SSI Islander

April 30, 2018

Letters and Opinions

Dear editor,

The recent news of federal immigration authorities arresting illegal aliens in Glynn should produce state charges as well.

Pro-enforcement voters can watch to see if Glynn and Camden County authorities will prosecute the same illegals for the additional violation of state law designed to protect us from identity theft. We hear that a well-known landscaping company that operates in both Glynn and Camden several home construction job sites have lost some black market labor because of the recent raids. We hope it is true.

“OCGA 16-9-121.1 (a)

A person commits the offense of aggravated identity fraud when he or she willfully and fraudulently uses any counterfeit or fictitious identifying information concerning a real, fictitious, or deceased person with intent to use such counterfeit or fictitious identifying information for the purpose of obtaining employment.”

One of the reasons that the silly “undocumented worker” term used as a substitute for the legal and accurate “illegal alien” contained in state and federal law is so mindless is that it is nearly impossible to get a regular job without some kind of ID documents. Illegal aliens have documents, but they are either stolen or fake.

To be legally employed, all job applicants must complete paper work called an “I-9 form” on which they enter ID info and provide corresponding documents. Legitimate workers have no problem doing this.

Illegal aliens must violate the above state law to be hired. Employers are required to keep the I-9 form on file.

If any of the illegal aliens in question were hired after July 1, 2011 when the state law above became effective, they would be in violation of the aggravated identity theft law. It is easy to investigate and difficult to understand if it isn’t.

D.A. King

Marietta

King is president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society

Here

Photo: Billy and Kathy Inman holding a picture of their late son, Dustin. Photo: AJC

Dalton Daily Citizen

April 30, 2018

Letter: Payne is wrong on driver’s license bill

At our house, we’re following the state Senate primary election in Dalton with great interest because of the issue of Sen. Chuck Payne voting against the illegal alien driver’s license bill in last session. You see, our son Dustin was killed by an illegal alien who crashed into the rear end of our car Father’s Day weekend in 2000. The illegal had a driver’s license from North Carolina that was the same as all North Carolina driver’s licenses.

He was involved in another rear-end crash before he killed our son and put my wife, Kathy, in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. The police had no way of knowing he was an illegal alien when they saw his license when he ran into the first family’s car — maybe they would have reported him to immigration authorities if his license was marked or looked different that he was here illegally. Maybe my son would be a productive 34-year-old with kids of his own today.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, my son’s killer is living in Mexico after he escaped Gilmer County law enforcement.

We do not want illegal aliens here and to have driver’s licenses, but if politicians are going to issue them to some illegals, those licenses should be clearly marked that person is not a legal immigrant.

I remembered when I turned 15, getting my learner’s license it said “Learners” across the top. Why not a note or word on the license of illegals that get one? Sen. Payne saying illegal immigration is not a Georgia issue is very disappointing. Try telling that to my wife. She’s easy to find in her wheelchair.

Mr. Tidwell said he doesn’t want Georgia to become a magnet for illegal immigration and would have voted for the illegal immigration driver’s license bill that Sen. Payne is against. We wish Mr. Tidwell good luck and don’t agree with Sen. Payne that Mr. Tidwell is a loser, and we ask Sen. Payne what happened to common sense and respect in politics.

Billy and Kathy Inman

Woodstock

Here

Dalton Daily Citizen

April 29, 2018

Payne wrong about bill

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

D.A. King

Marietta

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

Here

Insider Advantage Georgia

Dalton GOP Sen. Payne Faces Primary Challenger From His Right

by D.A. King | Apr 27, 2018 | The Forum

Here’s another race to watch: The Republican primary race for state Senate District 54 in the Dalton area has heated up over the topic of illegal immigration and the failed attempt at illegal alien driver’s license reform in the 2018 legislative session.

Scott Tidwell

Conservative political newcomer, Scott Tidwell, a pastor and assistant funeral home director from Resaca has challenged Incumbent Senator Chuck Payne and is apparently seeing increasing support in the North Georgia district.

Payne is under a barrage of fire for being one of two Republicans who voted with the Democrats against Senator Josh McKoon’s SB417 in a March Public Safety Committee hearing, which resulted in the bill’s demise. The same language was then inserted into an already-passed House bill and offered for reconsideration in the same committee. This time, Payne was the only Republican to vote “nay” as it moved on but was never allowed out of Senator Jeff Mullis’ Senate Rules committee.

McKoon also tried to amend the House distracted driving bill as it passed the senate with a greatly abbreviated version of his reform language but enough Republican senators wanted to pass a “clean” cell-phone bill to decline the floor amendment.

As can be seen on the official senate committee hearing video, (00:39) Payne’s apparent lack of full understanding of the bill and the territorial limits of state law had several watchers shaking their heads when he asked McKoon how, if passed, the Georgia law would be enforced “out of state”. Neither was it clear that first-term Senator Payne understood that the federal government operates the TSA airport security and decides what ID is acceptable for boarding airliners.

State Sen. Chuck Payne

McKoon made it clear in his presentations that the goal was to end the practice of issuing the same driver’s license to illegal aliens as are given to legal immigrants and guest workers here with temporary visas. He also explained that the proposed new driving document would only be good for driving privileges and would not be counted as an ID document for state or federal purposes and would be marked as such.

In 2016, a McKoon-sponsored bill with similar language sailed through the Georgia senate with thirty-seven Republican votes but was never allowed a hearing in the House. Among the “yea” votes was Payne’s predecessor, former senator Charlie Bethel.

Payne’s liberal position on illegal alien drivers licenses and his confusion seen in the now widely disseminated committee hearing video has not gone un-noted by conservative voters in his district. Neither has the fact that the president and CEO of the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce, Rob Bradham, attended the Gold Dome hearing and testified against allowing the measure to move out of committee. Full disclosure: This writer testified at the same hearing in favor of the legislation.

Payne’s remarks at a recent Dalton Daily Citizen newspaper candidate forum in which he told challenger Tidwell “you were already a loser before you even came out of the gate” and that the legislation reforming the system by which illegal alien drivers licenses are issued was “not an immigration bill” have cost Payne considerable conservative support.

Challenger Tidwell labels himself a “true conservative” and makes it clear that he would have voted for McKoon’s driver’s license reform bill. He says, “the illegal alien problem is threatening the economic state of Georgia.”

Some estimates have put the annual cost of illegal immigration to Georgia taxpayers at $2.4 billion. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than Arizona.

Payne told the audience that “Georgia doesn’t deal in immigration” and that the state “doesn’t have immigration laws” – apparently unaware of the numerous state laws put in place on illegal immigration since 2006 – including E-Verify, public benefits protections and ‘sanctuary cities’ laws – and 2011’s internationally publicized HB 87.

You read it here first.

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

Georgia Speaker, Republican Rep. David Ralston

Atlanta Journal Constitution

READERS WRITE
April 23, 2018

Left seems to have outsize influence on GOP lawmakers

Thanks to the AJC for reporting that Republican Speaker, David Ralston, held the Georgia House in session past the midnight deadline to pass legislation for which his son was a paid lobbyist. The bill concerned state purchase and use of traffic enforcement cameras.

In contrast, ecstatic corporate-funded anti-enforcement immigration groups are taking credit for killing an anti-crime bill on which Ralston did not allow a vote.

Now as dead as Pancho Villa, SB452 mandated notification to federal immigration authorities when criminal illegal aliens are captured in Georgia and required the Department of Corrections to make public a quarterly report on the immigration status and number of non-citizens in the Georgia prison system.

House leadership had a simple explanation on the importance of immigration enforcement: “We ran out of time before we had finished all the bills that were worthwhile,” said House Majority Whip, Christian Coomer. “Other bills took priority and SB452 wasn’t called before the clock struck midnight.”

This independent conservative voter envies the GOP political connections the Left has in Georgia.

D.A. KING, MARIETTA, PRESIDENT, THE DUSTIN INMAN SOCIETY
Here.

Here is their boasting sales pitch to get you to vote for it.

General Assembly Passes Business Court Legislation

“The Georgia Chamber and Georgians for Lawsuit Reform are proud to announce the passage of House Resolution 993. On Thursday, March 29th, the state Senate passed the resolution by a vote of 46-7, followed by a final agreement vote of 120-52 in the state House.

House Resolution 993 allows for the creation of a statewide business court through the enactment of a constitutional amendment. A statewide business court in Georgia would promote expedited resolution of complex commercial disputes, as well as enhance predictability, increase speed, improve case management, lower costs, and provide judicial expertise in complex commercial litigation.

By removing complex, time-consuming business cases from the general docket, non-business cases will be resolved more efficiently, thereby benefiting businesses and citizens alike. This measure follows the recommendations to improve current judicial practices and procedures by Governor Deal’s Court Reform Council.

As neighboring states like North Carolina and South Carolina have such specialized courts, the establishment of a business court with statewide jurisdiction will enable Georgia to remain regionally competitive. While Georgia has been ranked the “Best State for Business” five years consecutively, a court dedicated solely to sophisticated commercial litigation will further improve Georgia’s business and legal climate by advancing the state’s ability to attract and retain businesses.

Kade Cullefer, Executive Director of Georgians for Lawsuit Reform, expressed the need for the amendment, “We have seen noteworthy success with local business courts in Fulton and Gwinnett Counties; however, the business court should be accessible to all Georgians.” Georgia Chamber Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, David Raynor applauded the leadership of Governor Nathan Deal and Representative Chuck Efstration, “the establishment of a statewide business court is a long-awaited solution that will contribute to the improvement of quality of life and business climate. As this legislation is a Chamber Scorecard measure and a priority for our membership, we would like to thank Governor Deal, Representative Chuck Efstration, members of the General Assembly, and the Court Reform Council for their hard work and dedication in keeping Georgia the #1 state in which to do business.”

House Resolution 993 will now be included as a ballot measure in the 2018 general election.

To learn more about House Resolution 993 or the Georgians for Lawsuit Reform visit http://www.galawsuitreform.com/, or click here to view a message from Kade Cullefer, Executive Director of Georgians for Lawsuit Reform. Visit the Georgia Chamber’s Scorecard website at http://gachamberscore.com/ to see how your legislator voted.”

Here.

Photo The Daily Wire

Caravan Of Refugees Arrives At U.S.-Mexico Border; Refugees Ask For Asylum
Here.

 Barr’s original MDJ column from April 12 here.

Bob Barr – photo: MDJ

Bob Barr wants to increase immigration
Apr 12, 2018

DEAR EDITOR:

At more than one million immigrants each year and about 750,000 guest workers, American immigration numbers still are not high enough to suit MDJ writer and former Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr.

Barr assures readers that we should welcome even more foreign labor so that we pay less for houses. He also tries to convince us that the honorable construction trade should continue to be limited to foreign workers over Americans — because the foreigners will work for less money. Barr wants to increase immigration.

On the consequences of not “creating better and easier ways to enter the country for work” he writes “the hidden costs, however, such as increases in products and services, like construction, which rely heavily on lower-cost labor, are felt immediately and daily by citizens who must shoulder the costs of dwindling migrant labor burdening businesses.”

Barr ran for president on a platform of open borders. He hasn’t changed much. But he is still far away from the mainstream, even in California. A March poll from Pulse Opinion Research asked Californians about immigration levels. The Californians gave a very different answer than Barr and the construction lobby has offered.

“Question: Current federal policy adds about one million new immigrants with lifetime work permits each year. Which is closest to the number of new immigrants the government should be adding each year?

Responses:

34% — Less than 250,000

15% — 500,000

07% — 750,000

13% — One million

06% — One and a half million

13% — More than two million

At our house, where my wife is a proud immigrant, we support Sen. David Perdue and his RAISE Act precisely because it reduces immigration levels and would result in higher wages for Americans.

John Litland

Marietta

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