Georgia’s GOP
Governor Helps Illegals By Giving Them Drivers’ Licenses
Officials in the Republican-controlled state of Georgia have quietly agreed to provide drivers’ licenses to a group of illegals who have already lost court pleas against deportation.
The
plaintiffs, most of whom are unnamed in court documents, are due for
deportation but are appealing to the courts for permission to stay. Pending any
final legal decision — which could be years away — the illegals can now use
their Georgia drivers licenses and ID cards to accept lower wages for jobs
sought by Georgians and to blend into the mainstream of American life.
In May and June of 2016, under the new policy, Georgia officials working
for Gov. Nathan Deal quietly issued 2,753 drivers licenses to “immigrants” who
do not have legal status. That’s an increase above the 1,872 licenses that were
issued between January and May. In addition, the GOP-run state has agreed to
pay their lawyers’ bills of
$35,000.
President
Barack Obama’s deputies have already issued these illegals with work permits
and Social Security numbers while their years-long appeal is pending.
The
Georgia decision is one of several ways in which business-backed illegals are
getting drivers’ licenses in Georgia. In general, companies want illegals to
get drivers’ licenses because that helps the low-wage illegals drive down wages
for Americans. Many Republicans rationalize their support for illegals by
saying it will eventually add votes for GOP candidates.
The
state’s population of 10 million includes roughly 400,000 illegal aliens, who
comprise almost one-in-twenty of the population. Nationally, Georgia ranks
seventh among states in its population of illegal aliens, coming just behind
Arizona. For the moment, all statewide constitutional offices in Georgia
are held by Republicans.
Obama’s
2012 “DACA” quasi-amnesty for younger illegal immigrants opened a legal
loophole and allowed many to get drivers’ licenses. Officials deny
it when asked by state legislators and the public, but the state’s Department of Drivers
Services has been issuing both documents to illegal aliens with DACA status
since 2012.
The
latest group of illegal aliens to get licenses are not part of the DACA group.
But they’re in a category of illegals that were being issued the state’s
“secure ID documents” until 2015. That’s when public awareness and pressure for
a policy change in Georgia blocked that method of providing licenses to
illegals. The court settlement has reinstated this practice of giving drivers
licenses to this sub-set of non-DACA illegals.
The
drivers’ licenses also allow the illegals to gain many advantages reserved for
citizens and legal immigrants, so reducing the economic and social pressure to
leave the country. For example, in Georgia law, a drivers license and official
state ID card are regarded as “Secure
and Verifiable ID” and can be used as proof of eligibility for many public benefits,
including unemployment benefits.
While
it is illegal for illegals to vote, many illegal aliens with a drivers license
have been discovered to have used their drivers licenses to register to vote,
including, as Breitbart has
reported, in
North Carolina. Non-citizens illegally voting in American elections is well
documented.
The
Georgia public strongly opposes the distribution of licenses to illegals — but
the GOP governor, many GOP and Democratic legislators and most business groups
want the illegals to have licenses.
In
2015, conservative state Senator Josh McKoon sponsored
legislation
to update language of the law to stop any illegal from obtaining a drivers
license. But GOP leaders in the capitol blocked the bill.
The
bill was redrafted in 2016 to require that the drivers licenses and official ID
cards given to illegals actually look very different from normal
documents. Currently Republican Georgia is issuing
illegal aliens the identical drivers licenses and official state ID cards given
to non-citizens with legal status, including invited Mercedes
Benz executives
who are in the state with temporary visas.
McKoon’s
necessarily weakened bill passed the GOP state Senate by a two-thirds majority
but expired when it was denied any hearing in the GOP House run by the
Chamber-of-Commerce-friendly Republican Speaker, David Ralston.
This
writer filed an official open records request earlier this year with DDS asking
the final cost of issuing a Georgia drivers license. The response was that
there was no breakdown of that cost
In
reply to another open records request, DDS did report that as of mid-2015
Georgia had issued more than 15,000 illegal aliens a drivers license or
official ID card, or both. Georgia’s governor, who appoints the DDS
commissioners, has remained silent on the unknown cost of the entire process to
Georgia taxpayers.
No comments:
Post a Comment