Illegal immigration foe says blame government, those who employ illegal aliens

When people want to assign blame for America's illegal immigration problem, "I urge you -- blame the alien last," said D.A. King, speaking to the Coweta Tea Party Tuesday night.

First, blame the government, King said. Then blame the people who employ illegal immigrants.

King is president of the Cobb County-based Dustin Inman Society, which seeks to end illegal immigration, illegal employment, and the granting of public benefits and services to illegals through the enforcement of existing laws.

"When you want to blame somebody, blame your government. Let's be very, very clear on who is to blame," King said during his talk at The Carnegie in downtown Newnan. "We believe it is the federal government's duty ... to secure our borders."

Illegal immigration is caused by illegal employment, said King. "Blame the criminal employers who will go out of their way to save a buck or two to hire black-market labor, while 25 million Americans stand in the unemployment line," he said. "Anyone who would sell out their countrymen is trash."

Knowingly hiring an illegal immigrant has been a federal felony since 1986, King said, but "has been immoral forever."

For King and the Dustin Inman Society, the word "immigrant" should only be used to describe people who are in the country legally.

"Never be confused about the terms people will try to use," King said. "Immigration is sacred to this country and it is sacred to me. Immigration and immigrants should never be confused with illegal immigration and illegal aliens."

"If you don't remember anything else I say, remember this -- each and every time somebody really means 'illegal alien' and they use the word 'immigrant' -- it is an insult to immigration, an insult to my grandparents, an insult to the rule of law, and an insult to real immigrants."

King said that one of the best things people concerned about illegal immigration can do is write letters to the editor. "Few people realize how effective and powerful a tool that a simple letter to the editor of your local newspaper is," he said.

He also urged people to visit the Georgia Capitol when the General Assembly is in session.

But when people do that, they need to know what they're talking about.

"The people who encourage illegal immigration and profit from it -- they've learned all of their points," King said. "The first thing they will do is say, if you want our borders secured and you want to stop illegal immigration that you are anti-immigrant -- never, ever let that pass," King said. "What they have done is redefined a term and called you a name for simply saying that you want an equal application of the law."

Currently, the United States accepts more than a million "real, legal immigrants every year," King said. "I support sustainable, reasonable, regulated and legal immigration into the U.S."

Many times when illegal immigration is in the news, "what we are led to believe is that there are two choices. Either amnesty or, excuse me, 'comprehensive immigration reform' -- or putting everybody on a railroad car and getting them out of the country," King said.

"Those are false choices, given to you over and over and over again," he said.

"To make sure that you will never stop and think that it is the fundamental duty of the government to secure our borders, and that illegal immigrants and illegal employers have great fear of the law being enforced."

Neither amnesty nor deporting everybody is necessary, King said.

"The answer is attrition of the illegal population through enforcement of the law," King said.

"Illegal aliens will leave if we enforce the law," he said.

Illegal aliens started leaving Arizona two years ago when a law was passed, and more started leaving when Arizona's new, stricter law was signed this year.

The Georgia General Assembly passed the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act in 2006.

Illegal immigrants started leaving Georgia when that law was signed, but "stopped after they realized" there was no enforcement, King said.

The act had many provisions. One of the most important required "public employers," which means any government entity, and contractors and subcontractors working for public employers, to use the federal E-Verify system for new employees.

E-Verify is a free, Internet based system "which tells the employer, after he hires someone, if the newly-hired employee is eligible to work," King said.

Before contractors can bid on a job, they must sign affidavits saying they are using E-Verify, and give their E-Verify number and the date they became authorized to use the program.

Subcontractors are also supposed to use the system, and the local government is responsible for getting the affidavits, King said.

The law only applies to new hires -- not existing employees. As the law stands now, a contractor can start using E-Verify right before he submits a bid.

When the law was written "there were no penalties inserted in the law for people and entities who did not obey the law," King said.

King thinks the reason for that is the actions of some very powerful lobbies: the Association County Commissioners of Georgia -- ACCG, and the Georgia Municipal Association -- GMA.

ACCG and GMA are mostly funded by dues paid for by their member counties and cities -- dues paid with tax money, King said. ACCG also has "associate memberships," and many of those members are "the same contractors doing public contract work," King said.

"These people are responsible for the fact that we do not have a penalty in the Georgia law for local governments and state officials not obeying the law," King said.

Other "anti-enforcement" lobbies are chambers of commerce. "Please know the U.S. chamber, and almost every chamber locally, is just as dead set against it -- because their members don't want to pay more for labor, and it's just as simple as that," King said. "Follow the money."

"The reality is: if illegal immigration was hurting American business -- it would stop yesterday," King said.

House Bill 1164 was introduced in the 2010 session and would have put teeth in the law, but ACCG and GMA opposed the bill and were successful in killing it, King said. However, a small portion of it did become law as Senate Bill 447. That imposes penalties for contractors who don't follow the affidavit requirements, King said.

The society is hoping to get stronger laws passed in Georgia in the future.

King took questions from the audience and, in answering one, reminded those in attendance that "you can't tell if someone is illegal by looking at them."

There are many legal immigrants, and the majority of the legal immigrants who come to the U.S. each year are from Mexico, King said.

"It is never a good idea to pre-judge people," King said.

But if you are having workers come onto your property, "you certainly have the right... to ask for some ID," King said. "And if someone cannot produce either a Georgia Driver's License or a Georgia state issued ID card, it is a very good indicator" that they are not here legally, King said.

Anyone who is in the country legally has access to Georgia and U.S.-issued forms of identification, King said.

"If someone shows you a consular ID from Mexico or New Zealand... the chances of them being here lawfully are very, very slim," King said

Source - http://www.times-herald.com/local/Illegal-immigration-foe-says-blame-government--those-who-employ-aliens-1340403