We note the below list is not a complete picture of the number of “criminal illegals” in Georgia’s prisons. Illegal aliens for whom the Biden administration has not issued a detainer are not included here. Dependable estimates from experienced experts say the actual number of illegal aliens confined in the prison system could be as much as thirty percent higher.
Friday’s news brought a story about Georgia’s Agriculture Commissioner, Tyler Harper, urging the state’s congressional delegation to push for stopping a scheduled pay increase for the farmworkers who are working here on completely legal, temporary visas. He says a pay increase will hurt both farmers and consumers. It won’t.
Yes, it’s true that agriculture is Georgia’s biggest industry. Yes, it’s true that growers produce billions in revenue in the state. It is also true that agriculture is the only industry in the U.S. that has its own visa system that does not have a ceiling on how many workers can be brought in to the country – it’s known as the H-2A visa. Repeat, no limit, no ceiling no maximum.
The scheduled federal pay raise is for these H-2A workers.
While most Americans rightly howl about the illegal immigration crisis and say we are opposed to the use of black-market labor, are we also going to deny the workers here legally a pay raise? We at the Dustin Inman Society say “no.” Let’s allow the raise to go into effect.
How much? For 2024, the federal government raised the hourly wage for H-2A workers in Georgia by about a dollar, from $13.67 to $14.68.
How badly would that increase hurt the typical American family when it comes to the retail cost of fresh fruits and vegetables? According to 2020 stats from the Economic Policy Institute not that much. About the price of a couple of 12-packs of beer, a large pizza, or a nice bottle of wine.”
A 40% increase in pay would cost a typical family just $25 per household annually for fresh produce.
We have posted an easy-to-read article expanding on this data on the front page of ImmigrationPoliticsGA.com website. Please give it a read. Not for the first time, Commissioner Tyler Harper is wrong, and this is not 1859. Let’s pay the legal workers a fair wage.
A version of this column was published in the January 22, 2024 edition of The Islander newspaper in Glynn Co, GA.
*Note “UC”s are more often known as “UACs.”
The Table above reflects UACs released into Georgia for the noted fiscal years and is current as of December 28, 2023. HHS report here.
The anti-enforcement Southern Poverty Law Center says they are “partnering with Latinx voting rights groups, as it has for several election cycles, to help fund their efforts. Leading those efforts is the Vote Your Voice initiative, a partnership between the SPLC and the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.”
The SPLC, with holdings in excess of $750 million, has pledged $100 million to support ‘Vote Your Voice’ through 2032. Much of the SPLC money is reportedly held in off-shore accounts.
The groups are “racing to meet the challenges.” The apparently oppressed factions are “standing up new efforts” to oppose what is described as “shadowy disinformation spread on social media and elsewhere that seems designed to discourage Latinx voters.” We don’t see any examples.
The SPLC-funded special interests are “conducting surveys of the “Latinx” electorate to better learn what policies and initiatives most energize them.” We are aware of one such survey which was sent out by the militant anti-enforcement GALEO Inc. led by former MALDEF lobbyist Jerry Gonzalez.
Information on the GALEO poll can be seen here. The left-wing AJC newspaper helps out with awareness and response.
Also funded by Coca Cola and other sympathetic companies in corporate Georgia, GALEO Inc. has pushed for foreign language voting in Georgia for years.
The SPLC says the groups they are funding are working to distribute information on voting in Spanish in the many jurisdictions that do not already accommodate foreign language voting. Formerly a Republican stronghold, the now Democrat-run, metro-Atlanta County of Gwinnett is the only county in Georgia required to do so by federal law.
State sponsored foreign language voter videos
Because so few American voters are aware, we note that foreign language voter prep was a taxpayer-funded effort by then Secretary of State Brian Kemp before he was elected to his current gig as Georgia governor.
We also note that the SPLC seems to regard a voting security law as “anti-voter” and immigration enforcement laws as “anti-immigrant.”
The SPLC is soon on its way to the U.N. to share recommendations on prisons, “voter suppression” and “hate.”
By Mark Krikorian and Todd Bensman on September 21, 2023
__________
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I added educational hyperlinks to the below letter – dak.
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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.
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