MEDIA RELEASE 16 June 2008

Dustin Inman Society to expose failure of local governments in Georgia to comply with the 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act. (SB 529)

The Dustin Inman Society

www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org

3595 Canton Rd. A-9/337

Marietta, Ga. 30066

Contact D.A. King DA (AT) TheDustinInmanSocisty.org

On the eighth anniversary of the death of 16 year-old Dustin Inman, D.A. King, president of the Dustin Inman Society – named for the Woodstock youth who lost his life to illegal immigration – announces a push to make voters aware of many Georgia municipal and county government’s violation of state law aimed at the crimes of illegal immigration, illegal employment and illegally accessing public benefits.

Signed into law in April 2006 and implemented July 1, 2007, section two of the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act requires all public employers to use the no-cost federal data base “E-Verify” to determine work eligibility of newly hired employees.

Section nine of the law requires all government agencies in Georgia to verify the eligibility of all applicants for public benefits using the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.

“According to end – of – April DHS records, estimates are that less than half of Georgia’s 500 plus municipal governments are using the E-Verify system and about 60 of Georgia’s 159 counties are missing from the list of users.” King reports. “Even more alarming in these difficult economic times, the DHS list shows only a total of 9 (nine) SAVE users.”

“Public benefits are clearly defined in federal law” noted King. “Those benefits include any professional or commercial license provided by an agency of a State or local government. While brave Border Patrol Agents are risking – and losing – their lives to stop illegal immigration, we watch as local governments in Georgia enable illegal aliens by providing business licenses and occupational tax certificates to those who escape apprehension.”

Voters in local elections deserve to fully understand the consequences of their elected official’s lack of compliance with the law” King said. “Are local governments somehow above the law?”

In July, King will begin a summer- long speaking tour of Georgia to educate voters on the issue.

Members of the media with an interest in reporting on the topic can refer to the text of the Georgia law here and the federal law (8USC 1621) defining public benefits here. The SAVE program here .

Named for one of the thousands of Americans who have paid the ultimate price for America’s unsecured borders and the resulting illegal immigration crisis, the Dustin Inman Society is a Georgia-based, non-partisan coalition of Americans opposed to illegal immigration and employment.

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Public benefits as defined in 8 USC 1621:

(c) “State or local public benefit” defined
(1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), for purposes of this subchapter the term “State or local public benefit” means—
(A) any grant, contract, loan, professional license, or commercial license provided by an agency of a State or local government or by appropriated funds of a State or local government; and (B) any retirement, welfare, health, disability, public or assisted housing, postsecondary education, food assistance, unemployment benefit, or any other similar benefit for which payments or assistance are provided to an individual, household, or family eligibility unit by an agency of a State or local government or by appropriated funds of a State or local government.