* Update: Americans get a break! The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Title 42 public health order will remain in effect. The open borders crowd is not happy.

* Most voters support Title 42.

_____

DHS Plan for Expected Border Surge:

Pre-Legalize Migrants Before They Get to the Border

Center for Immigration Studies

CIS revealed the fast-expanding, legally questionable program in November

By Todd Bensman on December 15, 2022

AUSTIN, Texas — Maybe to help America more easily absorb the shock of the arrival of as many as 18,000 illegal border-crossers a day expected when Title 42 is lifted December 21, Biden’s Department of Homeland Security has issued a public memo describing its unprecedented preparations.

Buried deep within DHS’s “Update on Southwest Border Security and Preparedness Ahead of Court-Ordered Lifting of Title 42” is a “6-pillar” plan that includes expansion of a highly unusual and legally questionable operation wherein Mexican authorities hand off immigrants directly to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at ports of entry all along the southern border. These migrants are already tentatively approved while inside Mexico and set up for quick U.S. work authorization after they are hand-delivered to CBP inside port buildings and admitted into the nation. (My colleague Andrew Arthur has addressed a different aspect of the memo.)

There is no name for this port hand-off operation, which a November Center for Immigration Studies report revealed at length in Mexicali, Mexico, and no major American media outlet has reported its existence. Until confirming it now as “Pillar 2” of the new plan, DHS had never previously announced or advertised it.

But “Pillar 2” calls for DHS to expand the use of these port hand-off operations to “mitigate potential overcrowding” in border towns of the sort that drew intense negative international media coverage in September 2021 when 17,000 mostly Haitians suddenly formed a vast, fetid encampment under the international bridge in Del Rio, Texas.

The new DHS document document describes the initiative this way:

CBP also developed capability within the CBP One mobile application to support advanced information submission and appointment scheduling at Ports of Entry (POEs) by noncitizens. This lawful process will increase the capacity of CBP to process intending asylum seekers at POEs after the lifting of the Title 42 public health order.

See the CIS written and video reports in “Legalizing Border Crossing for All: Next Up for the Biden Mass Migration Crisis”.

 

The Center for Immigration Studies gained unfettered access to one of these escort hand-off operations in Mexicali, Mexico, where municipal officials given U.S. passwords to access the CBP One portal twice a day input the names of 100 or so immigrants rather mysteriously chosen for U.S. “humanitarian parole” while still in Mexico. I interviewed the managers of four different shelters in Tijuana and Mexicali that were part of a rapidly expanding system of shelters feeding untold thousands of Mexicans, Hondurans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Russians, Afghans, Africans, and others into the port hand-offs.

Helping the applicants to quickly assemble U.S.-required documentation were international non-governmental organizations of all stripes, American immigration lawyers and law students, psychologists, and the UN’s International Organization for Migration.

Much of the DHS document comes across as raw political posturing (“DHS has effectively managed” the border”), blame-deflection for administration policies that triggered the historic mass migration crisis, and message-framing for the coming onslaught. The management plan it entails seems designed mainly to prevent the kind of political damage that the re-appearance of something similar to last fall’s overcrowded Del Rio migrant encampments would cause if they are not prevented by every possible means — with DHS blaming smugglers who spread disinformation amid global instability fueling the highest levels of mass migration since World War II.

One of the port hand-off operation’s side benefits in the service of these political considerations, of course, is that news drones flying overhead can’t record it happening inside closed shelters and government buildings. Also, none of the thousands who get admitted at ports of entry will be included in the politically problematic statistics of Border Patrol “encounters” of illegal border-crossers because, technically, they have been “legalized” to cross at ports of entry before they even get to the border.

More problematic for the Biden administration in the political calculus of the coming border management challenge is the fact that the memo now confirms it is counting on the escort-hand-off operation to “mitigate overcrowding”, even as experts question the legality of doling out “humanitarian parole” status on a mass scale. That comes from the administration’s creative interpretation of an authority granted in the Immigration and Nationality Act, but only on a narrow case-by-case basis.

”Humanitarian paroles are not supposed to be handed out in mass numbers to large categories of immigrants,” said CIS Director of Regulatory Affairs and Policy Elizabeth Jacobs, a former U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official, when the escort hand-off program was uncovered by CIS in November.

“Humanitarian parole was never intended to be used this way,” Jacobs said. “If these accounts are true, the United States government is acting directly in conflict with the limits and procedures established under federal law…. read the rest here from CIS.org.

 

Click on page to view document:

 

Here

“Per O.C.G.A. 16-11-66, you can record a telephone conversation in Georgia if you are a party to the conversation (on the phone). The recording will typically be admissible evidence at any hearing or trial.” Here.

_____

 

On October 24, 2022 around 10:15 AM I took a surprise phone call from Mr. Avery Jackson (a Carroll County attorney) and staffers who wanted to explain changes that had been made in their business license issuing system and to get my acknowledgement that they were now in compliance with state law. I was busy when they called and quickly asked them to call back in five minutes. The below is audio of the return call. That call was about 34 minutes total. Below that is a professional transcription.

Carroll County call to me Re: Changes in system Oct 24, 2022 1043 AM

 

Part 1

Part 2

Transcription by Rev.com – cost to me: $74.00

Begin call:

“D.A. King:

“D.A…”

Avery Jackson:

Hi Mr. King. It’s Avery Jackson. Is now a good time?

D.A. King:

It, it, it is. I’m sorry. I w- I was not in my office, and, or organized. So yes, sir, I am here now. How can I help you?

Avery Jackson:

Oh, okay, good. I’m, I’m gonna conference in, uh… me, me and you have talked before. I’m the, uh, county attorney for, uh, Carroll County. Or, one of the two. I think you’ve also talked to my law partner, Stacey Blackman. But I wanted to connect, uh, you with, uh, Ben Skipper and Janet Hyde at the community development department, so we could just talk through… I know you have some open records requests. And there’s some other issues, and I just want us all to be on the same page and see how we can get these things resolved.

D.A. King:

Okay, uh… are, are you the same attorney I spoke to one time, uh, in, in the winter about checking with Cobb County to make sure you, you had an example of how to get the affidavits correct?

Avery Jackson:

Uh, we did talk about Cobb County-

D.A. King:

Okay.

Avery Jackson:

… when we spoke before. Um, and, uh, I understand that, uh, that they were doing it, uh, one, one way, and we were… but that there, there may be another way to do it too. Um, and, uh… so Mr. King, I got, uh, I just connected us to Ben Skipper and Janet Hyde so that they could be a part of the conversation and we can kind of see where we need to go from here. Ben and Janet, are y’all on the phone?

Ben Skipper:

We’re here.

Janet Hyde:

We’re here. Hello.

Avery Jackson:

Okay. Um-

Ben Skipper:

Good morning, Mr. King.

D.A. King:

Good morning, everybody.

Ben Skipper:

Good morning. Yeah, let’s, let’s make sure we got this right.

Avery Jackson:

Um, so, I think, uh, and Janet, you correct me if I’m wrong, but Janet has gotten the affidavit from the, uh, the form that the Attorney General’s office has, and has replaced the affidavit that Carroll County was using with the form that the Attorney General office, uh, has prepared. Is that correct, Janet?

Janet Hyde:

That is correct, yes.

Avery Jackson:

Okay. Um, and I guess, and Mr, King, I’m looking… I wanna know if that… if you think that, at least on that particular issue of the affidavit, uh, resolves that if we’re using that form that the Attorney General’s office has provided?

D.A. King:

Okay. The AG’s office was directed by law to create the affidavit for E-Verify, I, I have, I designed it myself. So is that the affidavit you’re talking about? So that the applicant swears to use of the E-Verify system, provides their unique user number and their date that they, um, had the agreement effective? It… are you talking about the E-Verify affidavit?

Janet Hyde:

Um, hang on one second let me go get it.

Avery Jackson:

Uh, so, so you’re the expert then. You created the form so you know exactly what it’s gonna say, (laughs).

D.A. King:

Yeah. And well, believe me. I, I wish I wasn’t.

Avery Jackson:

(laughs). Uh, well Janet I guess is going to get a copy of that, so she can tell you exactly what it says, and which one we’re, we’re using. We can make sure we’re… we are using that correct form.

D.A. King:

Okay. Sometimes you guys, sometimes it helps to understand why things were done, to understand w- why, why the rules are there. What we, what we did originally, is we said, “Okay, we want everybody to swear on an affidavit X Y and Z.” And then a bunch of counties, including ACCG reps told us, “Well, we don’t understand exactly the law.” So we simplified it, we thought, and we standardized the affidavit so the… some little county in South Georgia wasn’t using a different affidavit, um, than a county in Metro Atlanta. invariably, they wouldn’t be the same and they would, they would get it wrong on what the required information was. So, there is a standardized affidavit for each of the three, um, benefits or, or parts of the benefits that people apply for to get a public benefit, uh, including the, the, uh, E-Verify benefit.

So, what we’re trying to do in, in simpler terms was to make sure that somebody in the country illegally has a much di- more difficult time getting a business license, beating on a job with a public employer, in example, Carroll County or, or even working for a contractor who’s working on a public job. Our goal was to simply try to make sure only legal residents have the benefit of all of those advancements in Georgia.

Avery Jackson:

Got it. And that makes perfect sense, uh-

D.A. King:

We thought.

Avery Jackson:

… and I think for-

D.A. King:

(laughs).

Avery Jackson:

Right, (laughs). And I, and I think that, uh, yeah, we wanna make sure we’re complying. I think we fall in that category where I guess we were using a… the non-standardized affidavit and, um, and so we’re… I think we’re moving to use the, the standard affidavit.

D.A. King:

Well that’s, that’s good news. Um, I w- I was curious, before I forget. And I won’t interrupt again, but I’m curious there were on the… when I first started checking on the system there were dates in there. Like, one of them was as off… or as off Ja- January 2013. And then the next time, I looked at a different place at the same time on, on the Carroll County website and there was an affidavit with an effective date where the applicant was swearing to X,Y or Z as of January 2020. Does anybody… is that just a fact that somebody put in a date by mistake and it never got changed? Does anybody know how that happened? And again, you don’t owe me an explanation I was just curious?

Avery Jackson:

I, I believe that the… yes, the, the date just… it was just, uh, ei- either a typo or just never got updated when the year rolled over to the next year.

D.A. King:

Okay, so-

Avery Jackson:

[inaudible 00:06:43].

D.A. King:

I, I, I… if… uh, I can’t tell you on the phone exactly what’s going on without seeing the website. So I’m trying to talk and get on your website at the same time, and I’m not sure I’m smart enough for that, but…

Avery Jackson:

But Jan- Janet, you have that affidavit that we’re now using?

Janet Hyde:

I, I do. I have it right in front of me. Uh, it talks of Private Employer Affidavit Pursuant to O.C.G.A 36-60-6 (d). And then it says, “By executing this affidavit under oath the undersigned private employer verifies one of the following with respect to its applications for a business license, occupational tax certificate, or other document required to operate a business as referenced in reference to the, uh, [inaudible 00:07:26] law. And then it’s got a section one, please check only one. On January 1st, of the below-signed year, the individual, firm, or occupa- or corporation employed more than 10 employees. Or, on January 1st of the below-signed year, the individual, firm, or corporation employed 10 or fewer employees.”

D.A. King:

Okay, a- a- and again-

Janet Hyde:

And it-

D.A. King:

Again, Ms. Hyde, I, I don’t wanna say, “Yeah that’s it,” without, without seeing it. Because I don’t honestly remember what the, what the… all the language in the, in the spaces are. But if, if… did you get it from the, did you get it from the Attorney General’s website?

Ben Skipper:

It’s on the site.

Janet Hyde:

This is the one that came from the Attorney General’s website, yes.

D.A. King:

Okay.

Avery Jackson:

And Janet can we, can we email that to Mr. King, so ho he can look at it and respond to us, or?

Janet Hyde:

Yes, I can do that.

Avery Jackson:

Okay. Perfect. So we’ll… Uh, Mr. King we’ll email you a copy of that so you can look at it and let us know if… make sure we’re… we are using the correct form that we’re, we’re supposed to.

D.A. King:

Okay.

Avery Jackson:

Yeah.

D.A. King:

Are you, are you… like, are you… I say, I say email it now while we’re speaking?

Avery Jackson:

Um, uh, can, can you do that, Janet?

Ben Skipper:

Yeah.

Janet Hyde:

Yeah, let me get it done.

Avery Jackson:

Okay. Yeah, she can do that. Uh, and I guess while she’s doing that, um, is there anything else that if we’re… a- assuming we’re using the correct affidavit now, which hopefully you’ll be able to let us know, uh, is there anything else that we… you think we need to do or other issues that you have concerns about?

D.A. King:

Um, I- I’m trying to remember, just, just so you’ll know I personally have nearly 40 hours in this little self-appointed audit of the Carroll County system, be- because it took me a great deal of time to check and re-check. So, I d- I did that so that I would be accurate, and I don’t wanna tell you something wrong while I’m just scrolling through here. I can tell you how it looks or I can tell you tomorrow but I don’t wanna give you a definitive answer right now on the-

Avery Jackson:

Sure.

D.A. King:

… phone because-

Avery Jackson:

Yep.

D.A. King:

… I don’t.

Avery Jackson:

Yeah. No, no, I’m… I don’t mean to put you on the spot and tell you out of the blue to do that. So no, uh, a- absolutely. I just wanted to make the connection with you and, and see if we can, with Ben and Janet, and see if we can just all put our heads together. And since you are the expert, you can let us know the issues or concerns as you see them and then we can try to, uh, try to address, address those. [inaudible 00:10:02].

D.A. King:

Okay, let’s, let’s do this before I forget. Because well, on the phone last winter I, I, I remember the phone call vividly because I couldn’t keep straight in my head Carrollton City of and Carroll County, um, ’cause I had spoke to people-

Avery Jackson:

Yeah.

D.A. King:

… to, to… in multiple places. And, and I [inaudible 00:10:21]. But I remember the phone call when I was taking a walk with my wife and I suggested, “Take a look at Cobb County and do it the way they do it.” And what you- what you’re remembering is I told you that they are going over and above what the law requires but the- they’re, they’re diligence insures that they will not ever get it wrong. And it, and it goes like this. The law is a, is a minimum statement. The law doesn’t say, “You cant’ do more to ensure that people in the country illegally don’t get X,Y or Z.” But the law says, “Here’s the minimum.” What Cobb County does is they require… Every time I, for example r- renew my business license, I have to check the affidavit box that I’m eligible for that particular public benefit.

Even though I’m a US citizen. So, people get kind of upset when they have to do that but quite frankly i- it takes any, any possibility of violation off of your office. Because the law says that once I have proven to my business license department that I am a US citizen I don’t have to continually prove that every year upon renewal, because the chances of me losing my citizenship are very, very slim. In my case they are zero, but if I was a naturalized American, it is possible to lose that naturalization, um, status. You, you… are you with me?

Avery Jackson:

I, I think so, Ben are you?

Ben Skipper:

Yeah, we’re, we’re listening.

D.A. King:

Oh, oh, okay. So, if you do it the way Cobb County’s doing it, you would require the, the applicant for renewal, for example on this benefit of a, of a business license, to fill out the affidavit, every year. That is not required by the law. The law says, once I… once the applicant has proven to you or sworn to you that he is a US citizen, when he comes back next year he does not have to do that again. It doesn’t mean you can’t ask him to do it again, but it, it removes that variable from d- do we have to do this paperwork and can we keep track of Joe Smith status from last year?

Now, you, you have a relatively small amount of, of business licenses compared to Cobb County so, you know, it makes it easier on both ends. But that’s up to you. I just wanted you to know what I… why I was mentioning Cobb County, uh, last year and that was what I just described. And I know it’s confusing, honest.

Avery Jackson:

Yeah no I, I think I understand that and I think what, what a- at least, uh, my understanding is that, like you said, some people do get upset when like they are a US citizen and they have to fill out that every year and they don’t understand why they have to, to do that. Um, a- and that can make them mad. So I think our, our thoughts were that we wanted to comply with the law, uh, but not, uh, necessarily go as far as Cobb County does, unless we felt that we were missing people where there would be an issue but as you said, we, we have such a small amount of business license compared to Cobb County. Our thought was that we could track, uh, if anybody was, uh, uh… i- if there were a potential issue where they needed to renew or sign that every year that would attract those particular cases or instances.

D.A. King:

Well, that- that’s up to you. As long as I made… as long as I explained that again, you know. Again, your… certainly, your choice.

Avery Jackson:

Yeah.

D.A. King:

But by, by doing it the Cobb County way there’s never going to be a, a possibility of going out of compliance, so.

Avery Jackson:

Yes. And, and it may be that we need to do that, you know in the future we can look at it again and see, uh, because you’re… I mean, you are right that’s the way to ensure that you don’t miss anybody, uh.

D.A. King:

Okay, so right now I’m, I’m talking to you and I’m trying to go online and find… I guess I can get onto my own website. (laughs). I’m trying to find the AG-

Ben Skipper:

[inaudible 00:14:56].

D.A. King:

I’m sorry?

Ben Skipper:

We, we, we emailed you the… what we’re using.

D.A. King:

Ye- yes sir, I- I’m looking at it.

Ben Skipper:

Yeah.

D.A. King:

But you see, I need to compare it to what I see on the website to get-

Ben Skipper:

Oh, you’re-

D.A. King:

On the AG website to give you an-

Ben Skipper:

[inaudible 00:15:07].

D.A. King:

… to give you an answer.

Ben Skipper:

Oh yeah, well. Well, I, I think all parties here we’re interested in doing it correct, (laughs).

D.A. King:

Um, so again you just have to excuse me until I find this. And I don’t-

Avery Jackson:

Yeah, no, that’s fine. [inaudible 00:15:24]. Take your time.

D.A. King:

I don’t do… I don’t know why I’m having such a difficult time finding it right now, but… Georgia AG affidavit. Hmm.

Avery Jackson:

And sorry to call you up out of the blue, we were just all looking at this, this morning and trying to make sure that we had the right one and that we’re getting in compliance and we said, “Well, why don’t we just call up Mr. King today, (laughs)? He’s the, he’s the expert and he can, uh, let us know so we can make sure, (laughs).”

D.A. King:

You guys know that you’re supposed to file a report ever year, uh, affectively saying “We’re in compliance with the law”, right?

Avery Jackson:

The [inaudible 00:00:17] verify law?

D.A. King:

Um… the, uh… 531, the- the- the save, the public benefits part of it. I know we have that in there.

Avery Jackson:

Okay. I did-

D.A. King:

But-

Avery Jackson:

… I did, but [inaudible 00:00:34]-

D.A. King:

Ple- ple- please remember that I- I- I worked with this for years and years and years, but I have not worked with it in years and years and years. So I don’t like giving definitive answers to questions unless I can see exactly what we did. Um…

Avery Jackson:

Sure. I guess what-… so what we do is that every year HR sends out a request, uh, because there- there is a, um… uh… a report that they send out every year about being verified and stuff and, uh, Ben, your office sends in that information to HR who then reports it, is that correct?

Ben Skipper:

Right.

Avery Jackson:

So we believe that we are taking that correct step every year.

D.A. King:

Hmm. Okay, I’m looking at an affidavit on the attorney general’s website. And it doesn’t fit my memory, and it doesn’t fit what you just sent me, I don’t think.

Speaker 4:

Avery, this is what Stacey sent me and she said it was from the AG’s website, so…

D.A. King:

Yes ma’am. Yes ma’am. Right- right now… I just clicked on the same link twice and got a different… this is really wild y’all. You-… I- I hate that you guys have to listen to me talk to myself. But, um… I’m gonna mail this back to Miss Hide.

Speaker 4:

Yes.

D.A. King:

I’m- I’m just gonna put here A-

Speaker 4:

I’m sorry, that was [inaudible 00:02:16].

D.A. King:

… A G, so I- I- I think we’re- I think we’re looking at the same affidavit. But just so you’ll know, I clicked on the link a minute ago and I got an unfamiliar affidavit. I clicked on it a third time, unless I am crazier than I thought this morning, I’m getting something different.

Avery Jackson:

(laughs)

D.A. King:

I’m not kidding. So anyway, the affidavit that popped up just now, I- I think, is the same affidavit that you sent me via email.

Avery Jackson:

Okay.

D.A. King:

I just sent it to Miss Hide so… it- it looks the same to me, yes.

Avery Jackson:

Okay. And so, uh… Janet’s gonna put that or has put that on the website already, so that’s the affidavit that we’re using and will be using going forward. Um… let’s see. And, uh, is there any other issues or concerns? And again, I- I don’t wanna put you on the spot. So if you think of anything, uh… you know, we can have another call later this week or- or something if we need to. Uh, but I just wanted to see if there’s any other issues or concerns, um, that, uh, that you had or- or…

D.A. King:

Uh, I- I-

Avery Jackson:

I appreciate the- the information about Cobb County and-… but if there’s any other [inaudible 00:03:43]-

D.A. King:

Okay, no, all right, I understand. So here-… I- I don’t- I don’t remember, again, you can’t believe the amount of scrutiny I- I’ve put into this, ’cause I don’t wanna put my name on a- a- a 1200 word article in your paper and be wrong. And I-… it-… there’s not a sent-… there’s not a word in there that is not accurate, and I’m very proud of that.

Avery Jackson:

Right.

D.A. King:

So…

Avery Jackson:

Right.

D.A. King:

I don’t wanna- I don’t wanna start now with a- with a phone call. But I wanna be sure-

Avery Jackson:

No.

D.A. King:

… I don’t remember if you’re collecting the secure and verifiable ID documents?

Avery Jackson:

Okay.

D.A. King:

Are you?

Avery Jackson:

Ben?

Ben Skipper:

What- what [inaudible 00:04:22] when you say that, that we’re collecting the-

D.A. King:

Okay.

Ben Skipper:

Are you talking about their driver’s license?

D.A. King:

Well, it could be a driver’s license. Yes. There’s a whole list. We- we- we- we decided-

Ben Skipper:

Well yes, we get- we get that-

D.A. King:

You are- you are doing it?

Ben Skipper:

… [inaudible 00:04:39] every business. Yes.

D.A. King:

Okay.

Ben Skipper:

I just didn’t understand the terminology [inaudible 00:04:48], so…

D.A. King:

Okay.

Ben Skipper:

Yeah.

Avery Jackson:

I guess because… and the reason it is is because the thing that we ask for is the driver’s license and that’s what everybody mostly has, right?

D.A. King:

Well, yeah. It’s-… that gets into a gray area. I’m not gonna confuse you with that right now. I’ll wait a minute for that. But I guess that, um… to [inaudible 00:05:08] address, secure and verifiable ID. Um… what did I send?

Speaker 4:

I don’t [inaudible 00:05:17] this, so I’m not sure what the documents say Ben.

Ben Skipper:

Yeah. No [inaudible 00:05:20]-

D.A. King:

Okay, that’s- that’s what I’m trying to tell you. People can send you a- a variety-… copies of a variety of documents that the-… we gave the AG a lot of leeway in saying which documents were acceptable. And what we were trying to do is more be exclusive, like we did not want, um, people in the country illegally to send you an ID card they obtained from their home nations council. They called a matricula consular card. So we just excluded some documents. The AG is telling you what documents you can accept.

Avery Jackson:

Got it.

D.A. King:

So I- I- I can’t remember… I don’t think you-… I don’t- I don’t remember that I- that I noticed that you were collecting those documents previously. Find my way back to your website. So, if I- if I apply for… if I send in a request for open records for all the documents that X, Y, Z business filed for their business license last year, it would entail you sending back to me or anybody who asked, all of the documents would include their affidavit and a copy of their secure and verifiable ID. In your case, you’re using a driver’s license, that’s fine. Um… but you would- you would have to send me a- a redacted copy of their driver’s license. I’ve- I’ve done it in- in multiple places. Some people do it, some people don’t, but the law requires it.

Avery Jackson:

Right. Yeah.

D.A. King:

So-

Avery Jackson:

And- and Ben you-… and- and Ben, you think we are doing this? If- if somebody made that request we would have those driver’s license with the affidavit in the file?

Ben Skipper:

Uh…

Speaker 4:

[inaudible 00:07:37] you. Now you would-

Ben Skipper:

Okay, the new ones we always done this, and this is back to where what D.A.’s talking about on renewals. And I’m sitting here with Tina, one of the business license clerks, and she’s tell us that we are now requiring it on renewals too.

D.A. King:

Tha- that is-… that-

Ben Skipper:

[inaudible 00:07:58]. Where before, Avery, we-… what- what D.A.’s saying is what we did, was- was the state law. You come in, you fill it out one time, and you come back to renew, if there’s no changes we didn’t get anything. But Tina’s now telling me, now even on renewals we’re- we’re getting your driver’s license again. Or a passport or-

D.A. King:

Okay, yeah, that- that- that-

Ben Skipper:

… your- your, uh-

D.A. King:

… that- that- that sounds right. So the- the- the- the- the variable here, and I’m sorry to, uh, it’s hard for me to be very eloquent this morning. But you-… if I- if I qualify for a business license because I am here with a green card. I’m not a US citizen, but I’m here legally, okay? I-… you- you are supposed to ask me to prove that status with that affidavit and that ID every year. Because I can lose that- that lawful presence, quote unquote, that legal status. That can go away from one year to the other.

Ben Skipper:

And Tina’s shaking her head yes, she knows exactly what you’re talking about.

D.A. King:

All right, so-

Ben Skipper:

She’s saying that’s what she’s doing.

D.A. King:

You- you- you only required to make a US citizen prove that status one time in the same office for the same benefit. You know? But if somebody goes to, I don’t know if you have like a-… if you have the housing department, for example. A- anything out of the Carroll County Department of Community Development, if that same person goes and applies for a- a- a- a home loan or whatever’s outside of your-… you-… your office, then they have to start all over and- and prove their status again. It’s not the-… it’s not a county thing, it’s an office thing.

Ben Skipper:

Right.

D.A. King:

All right.

Ben Skipper:

Okay.

D.A. King:

Again, le- let me- let me say, I feel sorry for people who have to learn this. Uh, but… you know, it’s- it’s all done for a reason. It- it ma- it makes sense to us and we fought like tigers to get it through. Don’t care who else is listening, but ACCG and GMA, A, fought us every step of the way, and B, I think they’ve done an abysmal job of ensuring compliance and explaining this to people in- in a periodic, uh, format so that the n-… the- the new guy in- in whatever desk at whatever department has to- has to re-learn this all- all by themselves, without any guidance. So… you welcome to pass that on to those guys if you want to.

Avery Jackson:

(laughs). All right. Uh… so it sounds like we are using the- the Cobb County method now. Um… so, um… is there-… I’m just trying to think of through, is there anything, uh… and again, I’m not putting you on the spot. But, uh, and I wanted to, while we were talking about it this morning, just ask you and then if- if you think of anything later this week or reviewing your- your notes and information, uh, you know, we would be glad to- to talk with you a- again and see what we can get, uh, resolved. Um… but it, uh, hopefully… I guess if we’re using the correct affidavit now and we’re going above and beyond what the law-… the minimum law states and we’re getting the secure and verifiable, uh, documents and affidavit at renewal, um… is there anything else that you can think of off the top of your head today that, uh, that you think-

D.A. King:

I- I- I- I- I- I can’t, and I- I’m gonna use the caveat that just because I can’t right now doesn’t mean there isn’t one. But it doesn’t sound like it to me, no sir. So… when I asked for these open records requests in the last six weeks, however long it’s been, I never got anything have to do with secure and verifiable ID. So when you say “That’s what we’re doing”, are you saying you started collecting the secure and verifiable ID just very recently or that I didn’t get sent those- those copies?

Ben Skipper:

Very recently, is what Tina’s saying.

D.A. King:

All right. So you- you- you weren’t collec-

Ben Skipper:

[inaudible 00:12:18]-

D.A. King:

… you weren’t doing-

Ben Skipper:

… [inaudible 00:12:20] I guess what I’m saying, it is-… we’ve made a lot of changes since these things-… since we’ve been in communication, Mr. King, is that… we- we- we’ve made a lot of changes, we’ve changed the website, we’re changing what we’re doing upfront, trying to be in the law. So…

D.A. King:

We- we- well that’s good. Believe me, there’s- there’s-… I have other things to do. I’m 70 years old, I don’t want anybody to think I’m sitting around trying to put somebody, you know, on the spot. But I- I- I worked about 12 years of my life to get these laws into place and, um, I’m- I’m now trying to get them, you know, get some compliance. So I-… there’s- there’s no animosity on my end, but there is a lot of determination.

Avery Jackson:

Absolutely. And there’s none on our end either. We just wanna make sure we’re-… we- we make the appropriate changes and- and start, uh, uh, operating like, uh, like we should.

D.A. King:

All right. So has- has-… can I ask you? Has- has someb-… have you had an application process yet in which you are using the correct affidavits and collecting the secure and verifiable ID?

Ben Skipper:

Yes.

D.A. King:

All right. So I’m gonna do an open records request. That way I can- I can-… I’ve done my due diligence before and after. So I’ll do that and- and that’ll be great to get that information. Um… I’ll have to figure out what business to ask for or the la-… I’ll just ask for like the last five affidavits, try to make it easy on your end. But that will-… for me, that will close the book on this and I’ll- I’ll make sure I say as much.

Avery Jackson:

Okay. Uh… that sounds good sir. You’re gonna submit the open records request and then Ben will get the last five, uh, that we’ve done, um, and-

Ben Skipper:

[inaudible 00:14:11] all the new paperwork.

Avery Jackson:

Yeah.

D.A. King:

Yeah. So you can see what I’m looking for. I’m- I’m looking for, okay, I’ve seen ’em do it wrong and now I’ve seen ’em do it, um, in- in- in a way that complies with the law.

Ben Skipper:

I understand.

D.A. King:

Okay. So, are you going- are you going-

Ben Skipper:

[inaudible 00:14:27] all parties-

D.A. King:

I’m sorry?

Ben Skipper:

We- we- we can go ahead and do that Avery, you don’t have to-

Avery Jackson:

Yes.

Ben Skipper:

… send an email. We’re standing here talking so you don’t need to send me an email. So what I’m gonna do is- is when we get off the phone, I’ll have staff pull the last five and then we will send them to you.

D.A. King:

Okay, well-

Ben Skipper:

[inaudible 00:14:45]-

D.A. King:

… as long as you- you-

Ben Skipper:

[inaudible 00:14:46] you get something wrong, you just give us a call back on the phone and we’ll fix that.

D.A. King:

Okie dokie. Um… I was go- gonna say something, I forgot. Sorry. All right, well I’ll- I’ll- I’ll-… if it’s the last- if it’s the last [inaudible 00:15:00]-

Ben Skipper:

[inaudible 00:15:00] expert. (laughs)

D.A. King:

I’m sorry?

Ben Skipper:

Uh, like you said, you are an expert on this, so-… and we’re just trying to make sure we get it right.

D.A. King:

Okay. Um, if- if- if the last five entails, um, the business license and it has… well you-… okay, yeah, that’ll work.

Ben Skipper:

Yeah, we gonna send you the last five and we-… and- and we want you to… if something’s wrong, let us know, and then Avery, we will work on fixing that.

D.A. King:

Okay. Well I-… well- well I’m gonna-

Ben Skipper:

All we want is to be in compliance.

D.A. King:

I understand. But I’m gonna feel better if I send an open records request, and I can say I- I-… you-… send it- it-… you-… sent it to me, but just… what- what we wanna see is, as if I sent an open records request, please send me all of the documents collected for the last-

Ben Skipper:

For the last-

D.A. King:

… five applications for, uh, occupational tax license, yadda, yadda.

Ben Skipper:

Yadda, yadda. All right. Well, send us the email and we’ll start working on it.

D.A. King:

All right. So you do want the email?

Ben Skipper:

Well I thought you said you was gonna send one anyways.

D.A. King:

(laughs). Well, I- I- I-

Ben Skipper:

[inaudible 00:16:11] but I can-

D.A. King:

… I will if you want, yeah. It’s probably better if I send it so I’ll-… I will send it, and I’m sorry to talk over you.

Ben Skipper:

[inaudible 00:16:16] the last five-… you’re- you’re gonna get a email with the last five. Me, Janet, Avery and D.A. and Stacey are gonna be copied with our last five. So…

D.A. King:

Okay. All right. That- that- that’s a big help. So I- I- I hope that I have- that I have helped and, again, I take no responsibility for anything I may have forgotten to say. But… um, I’m kidding.

Avery Jackson:

Yeah.

D.A. King:

I- I-

Avery Jackson:

If you think of anything, we’re-… the- the lines of communication are open, so feel free to give us a call and let us know.

D.A. King:

Okay. All right you guys. Thank you very much.

Avery Jackson:

Thank you.

Ben Skipper:

Thank you.

Avery Jackson:

We appreciate.

D.A. King:

Yes sir.

Avery Jackson:

Swell. Bye.

 

Center for Immigration Studies

Jessica Vaughan is the director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies. She would like to thank Karen Zeigler for her assistance with data analysis on this report.

 “There were 50 counties, parishes, or territories with a minimal baseline volume of enforcement where the number of criminal removals dropped by 90 percent or more. Eight of these were in Georgia.

• The high-volume counties with the steepest decline in removals of locally arrested criminals were Gwinnett County, Ga.; Plymouth County, Mass.; Bergen County, N.J.; and Kankakee County, Ill. Criminal removals dropped by more than 90 percent in these jurisdictions.

  By Jessica M. Vaughan on December 8, 2022

  Immigration enforcement in the interior of the country has dropped dramatically under President Biden’s policies. These policies have exempted nearly all but the most serious criminal aliens from arrest and removal and have imposed cumbersome new procedures and paperwork for ICE officers to complete cases.¹ According to ICE records, the number of removals nationwide declined from 186,000 in FY 2020 to 59,000 in FY 2021.² Although Biden officials say that the policies were established in order to prioritize the removal of the most serious deportable criminal offenders, in fact the result has been a decline in the removal of criminal aliens as well as other types of cases. For example, the number of removals of convicted felons nationwide dropped from 36,000 in FY 2020 to 27,000 in FY 2021.³

  This report presents new information on the decline in ICE enforcement at the state and local level. Using records obtained through a FOIA request, we examine trends in removals of aliens who were identified by ICE under the Secure Communities program. These are removal cases that originate because the alien has been arrested locally for a crime. They do not include border cases, fugitives, worksite arrestees, or other categories of ICE removals. They are a good measure of interior enforcement involving the public-safety-oriented cases that should be a high priority for ICE.

  Key Findings:

  • Under Biden enforcement priorities, there was a 71 percent decline in removals of deportable aliens who came to ICE’s attention due to a local criminal arrest.
  • Ten states experienced an extreme decline in enforcement of greater than 80 percent under Biden policies (Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont).
  • Of the 50 U.S. counties that typically have the most criminal alien removals, 14 experienced extreme declines (greater than 80 percent) under Biden policies. About one-third of these high-volume counties are in Texas.
  • The high-volume counties with the steepest decline in removals of locally arrested criminals were Gwinnett County, Ga.; Plymouth County, Mass.; Bergen County, N.J.; and Kankakee County, Ill. Criminal removals dropped by more than 90 percent in these jurisdictions.
  • There were 50 counties, parishes, or territories with a minimal baseline volume of enforcement where the number of criminal removals dropped by 90 percent or more. Eight of these were in Georgia.
  • In one representative county, Howard County, Texas, under Biden policies just half the number of criminals convicted of homicides were removed than before, and there also were steep drops in removals of criminals convicted of assault, burglary, drugs, larceny, and sex offenses….
  • Please read the entire report here at CIS.org