Open records request: Fulton County Sheriff - Re: Compliance OCGA 42-4-14

Photo: Fulton County Government.

The below email was sent (forwarded return mail rejected because of bad address on website) to the Fulton County Sheriff Feb 16, 2021 at 12:04 PM, Feb 16, 2021 after phone conversation with staffer. Sent to Pat.labat@ fulto. Also to Fulton Co. Attorney.

Note: We also sent open records requests to Gwinnett Sheriff and Cobb Sheriff.

Begin forwarded message:

From: “D.A. King” <D

Subject: open records request Re; OCGA 42-4-14

Date: February 16, 2021 at 11:25:23 AM EST

To: Patrick.Labat@ ful

Cc: steven.rosenbev, Dexter.Jenkin, Adam.Le, Derrick.Single

Fulton Co. Sheriff Patrick Labat. Photo: Ballotopedia

Sheriff Labat,

Please regard this email as my official request for copies of public records.

Please send me copies of any and all documents, emails, phone logs or any record, including ~~electrons~~ (electronic) records in your office pertaining to and or associated with any arrest, custody or incarceration of one Jesus Alvarez De La Rosa who the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper reports was booked into the Fulton Co. jail on (or about) Feb 15, 2021.

Please send me copies of any and all documents, emails, records, including electronic records, or phone logs pertaining to and or associated with any communication with federal immigration authorities in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) dealing with or associated with the arrest, booking and confinement of the subject named above. My request includes all records in your office relating to the state law (OCGA 42-4-14) that requires your office to use reasonable effort to determine the inmate’s nationality and verify immigration status and to report the inmate to U.S. DHS if he is determined to be an illegal alien.

Please include copies of any and all documents, queries, records, including electronic records, and logs related to communication between your office and the Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) dealing with the arrest process and or confinement of the above named subject.

I expect my request to be expanded.

Thank you in advance for a timely and relevant response.

As an informative courtesy, I paste below the entire code section OCGA 42-4-14.

D.A. King

Marietta, GA. 30066

O.C.G.A. § 42-4-14

Copy Citation

Current through the 2020 Regular Session of the General Assembly

GA – Official Code of Georgia Annotated
TITLE 42. PENAL INSTITUTIONS
CHAPTER 4. JAILS
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

42-4-14. “Illegal alien” defined; determination of nationality of person charged with felony and confined in a jail facility

(a) As used in this Code section, the term “illegal alien” means a person who is verified by the federal government to be present in the United States in violation of federal immigration law.

(b) When any person is confined, for any period, in the jail of a county or municipality or a jail operated by a regional jail authority in compliance with Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a reasonable effort shall be made to determine the nationality of the person so confined.

(c) When any foreign national is confined, for any period, in a county or municipal jail, a reasonable effort shall be made to verify that such foreign national has been lawfully admitted to the United States and if lawfully admitted, that such lawful status has not expired. If verification of lawful status cannot be made from documents in the possession of the foreign national, verification shall be made within 48 hours through a query to the Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) of the United States Department of Homeland Security or other office or agency designated by the federal government. If the foreign national is determined to be an illegal alien, the keeper of the jail or other officer shall notify the United States Department of Homeland Security, or other office or agency designated for notification by the federal government.

(d) Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to deny a person bond or from being released from confinement when such person is otherwise eligible for release; provided, however, that upon verification that any person confined in a jail is an illegal alien, such person may be detained, arrested, and transported as authorized by state and federal law.

(e) The Georgia Sheriffs Association shall prepare and issue guidelines and procedures used to comply with the provisions of this Code section.

History

Code 1981, § 42-4-14, enacted by Ga. L. 2006, p. 105, § 5/SB 529; Ga. L. 2008, p. 1137, § 4/SB 350; Ga. L. 2009, p. 8, § 42/SB 46; Ga. L. 2009, p. 970, § 2/HB 2; Ga. L. 2011, p. 794, § 13/HB 87.

___

I received the below response at 1:28 PM same day.

Dear D.A. King:

Thank you for submitting an Open Records Request to Fulton County, Georgia.

The County received your Open Records Act request dated February 16, 2021 and has assigned the reference number R001016-021621 for tracking purposes.

Record(s) Requested: Please regard this email as my official request for copies of public records. Please send me copies of any and all documents, emails, phone logs or any record, including electrons records in your office pertaining to and or associated with any arrest, custody or incarceration of one Jesus Alvarez De La Rosa who the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper reports was booked into the Fulton Co. jail on (or about) Feb 15, 2021. Please send me copies of any and all documents, emails, records, including electronic records, or phone logs pertaining to and or associated with any communication with federal immigration authorities in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) dealing with or associated with the arrest, booking and confinement of the subject named above. My request includes all records in your office relating to the state law (OCGA 42-4-14) that requires your office to use reasonable effort to determine the inmate’s nationality and verify immigration status and to report the inmate to U.S. DHS if he is determined to be an illegal alien. Please include copies of any and all documents, queries, records, including electronic records, and logs related to communication between your office and the Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) dealing with the arrest process and or confinement of the above named subject. I expect my request to be expanded. Thank you in advance for a timely and relevant response.

We will send out the request to the appropriate department(s). If you should have any questions or concerns about the requested documents, please feel free to contact the Fulton County Open Records team. If there should be a cost associated with the Open Records Request we will contact you in a timely manner.

Fulton County has a new Open Records Center that allows you to submit and track Open Records Act requests. Please visit the link below to monitor request progress and submit future requests.

Open Records Center

Fulton County Open Records

I support the police.
All lives matter.

—>UPDATE: The liberal AJC prints a lengthy correction after demand letter from the Dustin Inman Society. More news on this coming soon.

__________

Daily Signal News report (‘DEFAMATORY’: Conservative Demands Swing-State Newspaper Retract ‘Hate Group’ Smear’)
on the recent AJC attack here by the great Tyler O’Neil.

_______

I added educational hyperlinks to the below letter – dak.

_______

October 18, 2024

VIA U.S. REGULAR MAIL & E-MAIL

Leroy Chapman, Jr., Editor in Chief THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION 223 Perimeter Center Pkwy NE Atlanta, Georgia 30346

Re: Demand for Retraction and Apology

Dear Mr. Chapman, Jr.:

I write on behalf of my client, the Dustin Inman Society (DIS), to demand an immediate retraction and apology for the defamatory statements published in your October 7, 2024, article titled “Democrats in this Georgia district are backing a write-in candidate” by Tia Mitchell.

Through use of internet links, the AJC article wrongfully characterizes the Dustin Inman Society as a “Marietta-based anti-immigration hate group.” This characterization is false, defamatory, and published with actual malice. The Dustin Inman Society pushes for secure borders, is not “anti-immigration” and its proprietors do not hate anyone. Rather, DIS advocates for enforcement of U.S. immigration laws and actively opposes unlawful immigration. This distinction is crucial and well-known to staff at your publication.

I paste the offending paragraph from the AJC story:

“A search of activity under her birth name, Karen Sacandy, which Stamper legally changed in 2019, showed that she previously was aligned with a Marietta-based anti-immigration hate group. The group’s website often linked to Sacandy’s activities, like a letter seeking information about the state’s Immigration Enforcement Review Board and a copy of a letter to the editor supporting legislation to prevent immigrants claiming asylum from obtaining driver’s licenses.”

HEMMER WESSELS MCMURTRY PLLC
250 Grandview Drive, Suite 500, Ft. Mitchell, KY 41017 ● Phone 859.344.1188 ● Fax 859.578.3869

October 18, 2024 Page 2

We note the AJC informs readers that the Dustin Inman Society “often” linked to Karen Sacandy/Kate Stamper activities — but produces only two occasions.

Your story, for which DIS founder and president D.A. King was not contacted, informs readers that Sacandy/Stamper “was aligned” with the Dustin Inman Society. We note that polls show that a majority of Americans oppose the federal offense of illegal immigration. Since the letter posted on the DIS site was a published missive to the editor at the Cherokee Tribune, we must ask: does this make that newspaper a “Cherokee County-based anti-immigration hate group”?

Your characterization demonstrates a reckless and vindictive disregard for the truth, rising to the level of actual malice as defined in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. Actual malice in defamation law refers to publication of a statement with knowledge that it is false or with reckless disregard of whether it is false or not. Your repeated mischaracterization of the Dustin Inman Society, despite having been corrected on numerous occasions, clearly meets this standard.

The Dustin Inman Society’s position on immigration is clear and public:

1. It supports sustainable levels of legal immigration through established channels.

2. It opposes unlawful immigration due to various societal concerns, including: – Strain on public resources and services
– Potential and real public safety issues
– Economic impacts on low-wage American workers and America’s poor

– Challenges to the rule of law

3. The Dustin Inman Society defends legal immigrants when media attempt to blur the difference between them and illegal aliens.

Moreover, the Dustin Inman Society’s board includes lawful immigrants who have navigated the proper channels for authorized immigration. This fact alone should dispel any notion that the organization is “anti-immigration.” As he has informed you multiple times over much of the last two decades, D.A. King’s sister is a real, legal immigrant.

While we acknowledge that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the Dustin Inman Society as an “anti-immigrant hate group that denigrates all immigrants,” your article presents the “anti-immigration hate group” characterization as the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s independent assessment and statement of fact.

This smear is not only demonstrably false and ignores Mr. King’s many communications to you advising you of the truth, but also demonstrates an exceedingly unprofessional failure to fact-check and verify information before publication.

We demand that the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

October 18, 2024 Page 3

1. Immediately publicly retract the defaming statement in the October 7, 2024, article.

2. Publish a prominent apology, equal in visibility and placement to the original defamatory article.

3. Cease and desist from further defamatory characterizations of the Dustin Inman Society.

Failure to comply with these demands may result in further legal action. We expect your prompt attention to this matter and await your timely response.

Sincerely,

Todd V. McMurtry

cc: James Abely, Esq.