NRO Online

Monday, February 01, 2010

Stick a Fork in It [Mark Krikorian]

Amnesty advocates are still clinging to the fiction that a “comprehensive” immigration bill is possible this year. The reality is, as a “veteran Senate lobbyist” tells the Post, “immigration is deader than a doornail.” This is why the amnesty crowd is getting testy with their man in the White House. Luis Gutierrez, amnesty’s loudest champion in the House, said of the president’s state of the union speech, “He was very weak on immigration, lackadaisical.” And Frank Sharry, one of the top left-wing amnesty lobbyists, said, “I had very low expectations, but [the president] surprised even me with how little he said.”

I know schadenfreude is an unworthy sentiment, but in the absence of real victory (i.e., reducing immigration), it’ll have to do.

02/01 02:02 PMShare
HERE

Australian Associated Press

Greens want immigration cut
By Cathy Alexander,
AAP February 1, 2010, 4:29 pm

Immigration should be cut to keep Australia’s population sustainable, the Australian Greens say.

Greens leader Bob Brown said most people did not support the federal government’s plan to boost population from 22 to 36 million by 2050.

“Most people think our lifestyle is good, but some of the bigger cities are bursting at the seams,” Senator Brown told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

“We’re at record high immigration and it’s got to be reviewed.

“I think immigration levels should settle down much lower than they are at the moment, without cutting humanitarian immigration.”

Last financial year, 184,000 migrants were granted entry to Australia.

Most gained a visa due to their work skills, while almost a third came on a family visa.

About seven per cent were humanitarian entrants, including refugees.

Senator Brown criticised the amount of skilled migrants.

“You can buy your way into this country if you’re rich or you’re highly skilled.”

He said Australians should live sustainably but a big population increase would threaten the nation’s ability to do that.

The government on Monday released its third intergenerational report, which includes the 36 million population forecast.

Senator Brown was concerned that inadequate efforts were being made to tackle climate change when it came to planning for the future.

A failure to address climate change would sock the economy, he said.

“If we don’t tackle climate change, we not only lose quality of life … but we lose eight per cent of the gross national product,” Senator Brown said.

HERE

Judicial Watch

Court says OK to deny illegal alien public service

In a rare case for a state that has long offered illegal [aliens] sanctuary, an appellate court in Oregon has ruled in favor of a state agency that denied an illegal alien costly public services based on her immigration status. — Oregon’s largest regulatory agency, the Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS), rejected a claim to provide and illegal [alien] vocational assistance benefits..

HERE

Blackmon: Dealing with bad law, but no bad blood

Myra Blackmon

Athens Banner-Herald

Published Sunday, January 31, 2010

When I opened my annual business license renewal recently, I – like most business owners in Athens-Clarke County – was stunned to find I now must prove my citizenship. ( Note from D.A. – actually, citizens are not currently required to prove citizenship, only asked the question…but she has a good idea!)

The renewal notice referenced a new state law, and I did recall some recent state legislation designed to prevent government benefits from going to illegal residents. Surely, though, a law that required every business owner in the state to prove citizenship or legal residence to get a license would have garnered headlines, not to mention howls from chambers of commerce across the state. I didn’t recall any of that…

PLEASE READ THE REST HERE

I sent this response to the editor asking that he forward to Ms. Blackmon :

To whom it may concern
ON GEORGIA BUSINESS LICENSES

Requiring everyone who applies for a business license, whether new or renewal, to swear to eligibility is not an “unintended consequence” of anything.

Although this long time American grows weary of explaining this string of facts, here it goes again.

1996 federal law defines both federal and state and local “Public Benefits” in 8 USC 1611 & 8 USC 1621 . The definition, it its entirety is:

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.

IF the reader wants to argue that a business license is not a commercial license, please stop reading here. We cannot communicate on a reasonable level. Also that a business license isn’t really a business license, but an “occupational tax certificate.” By any name, it is a condition (“regulation”) put on a business operator to conduct commerce.

This law was designed to stop the administration of finite benefits to people who are present in the USA in violation of our immigration laws and to help insure that we are not rewarding them or encouraging them to remain here. (Both also crimes under 8 USC 1324)

The original state law to mandate compliance with federal law was passed in 2006 (the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act – GSICA ) and became effective July 1, 2007. Giving local governments more than a year to prepare for the required affidavit and federal database (SAVE program) verification.

They ignored it with the help of GMA and ACCG. And when confronted, claimed that a business license isn’t really a business license but an occupational tax certificate…see above.

In 2009, the General Assembly passed HB 2 which clarified the language of the original law and took a list of Public Benefits from the SAVE Website in an effort to remove the claim that no one understood what a Public Benefit really is. That part seems to have worked all too well for some.

For the most part, SAVE is designed to verify immigration status of non-citizens – thus the affidavit asking the question: Citizen or lawfully present alien? If alien, the applicant is required to enter their alien number. The affidavit is the only way we have of separating citizen from alien. We thought about using a valid Georgia drivers license, but that would exclude a business owner who lives in Chattanooga from legally getting a Ga. business license in Dalton …for example.

Also, some states still grant drivers licenses to illegals.

False swearing on the affidavit is a felony – and a deportable offense. Not that may in the federal government are paying attention. But still a deterrent to illegals. Which is another reason for the state law: to protect Georgia jobs and benefits from illegal immigration.

Public Benefits have nothing….zero, nada, do with how many employees anyone has or how long they have been in business…or how long their family has lived in the US.

There is a section of the law that says public employers and their contractors must use another federal database called E-Verify to insure that newly hired employees are eligible to work in the USA. Again, this is not related to compliance with federal law on administering Public Benefits.

Illegal aliens do indeed hold Georgia business licenses and removing that benefit is encouraging many of them to leave Georgia for more hospitable states. Honest.

We have heard from a very few people who regard as a “hassle” swearing on a notarized affidavit that they are eligible for Public Benefits – to apply to renew their business license.

We respectfully direct them to the young Americans who are right now risking their lives in the freezing desert to secure our borders and stop illegal and uninspected entries.

Please tell them what a “hassle” the process is. Choice B is to change the federal law to openly and lawfully reward the illegal crossers who escape capture at the borders – or to simply declare open borders.

Until then compliance with the law is our duty as grown-ups, even immigration law.

A respectful heads up to all concerned: This state law was not thrown together at the last minute or in the waning days of last session. It is carefully thought out, well researched and written with the attitude that each legal method we have of making life hard for illegals is a good idea.

Any uneducated, knee-jerk attempt to dismantle the process of keeping illegal aliens from obtaining Public Benefits – including business licenses, using any reasoning – will be met with very vocal, very educational, very public and very large pointed rallies and protests.

Most Americans, the GOP base included, have “had enough” and are quite angry about watching their jobs, benefits and services decline while we ignore illegals.

D.A. King
Marietta
President, www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org

San Gabriel Valley (Calif.) Tribune

Rep. Miller pushing back against immigration reform

With immigration reform making the president’s long State of the Union to-do list, Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea had a strong warning for Democrats on Thursday: any path to citizenship in that reform “will be the last nail in their coffin.” — Citing high unemployment across the country, Miller says now is the exact wrong time to push policy that he says will lead to greater competition for jobs…

HERE

Associated Press

Police chief killed, severed head found in Mexican town

Morelia, Mich. Mex. — Gunmen killed a police chief and two officers Thursday in the same western town where a human head was dumped a day earlier. — Antonio Bravo, police chief of Quiroga, and two officers were attacked while they drove in a patrol car, Michoacan state prosecutors said in a statement…

HERE

Forty-plus trips around the sun…and still as beautiful as the day I met her 29 years ago.

You will likely see news reports similar to the one below around the state for a while. To no one’s surprise, a few lazy and shortsighted officials and some connected, big shot citizens are whining about having to go through an extra step to obtain and renew a business license as the result of 2009’s House Bill 2.

All HB 2 did was clarify the 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act (GSICA) of 2006 -SB 529. The goal of each is to cut off taxpayer funded employment and benefits to people who escaped capture at our borders when they crossed illegally . Illegal aliens.

If you see a news article like the one below in your local paper, please send in a letter to the editor with similar sentiment to what I have included in mine here on the bottom. It was published in today’s Rockdale Citizen in Conyers.

To the constant question I get at least ten times a week: “D.A. – what can I do to help fight the crime of illegal immigration…? ” WRITE AND SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR!

LTEs are very important and make a difference.

News report from Tuesday on top my letter in response published today below it.

Rockdale Citizen

Jan 26, 2010

City business owners must prove citizenship

Filling out an application is not enough anymore. Business owners within the city of Conyers must now confirm they are in the country legally before they can run a business.
Reporter: By Alena Parker, Staff Reporter

CONYERS — Filling out an application is not enough anymore. Business owners within the city of Conyers must now confirm they are in the country legally before they can run a business.

Local government agencies were recently called to verify citizenship and immigration status of business owners through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, program of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The Conyers City Council voted Jan. 20 to enter into an agreement with the federal agencies though Conyers city attorney Michael Waldrop noted they did not have much choice.

“The Georgia Legislature has required that cities and counties participate in the SAVE program to verify the legality of those who do business and receive benefits from the city,” Waldrop told the council members.

Councilman Marty Jones voiced concerns that paying for notary services every year, in addition to getting a business license, would be inconvenient “on the operations side.”

“People who write the regulations don’t have to live by them,” Jones said.

The new requirement will affect the roughly 1,800 businesses in Conyers.

“Unless you have a notary in your office, the proprietor is going to have to go somewhere — whether it’s the city, the bank, the post office, somewhere — to get someone to notarize this document (affidavit), swearing that he is, in fact, a legal citizen or here legally, whatever the status may be,” Waldrop said.

The new requirement will affect those applying for retirement benefits, health benefits, contracts, alcoholic beverage licenses, occupation tax certificates, taxi cab licenses, insurance company licenses, pawn brokers licenses, massage therapists licenses, billiard room operations licenses, precious metals and gems dealers licenses, conducting flea market licenses and peddlers and itinerant trades licenses, according to the city documents.

HERE

————–
Rockdale Citizen

Friday January 29, 2010

LETTERS: Common sense to enforce the law

As a politically aware and active Georgian, I read with great amazement of the apparent resentment from Conyers officials and their concerns about compliance with a state law regulating the issuance of business licenses and required proof of eligibility.

Councilman Marty Jones is quoted as lamenting that “paying for notary services every year, in addition to getting a business license, would be inconvenient on the operations side.” City Attorney Michael Waldrop complained, “Unless you have a notary in your office, the proprietor is going to have to go somewhere — whether it’s the city, the bank, the post office, somewhere — to get someone to notarize this document (affidavit), swearing that he is, in fact, a legal citizen or here legally, whatever the status may be.”

Boo hoo, and FYI, there is no such thing as a “legal citizen.” You are either a U.S. citizen or you aren’t. Another legal term for non-citizen is “alien.”

As I type, brave Border Patrol agents are risking their lives to stop illegal, uninspected entries into our nation. The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act originally mandated that Georgia’s “Public Benefits” — including commercial licenses — go only to people who are eligible. It was passed in 2006. Conyers is only now moving toward compliance and apparently will help ensure that the city is not rewarding illegals who escape capture at the border with a license to do business.

Like many other public benefits, illegal aliens are not eligible for business licenses, a.k.a. occupational tax certificates, under 1996 federal law. One must wonder why it required a state law saying that federal law must be obeyed to encourage Conyers and other Georgia cities and counties to do everything possible to discourage the crime of illegal immigration. For most Georgians, it is a “no brainer.”

Jones and any other disgruntled and put-out officials may want to explain to a young Border Patrol agent enduring freezing desert nights on the line how “inconvenient” processing an application and a notarized affidavit for a business license is for “the operations side.”

We desperately need a return to common sense.

— D.A. King
Marietta

King is president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society which advocates for compliance with immigration laws. He lobbied in favor of the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act.

HERE

NRO Online

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Amnesty Deported from SOTU
[Mark Krikorian]

Since I knew His Majesty wouldn’t say much of anything about immigration, and I can no longer stand the sound of his voice, I just went to bed. But he said even less than I expected:

We should continue to work at fixing our broken immigration system to secure our borders and enforce our laws and ensure that everyone who plays by rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation.

That’s it? I was figuring at least three sentences, or maybe two. As Roy Beck put it:

But the President couldn’t bring himself to utter the words “comprehensive immigration reform” or “path to citizenship” or “legalization” or “more immigration” in his State of the Union Address.

I’m reminded of Elliott Abrams’s reaction to Jimmy Carter’s welcome to the neo-conservatives for supporting his election — they got one single foreign-policy position, not for Indonesia, not for Polynesia, not for Macronesia, but for Micronesia.

If they have any sense, La Raza et al. are kicking themselves for not backing McCain.

HERE

Immigration Webinar Discusses State and Local Policy

CIS Staffer Hosts Ongoing Law Enforcement Series

WASHINGTON (January 28, 2010) – The latest government data show that over one-fifth of incarcerated criminals in America are foreign-born. A large share of these individuals may have violated immigration laws and could be subject to deportation. Immigration status may be relevant to investigations of criminal activity, so officers in every police and sheriff’s department need a basic understanding of immigration issues and policies and how they intersect with public safety matters.

The Center for Immigration Studies and Law Enforcement and Public Safety TV (LEAPS.TV) announce the release of the first in a year-long series of webinars, entitled ‘Immigration Policy for State and Local Law Enforcement.’ The series is designed to provide useful information on immigration issues and assist state and local agencies in developing appropriate policies to deal with criminal aliens and crime problems associated with illegal immigration. The first program is an introduction to the issues and is presented by Jessica Vaughan, CIS Director of Policy Studies. Future programs will feature subject matter experts from a mix of federal and local law enforcement agencies.

The webinar is available at http://www.leaps.tv/programdetail.php?program_code=201001141500

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The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent research institute that examines the impact of immigration on the United States.