Georgia Sec of State Office recommended the passage of bills to abolish legal immigration scrutiny

opinion

Governor Kemp should veto anti-enforcement laws

Written by DA King

In Georgia, the Secretariat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs manages professional licenses.

Conservative voters should wonder why Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office followed suit on a recommendation that at least three anti-enforcement laws “pass as written”.

In a recent essay, we asked if Governor Brian Kemp will sign several GOP laws that will dissolve the existing system to verify the “legal presence” of foreigners applying for a professional license. We now have more information.

Tom Homan, former acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) urges Georgians to contact Governor Brian Kemp in February 2020.

The story so far

In short, state law of 2006 requires applicants for public benefits – including professional licenses – to go through a screening process designed to prevent illegal aliens from accessing those benefits. Three bills (that we know of) were passed in the 2021 General Assembly that put Georgia in intergovernmental treaties containing standardized, mutual licensing standards that appear to remove the verification process from the Georgian system. We asked the management of the legislature to challenge our analysis. Nobody did.

Washington’s prestigious Center for Immigration Studies the story picked up

The bills we know and their respective professions (and corresponding Gold Dome lobbyists) are HB 34: Audiologist and speech pathologist, HB 268: Occupational therapists and HB 395: professional consultants. All Republicans sponsored. Our original post has the details.

We have heard scornful criticism of our opposition to the dismantling of the verification system, which includes the dismissive rhetorical question, “How many illegal aliens will occupy these positions …?” The answer is we don’t know. And that’s the point.

We know the answer will be zero if the current law is upheld and actually enforced.

According to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute Anti-Enforcement Institute, there are more illegal aliens living in Georgia than green card holders. We’re trying to reduce that number. We hope readers will agree that Republican lawmakers and Governor Kemp should take the same stance. It is not you.

We know, if the usual suspects are allowed to enact this law, that other laws will be passed next year that tacitly add to the list of “it’s okay if you’re here illegally” professions.

We learned that these three bills were under review by the obscure Georgia Occupational Regulation Review Council and that the GORRC’s recommendation was to pass the bills as written. It is important to reiterate that the Georgia Chamber of Commerce has also pushed for this law to be passed.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Photo: WABE-News

According to the Council’s recommendation on any bill, “there is a recognizable potential for harm to Georgians if they fail to enter into the (intergovernmental pact) …” We disagree. The damage is caused by the fact that illegal aliens are allowed to obtain professional licenses in Georgia because they have already done so in other states.

The recommendation also makes it clear that “in the course of the review, the Council’s staff obtained information from the applicant group … and the State Secretary while also conducting internal research”. We doubt that Conservative voters would want a foreign minister to do this.

Who is on the council? Here is a screenshot from the GORRC.

We sent two questions to the SoS office and confirmed receipt, but received no answer.

Governor Brian Kemp should veto these bills. His office number is 404-656-1776. Silence is consent.

Part 1, here

A version of this essay was originally published on ImmigrationPoliticsGA.com

DA King is president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society and a nationally recognized authority on illegal immigration. He assisted in the creation and implementation of Georgia’s public welfare laws.

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