OPINION

An opportunity to ask Rep Bill Werkheiser about “Opportunity Tuition” for illegals

Dear editor,

As a someone who has worked on immigration-related matters for the last nineteen years in the state Capitol, this writer is curious: What are the opinions of readers on creating a state law that would allow residents who are in the U.S. illegally to attend taxpayer-funded colleges in Georgia at a much lower tuition rate than Americans and legal immigrants who come from other states?

I also wonder if area Republicans are aware of Rep Bill Werkheiser’s ideas on that topic.

Appling County Republicans who take advantage of the upcoming opportunity to hear from Rep Bill Werkheiser at the October 19, county GOP meeting may want to ask some detailed questions about legislation he has signed onto. As Americans of all descriptions who take a “pro-enforcement” approach to immigration, we at the Dustin Inman Society hope voters will ask about Rep Werkheiser’s decision to be a cosponsor of HB 131.

HB 131 is legislation that would create a new, special tier of tuition at Georgia’s taxpayer-funded colleges for illegal aliens who are recipients of former President Barack Obama’s deferred action on deportation for illegal aliens who came to the U.S. as “children.” That program is widely known now as “DACA” and has been found to be illegal multiple times in various federal courts. One of them was the 11^th circuit appellate court that in March of 2019 issued a unanimous opinion that included the ruling that illegal aliens with DACA are still illegal aliens. “As DACA recipients, they were simply given a reprieve from removal; that does not mean they are in any way lawfully present…” wrote the panel.

Another federal judge found DACA illegal just last month.

The sponsors of HB 131 have decided to try to allow the illegals in Georgia with the illegal DACA status (about 20k in total) to pay instate tuition plus 10% while an American who lives in Michigan or Kansas, or any other state would pay the much higher out-of-state rate. How much more would the American or legal immigrant pay at South Georgia College?

According to the school’s website, instate tuition at South Georgia State College for a 15-hour class load is $1425.00. The out-of- state charge is $5395.00. The illegals with DACA would pay $1425.00 plus 10% under the language of the bill. Quick math shows that under the proposed new law, an “undocumented” student would pay $1567.50 ($1425.00 plus 10%) for the 15-hour course load while the American paid the full $5395.00.

That’s a difference of $3827.50 per semester if my calculator is correct.

Sponsors of HB 131 have labeled the new, special, low rate for the illegals as “Opportunity Tuition” and the DACA students who benefit from paying less that Americans as “Opportunity Students.”

Rep Werkheiser is one of three Republican cosponsors on the bill along with seven Democrats. The lead sponsor is Rep Kasey Carpenter of Dalton. There are literally hundreds of thousands of illegal border crossers with children on their way into the U.S as I type. Georgia is already home to more illegals than Arizona.

D.A. King – president, The Dustin Inman Society, for the board

Marietta

• This letter to the editor was published in the weekly Baxley News-Banner today. We are grateful for the space.

By Mark Krikorian and Todd Bensman on September 21, 2023

Please click here for the audio.

• Also: “New Records: Biden DHS Has Approved Hundreds of Thousands of Migrants for Secretive Foreign Flights Directly into U.S. Airports.” This report uses DHS data, gained through the Freedom of Information Act, on a little-known part of the CBP One program to rechannel potential illegal border-crossers which allows certain inadmissible aliens to skip the border altogether and take commercial passenger flights from foreign countries straight to cities in the American interior.

The below ORR was sent via email at 8:58 AM today. *Update, August 30, 2023 10:36AM: No response from GADOL yet. Second reminder sent via email today.

*O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70(a), § 50-18-72(e)(2). Georgia.gov: “How long does an agency have to produce records? An agency must produce records responsive to a request within three business days absent exceptional circumstances.”

Ms. Elizabeth de Janis

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and his Attorney General, Chris Carr, don’t enforce existing state laws aimed at making life difficult for illegal aliens in Georgia. And it’s all about the money. Voters who don’t spend a lot of time in the state Capitol will have a much easier time understanding all this if they realize that illegal immigration is organized crime and that most of politics is all about money and that most of the real power is wielded by the special interests with the big money. Essentially the two sides on the immigration issue are either pro-enforcement and anti-enforcement.

Illegal aliens in Florida are worried that the recently passed illegal immigration law will be enforced there. Apparently they shouldn’t be overly

concerned.

• Related: Illegal alien in Georgia confirms enforcement works.

A recent NPR piece is not the first news report we have seen that confirms that logical assumption. According to the far-left NPR, Republican Florida state Rep Rick Roth say illegal aliens there “are already starting to move to Georgia.”

We told you so – “Incoming illegal aliens may have a Florida accent – Keep choppin’!”

About here we need to note that the entire purpose of immigration enforcement is to discourage illegal immigration. Attrition of the illegal alien population through enforcement of the law – “attrition through enforcement.” Enforcement works.

According to Rep Roth and other Florida Republicans fewer illegals is not result they planned for when they voted for enforcement:

“GOP Rep. Rick Roth, a third generation farmer, told NPR on Tuesday that state Senate Bill 1718, which goes into effect on July 1, was designed to “scare migrants.” But he admitted that he and his colleagues were unprepared for the destabilization it would cause among the state’s more established immigrant communities.”

NPR goes on:

“Roth and a handful of other Republicans, including state representatives Alina Garcia and Juan Fernandez-Barquin, are scrambling to allay fears of job losses or deportation, which they say are already driving workers out of the state.

“This bill is 100 percent supposed to scare you,” Roth said. “I’m a farmer and the farmers are mad as hell. We are losing employees that are already starting to move to Georgia and other states.”

Read the entire NPR story from GPB.