committee formed by House and Senate leaders this fall to tackle immigration reform.

The anti-illegal immigration agenda the committee recommends to the full General Assembly could include legislation to:

Ban illegal students from attending public colleges and universities.
Require all businesses to use the federal E-Verify system to ensure that their employees are in the U.S. legally.
Impose penalties on government agencies that are not using E-Verify to determine the immigration status of employees or the SAVE system to ensure that applicants for certain public benefits are U.S. citizens.
Adopt an “Arizona-style” law giving police the authority to question people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.

Illegal students attending public colleges and universities became a hot topic last spring with the discovery that a student brought to the U.S. illegally by her parents was attending Kennesaw State University at the in-state tuition rate.

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents adopted a policy last month prohibiting illegal immigrants from enrolling in any institution that has rejected academically qualified applicants for the past two years because of space.

But such a policy doesn’t go far enough, Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers told Murphy’s committee Oct. 28. Rogers, R-Woodstock, said it’s a waste of public funds to subsidize illegal immigrants’ college educations because employers can’t legally hire them.

“Public education is the use of taxpayer dollars to invest in individuals,” he said.

“If a person isn’t eligible for a job, why on Earth would the taxpayers invest in that person’s education?”

Rogers led the push for the 2006 law but said “holes” discovered in the measure in subsequent years warrant making some changes.

A bill introduced in the House of Representatives last winter called for extending the E-Verify requirement to all Georgia businesses, not just those seeking government contracts.

D.A. King, president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society, an organization that opposes illegal immigration, said requiring every business to verify the immigration status of prospective hires would prevent illegal immigrants from taking jobs that otherwise would go to citizens.

“Illegal immigration is about jobs, jobs, jobs,” he said. “If we’re serious about protecting jobs, driving out illegal labor will go a long way toward doing that.”

Jay Ruby, a lawyer with the labor and employment law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart P.C., said business clients in states that have a universal E-Verify requirement have reported no significant problems complying with the law.

But Ruby said Georgia industries that rely heavily on undocumented workers could feel the effects of a universal E-Verify mandate.

Bryan Tolar, spokesman for the Georgia Agribusiness Council, said the requirement would be burdensome on farmers who employ temporary workers.

“We already have laws that say when you hire someone, [certain] documents have to be presented,” he said. “If [a prospective worker] present documents that look legitimate, I should be able to hire them.”

Along with businesses, government agencies in Georgia are required to use E-Verify and SAVE, another Web-based verification system that screens applicants for public benefits.

But government agencies have been slow to comply, prompting some lawmakers to suggest imposing penalties, perhaps through denial of state aid.

Clint Mueller, legislative director for the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, said counties have improved their compliance rate to 97 percent for E-Verify and 74 percent for SAVE. He said further progress by the end of the year could help blunt the case for penalties.

Some legislators also have vowed to follow Arizona’s example with a law that empowers police officers who stop someone suspected of committing a crime to then question their immigration status.

Charles Kuck, managing partner with Kuck Immigration Partners LLC of Atlanta, said Georgia lawmakers should await the outcome of a federal lawsuit challenging the Arizona law before acting.

“It’s clearly a political move to address a problem the states can’t solve,” he said. “We’re going to end up with 50 state laws and it will be impossible to do business in America.”

But King said the federal government’s refusal to enforce immigration laws has created a void that states can fill effectively.

“The law clearly gives us at the state level the ability to go after employers through licensing,” he said. “Even the threat of enforcement at the state or local level will cause illegal labor to migrate out of the area.”

Reach Williams at davewilliams@bizjournals.co m

Read more: Lawmakers may toughen state’s immigration laws | Atlanta Business Chronicle HERE

Note from D.A. King:

Bolton’s order did not affect several other provisions of the Arizona law which are now on the books.
These include:

— Creating a separate state crime making it illegal to transport or harbor an illegal immigrant.
— Making it a crime to stop a vehicle in traffic to hire a day laborer or for someone looking for work to get into a stopped vehicle.
— Requiring state officials to work with the federal government regarding illegal immigrants.
— Allowing Arizona residents to file suit against any agency, official, city or county for adopting policies that restrict the ability of workers to enforce federal immigration law “to less than the full extent permitted by federal law

From the July issue of Governing Magazine:

Excerpt from the below article:

Chip Rogers, the author of SB 529, thinks it’s a mistake to dwell on the issue or even on the question of whether illegal immigrants help or hurt the economy or pay more in taxes than they use. “The law is not for sale,” he says. “If someone is in violation of the law and they realize that Georgia is going to enforce the law and they make a decision not to be in Georgia because they don’t want to abide by the law, to me, that’s a good thing.”

COVER STORY/IMMIGRATION

Crackdown

Immigration pressures are rearranging politics in more than one state capitol.

By JOSH GOODMAN

When the subject of illegal immigration comes up, the states you think about first are Texas and California. Maybe Arizona. But, as of July 1, it is Georgia, a full thousand miles from the Mexican border, that is at the center of the immigration debate in the United States.

That’s because SB 529, its new immigration law now taking effect, is the most stringent statute of its kind anywhere in the country. It is the sort of law that immigration hard-liners would like to see enacted on a national basis. Under its provisions, state and local government agencies have to verify the legal residency of benefit recipients. Many employers will have to do the same whenever they make a hiring decision. Law enforcement officers are given authority to crack down on human trafficking and fake documents. In sum, SB 529 touches every facet of state policy that relates to illegal immigrants.

The central question about the law is, obviously, whether it will work as intended and reduce the impact of undocumented newcomers on the state. But an equally important question is whether the political situation that led to SB 529 can be sustained and replicated in other places. The topic of illegal immigration has bedeviled virtually every state legislature and the U.S. Congress for years, without much substantive result. What made Georgia different was a populist uprising that all but forced the legislature to crack down on the undocumented community. If that sort of pressure gains momentum elsewhere, the near future may portend a series of state laws as strict as Georgia’s — even if Congress manages to pass an immigration bill of its own. Oklahoma and Colorado have both enacted laws with some provisions similar to SB 529 — the question is how many states will follow.

If Georgia’s experience does become a prototype for other states, it will be through the building of improbable coalitions and unlikely rivalries. In many places, the Chamber of Commerce finds itself at war with the Republican Party over immigration; Christian conservatives are unsure whom to support; and union members and African Americans are forced to reevaluate their ties to Democrats.

These rivalries played out in Georgia, where businesses did not want to be deprived of a source of cheap labor. “The concern,” says Bryan Tolar, vice president of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, “is that the illegals would still be in the United States, but that we might not have any of the migrant workers — those who are here legally and those who are here illegally.” Even more than that, businesses did not want the state to turn them into residency-status enforcers, creating bureaucratic obstacles every time they take on a new employee.

But the Republican legislative majority that created the law felt little obligation to the corporate community. Senator Chip Rogers, the sponsor of SB 529, says openly that he doesn’t care whether big business opposes him because of his immigration views. “I blame 90 percent on employers,” Rogers says. “They’re the ones that are profiting by breaking the law.” He thinks many businesses, especially smaller ones, agree with him. They would prefer to hire legal workers, he says, and don’t want to be at competitive disadvantage with those that hire illegal ones. He thinks industry groups are out of touch with the views of ordinary Georgians, including rank-and-file Republicans.

Nor did SB 529 owe its success to Christian conservatives, the other pillar of Republican political strength in recent years. Nationally, the Christian right is ambivalent on immigration, conflicted by conservative principles that say lawbreaking should never be tolerated, and Biblical admonitions to provide charity to the “least among us.” Some religious conservatives quietly supported SB 529, but they were not major players in the debate that led to its passage.

So who provided the momentum for the nation’s toughest immigration law? “It really was the people,” says Phil Kent, a Georgia conservative activist who also serves as national spokesman for Americans for Immigration Control. “It was people walking up to their legislators and saying, ’I’m sick and tired of what’s going on in my neighborhood.’ ”

This line, echoed time and again by supporters of SB 529, is part bluster — almost every politician says the people are behind him — and part truth. The reality is that most of the powerful groups in the state, be they conservative Christians and big business on the right or African-American leaders on the Democratic side, didn’t really want a crackdown on illegal immigration, but every opinion poll showed that most Georgians did.

FULL-TIME CRUSADER

If there’s one person that Kent and Rogers have in mind when they talk about “the people,” it’s D.A. King, although he is anything but a typical Georgian. Since giving up his career as an insurance agent in 2003, King has been a full-time opponent of illegal immigration. From his home in a peaceful suburban neighborhood in Marietta, with an American flag flying in front and another one in back, King blogs against amnesty, organizes protests, writes a newspaper column and fields questions from reporters. When the legislature is in session, he spends most of his time at the Capitol in Atlanta. “My typical day is 14, 16 hours long,” King says. “I work seven days a week if my wife can’t drag me out on a Saturday.”

Marathon hours not withstanding, there’s probably an aspiring D.A. King in most states. What’s unusual about Georgia is that legislators cared just as much about his views as they did about the views of Chamber of Commerce lobbyists. Matt Towery, a former Georgia state representative who now operates a polling and political news company, has as good an explanation as anyone as to why this came about.

There is a lot more HERE.