Partial transcript House Public Safety Committee HB 136, Feb 16, 2023

Transcript by Rev.com

My cost: $76.00 and about two hours, not counting the day in the Capitol.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

… a federal government to control illegal immigration affects the people we represent. And it affects their public safety sometimes. And we do have the ability to do this. We do have the ability to inform the citizens of this state of the degree to which criminal illegals in our state impacts their public safety. And so this bill is about just that. Do we want to make sure that without having to somehow, uh, submit a Freedom of Information Act, and try to discover how, how, how big this issue is from the department, do we wanna require the department to regularly, on a quarterly basis, simply post the aggregated data, no specifics, aggregated data on the degree to which this issue is a problem in this state?

So I’m gonna ask you now to look at, if all of you would look at this list of ICE detainers I gave you. So this is an example, it gives you a picture, basically, of what I want. There’s nobody’s name, there’s nothing. Now, as I said in the subcommittee, if you want specifics, you can look at every inmate in the system online. You can go and get their name, everything, where are they from, where com- they committed a crime, what they did. It’s not what I want. What I want is the people to have a snapshot of the problem or the lack of a problem. ‘Cause some people will tell you, you probably got some folks in this room that’ll tell you, “This isn’t a problem at all.” That’s okay. That’s their right. It’s not my job to interpret whether it’s a problem or not for others. I see this as my job to let you determine the degree of the problem so you can make your own decision about whether it’s a problem.

But I want you to look at this list, and I want you to see this aggregated format, and so when you look at this real simply, I want you to note here that there are, there are today, okay? And again, you may think, “Ah, it’s a low number.” You may think that’s a, a, a … an appalling number. I don’t know. But there are 230 child molesters who came to this country illegally, today, in Georgia, who molested children. Okay. There are, today, in our correctional system, 176 murders in our state correctional system. Okay? Who came to this country illegally first, that’s one thing, and then they subsequently committed a murder in the state of Georgia on the people we represent. Okay?

Keep going down the list. There’s 157 people who came to this country illegally, today, in the Georgia correctional system, who then subsequently raped someone, one of our constituents, in the state of Georgia and is now in our correctional system. Now, you may not be interested in knowing any of that, or caring. You may not believe that that was, as I call it, an avoidable crime. Maybe you don’t think that was an avoidable crime. I believe it was. And so I want this information to be made available to our people.

So I wanna make one thing clear, though, about this list, as I alluded to earlier. As you look at this list of 1,505, and I’m gonna give you an update on this, ’cause I want you to note at the top, this is December of this year. December, I mean, of 2022, December. But I want you to note something. My friends, this is not a list of all the criminal illegals in our Georgia correctional system. It is a list of those with ICE detainers. So let me explain now the conundrum, there. Why do I point that out?

I point that out because of this. I just want you to hear me. This is facts. In 2019, ICE issued 165,000 detainers in the United States. Okay? In 2022, ICE issued 78,000 detainers in the United States. ICE detainers have plummeted under the Biden administration. And in spite of the huge increases that everyone in this country, of every party, recognizes [inaudible 00:04:33] the last few years, there has been a 55% decrease in the number of detainers issued since 2019.

So, why do I tell you that? Because if you only have a list of ICE detainers, you don’t really have an accurate picture of what I’m trying to get at. What I’m trying to get at is how many illegal criminals are in this syste- uh, yeah, people illegally here are in our correctional system? If you only have ICE detainers, you have a subset of that. Now, because I can’t get that number from the department, I don’t know whether this is the … I, I hope this is the majority. But we don’t really know that. Okay? Because as you heard from the numbers I just mentioned, today, many people in the syst- the, the, the Feds are simply not issuing detainers on everyone. I hope that, I hope that makes sense.

So, uh, Mr. Chairman, there’s one last thing I’d like to mention, because there was a good question, uh, where is Representative Neal? She’s not here. She had some good questions. And I wanna mention this. Uh, today’s data, and when I say today, let me be clear again, I wanna be precise in everything I say, yesterday, (laughs) yesterday’s data, there were f- You see 1,505 here, of ICE detainers. There are now 1,532 today, yesterday. And to m- To Representative Neal’s very good gr- uh, question, eight of those are duplicated on this list. She asked about this list.

So there are eight. So there are really 1,524 on yesterday, criminal illegals in the Georgia correctional system with ICE detainers. I hope that’s clear. So there are eight duplications. So by and large, when you look at this list, yes, you’re looking at individuals. But there are occasionally a situ- eight times out of these 1,505, there is a duplication.

Okay. So there’s one last thing I’ll say beyond that, Mr. Chairman, that is this. This relates only to the Department of Corrections. Okay? So this has nothing to do with jails, your municipal or county jails, sheriffs, all of those things, that’s another matter. This is the issue that … This is an issue I think’s perfectly appropriate for us to address, ’cause this is our state correctional system. And the question at the end of the day is should the people, do the people have a right to know the degree to which this is, uh, affecting their public safety or not? That’s up to all of us to decide. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m glad to answer any questions you might have.

Chairman Collins

I’ve got a couple of questions for you, there- [inaudible 00:07:21]

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Yes sir.

Chairman Collins

So, we know there’s 15, 1,500 illegal aliens in this state that are on ICE detainers.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Yes sir.

Chairman Collins:

But we do not know how many illegal aliens that we have in our prison system, total. We do not know that.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Hm. Chairman, we do not.

Chairman Collins

We do not know that. Now, we don’t know that. Somebody-

Rep Jesse Petrea:

That doesn’t mean we don’t know that.

Chairman Collins

Somebody probably knows that.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

I don’t know that.

Chairman Collins

But they’re not sharing that information with us.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

My understanding, and the department is welcome to speak, my understanding from talking to probably the most knowledgeable guy I’ve ever spoken to on this issue, Mr. John Feere, who is a chief of staff to Tom Homan the director of ICE, and two other directors, is that this information is all available, when our, our correctional system uses a, a, a … has a memorandum of agreement with a, a program called 287(g). So when you … You, you know, and you know, I’m not in the system, so I’ll, I explain it the best way I can. When you admit someone you … that … You are communicating with ICE to determine their status. Okay? Whether they’re here illegally or not.

My understanding from ICE is that they, they are going to know who is here illegally or not. Now, I can’t tell you what the department’s gonna say, ’cause we’ve been kinda round and round on that. But here’s the deal. They tell me, “You’re gonna know.” Now, that doesn’t mean they’re not all gonna have an ICE detainer, because again, you’re only gonna have a detainer if the Feds choose to pursue that individual, and for a myriad of reasons, as I discovered from talking to Mr. Feere] and others, they don’t always do that. And they particularly haven’t done that in the last couple of years. Because what the Biden demonstration has done, has decided that, “Well, we’re only interested in priority cases.” So you’re not gonna capture the totality of the problem. So, Mr. Chairman, now, this is a long answer to your question, but I don’t know the total number. But I will promise you this. It is more than the list of ICE detainers.

Chairman Collins

Okay.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

I cannot tell you the degree to which it is more than that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman Collins

Any questions for the author, for the bill, before we hear from anybody from DOC? Any questions? All right.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Representative Evans?

Speaker 2:

Thank you.

Rep Becky Evans:

Thank you. Um, so just to be clear, for the, for the purpose of the bill, this … How does, how does this improve our public safety if we have this bill?

Rep Jesse Petrea:

That’s a good question. I tried to answer it in the subcommittee as well, and I’ll do it again, uh, Representative, so here’s the deal. Uh, I believe that, uh, the people should know. You know, we’re dealing with a multitude of issues today. We’re talking about, um, some challenges we have with district attorneys, a multitude of things that relate to our public safety. Um, but in order to, to understand the problem in the realm of public safety, we s- we, we need to know where the problem is. Now, we all know that the, that, that overwhelmingly, because of the overwhelming difference in population, that our home- Listen. We got enough home-grown criminals to keep us busy, don’t we? We cer- We certainly do.

But the degree to which, if, if someone is interested in whether or not this country is, uh, and their … and the lack of following our immigration laws is impacting our lives, um, I believe the people have a right to know that. So I believe that offering information is beneficial to society. That’s, that’s me, personally. Now, there are folks … So the mantra, generally, is this. Uh, beca- And I will tell you, the first thing I wanna say is the overwhelming majority of, uh, not only immigrants, but even illegal immigrants in this country, uh, are, are, are, are, are good people. They’re good people.

That doesn’t change what I said earlier. The majority of cri- the majority of society are good people. But every criminal alien in this country who then commits a crime on our people was an avoidable crime. Okay? And so I believe educating people on the degree to which is this is a problem, helps them to make a more informed decision about whether they care about the issue of illegal r- immigration or not. That’s the best I can answer that. Okay?

Rep Becky Evans:

Chairman? May I- [inaudible 00:11:56]

Rep Jesse Petrea:

It’s a matter if do they need-

Speaker 2:

Go ahead.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

… to see it or not.

Rep Becky Evans:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

Go ahead.

Rep Becky Evans:

Yeah. So, I know you … You know, it’s a good point, you wanna talk about what the problem is. But I, I … One of my, uh, fears about this, this type of bill is that, um, we have, you know, a … We have had a rise in, in, you know, hate, uh, you know, hate crimes, you know, across our country. And we had this incident, you know, in El Paso, um, where a gentleman came in and shot a bunch of, you know, Hispanic people, because of this, you know, huge criminal, illegal, uh, invasion coming across our border. And, um, I’m concerned about the impact of, uh, of, of this contributing to anti immigrant, um, sentiment.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Uh, Representative, I appreciate your comment, but I, I have a hard time fathoming that. I mean, what, what we’re doing is simply saying that the data that is specifically already in … Uh, we’re aggregating the data to show the breadth of a problem that has nothing … I m- I mentioned to the subcommittee the other day, and this is, this isn’t any … You know, there’s this tendency. Actually, it’s an, it’s an, uh, it, it’s routine and it’s done on purpose, to kinda pigeonhole this as relating to one group. There’s 100 … There’s 1,505, here. 150 of ’em, I was looking around the webs- 150 of ’em are Germans.

So we have a problem in this country, uh, by the way, the immigration problem, uh, a huge proportion of it is overstayed visas. These aren’t people com- crossing a border. This … There, there’s an issue. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. The issue is are people criminally here? And then, they commit crimes on our country. And quite frankly, here’s what’s happening. Many of those individuals who are criminally he- or illegally here in the first place, then commit a crime, often violent or sexual, like these, are never even deported after they serve their time. They’re not even deported.

Speaker 2:

Repeat that-

Rep Jesse Petrea:

And the answers-

Speaker 2:

… one … Repeat that more time.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Not everyone is deported after serving, uh, their cri- their time in this country for a crime against our constituents. They aren’t all deported. By virtue of the fact that I just told you, they don’t all of ICE detainers.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

They are not deported. But, uh, but every, every common sensical person I represent would say, “Listen. You’re breaking the law getting here and then you assault our people? You attack our people? You commit crimes against our people?” Surely we could all agree that those individuals should be removed. That’s not the case. So-

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Listen. Uh, uh, I, I … You know, I don’t wanna get in too big of a debate on that, but that’s the reason I believe the people have a right. Now, the question is do people have a right to know the degree of this problem or not?

Speaker 2:

Well- [inaudible 00:14:34]

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Well, listen, the mantra is often, uh, that these people who are mostly good people, that are maybe here illegally, I will tell you, overwhelmingly, good, hard-working people who don’t like, who don’t … who, who oftentimes are the victims of these crimes.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Let me be clear. And I’ve talked to a multitude of people, le- legal immigrants here, who are 100% behind me.

Speaker 2:

Number 16.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Now let me … Mr. Chairman, could I say one more thing?

Speaker 2:

Please.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

The mantra from the other side, which has an agenda, is that the only crimes these folks commit are speeding tickets and parking tickets, that’s it. They’re just parking tickets, speed ti- You’re gonna deport people for parking tickets, speeding tickets. There ain’t nobody deporting somebody over parking tickets, speeding tickets. My friends, there’s no speeding tickets on here. There’s no, there’s, there’s, that’s, that’s … It’s simply not true. Okay? [inaudible 00:15:23]-

Speaker 2:

Representative Frazier, you had a question?

Speaker 4:

[inaudible 00:15:25] a conversation.

Speaker 2:

Oh.

Speaker 4:

Please- [inaudible 00:15:28]

Speaker 2:

Who’s number 16 down there? Mi- Representative Cummings, I’m sorry. I was [inaudible 00:15:35] Representative Frazier was there.

Rep Terry Cummings:

Good morning.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Good morning.

Rep Terry Cummings:

Um, it’s my understanding that a lotta times, um, undocumented immigrants do not report crimes, for fear of being taken in and deported. How do you feel that this bill will further kind of, um, increase that?

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Well, I’d, I, I … So this relates only to those already in the criminal justice system, in our prisons, so I don’t understand how it could impact that at all.

Rep Terry Cummings:

Because you’re still gonna have-

Rep Jesse Petrea:

You-

Rep Terry Cummings:

… more arrests.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Say again?

Rep Terry Cummings:

You’re still … You’re talking about people currently.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Rep Terry Cummings:

But there are people coming into the system every day. So the numbers change. That’s why you had the 15 or five change was only ’cause more are coming to the system.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Look, but Representative, my point is that what happens in the, in the community with your, uh, with your law enforcement in the community, has nothing to do with this. This bill is only … So, so to be clear, this bill doesn’t affect anyth- anyone, uh, or anything unless they’re already admitted into the state prison system, not even on a local level. But once they’re there, there is a re- There is an agreement, where we discover, “Okay, inmate number 22 is now admitted.” We discover whether they’re here illegally or not.

And all this does is every 90 days, aggregate the data of the totality of those numbers, uh, for the transparency, for people to understand, that agreed to which it either is, or in their mind, isn’t a problem. So I d- I … Uh, uh, I’m I respect your question, but I, I don’t understand how it could fact- affect them, anyway. ‘Cause all it does is educate (laughs) people on those that are already in the correctional system.

Rep Terry Cummings:

I tend to s-

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Not that it does, doesn’t deal with the community in any way, shape, or form.

Rep Terry Cummings:

I tend to see things, sometimes, as unintended consequences, and that’s what my concern is with, with this. The other concern is, um, you said that you wanted countries identified, so if you find out that a specific number or a large number are coming from one particular country, what would the resolution be to that?

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Well, there is no res- Again, there’s no resolution. This is, this is providing data to the people. Now, you can go on … so, t- to be clear, you can … So on the website today, you can go to the Department of Corrections, and if you wanna spend a lot of time searching around, there’s a … You can click on foreign inmates. And you can see the self-reported home countries of all these inma- And you can see. You can see so much more than I’m interested in. (laughs) You can see their name, w- where they came from, what they did, when they did it. You can see everything about ’em. I, I’m not interested in all that. So, w-

Robert:

But the answer to your question is this, let’s say that, let’s say that you look and you see there’s, ah, you know, 105 [inaudible 00:00:12], 150 from Germany. Those are obviously over-stayed visas. And you see a multitude of others. It tells you… You might see, y- you might see a list of those that are on terrorist watch lists of nations. I don’t know. I don’t know. But there’s a… W- Why would we not want the totality of that information to be shared, as long as it’s aggregated? It’s not specific.

Chair:

Hold on, hold on one moment, please.

Rep Sainz:

But that’s my question. I’m sorry, Chairman. I’m-

Chair:

President [inaudible 00:00:37], you had a question?

Speaker 3:

A couple of quick ones. Um, would you not agree that it’s in, in mentioning unintended consequences, would you not agree, uh, um, that this, your bill addresses the unintended consequences of our, uh, lapsed, uh, enforcement of illegal immigration? This is an unintended consequence?

Robert:

Yes, sir, I would agree wholeheartedly.

Speaker 3:

And in relation to my colleagues mentioning of anti-immigrant behavior, would you not agree that you have faith in your constituencies, and the constituencies of, of the members here that the, that our citizens who are looking at this information can distinctify the difference between those who violate our laws, not once, but twice, by first coming into this country illegally, and then second, violating in a dangerous fashion and creating victims in our nation. And legal immigrants like, for example, my own mother, who I can attest is a wonderful lady and a legal immigrant, who.. Do you think that that separation is clear to the, to our constituencies

Robert:

I think it is representative, and indeed, I met your mother and a lovely lady she is.

Speaker 3:

Appreciate it.

Chair:

Number 10, we got down there.

Speaker 4:

[inaudible 00:01:42].

Chair:

Representative, go ahead.

Speaker 4:

Yes, sir. Yeah, I just want to thank you for bringing this bill. Ah, you know, the information that you’re communicating to the American public is very valuable information that, at the end of the day, you know, we, we should have as an informed… I mean, we should do everything we can to inform the public about all the various issues that, that face our country so that they can make intelligent decisions about how they want their, their leaders to, ah, to run their country. So I appreciate this and, and the information and, and what this bill does.

Chair:

We’ve got 10 members that are going to be speak… Two, two folks out there in the audience that want to speak and give some testimony.

Speaker 4:

Yes, sir.

Chair:

Ms. Stamps. I’m sorry?

Ms. STamper:

Stamper.

Chair:

Stamper, I’m sorry. Ms. Stamper, if you want to go to the podium.

Speaker 4:

Mr. Chairman, I’m going to take my seat back over here, thank you.

Ms. STamper:

How long do I have to speak?

Chair:

I think brevity’s going to be your friend here, because we have another bill.

Ms. STamper:

Okay, great. Hi, my name is Katy Stamper and I’m a lawyer. I live in Woodstock. I only work part-time, so don’t call me for any business, okay? Um, I’ve come here to speak about this bill because I’m very troubled that I even have to come down here and talk about it. We don’t want our country to turn into another country. So as the author of the bill said, this gives us information to know how bad the problem is. And we’re entitled to have that information.

And when you talk about the shooting in El Paso, we have a right to be angry at illegal aliens. We have a right to be angry at our federal government for not enforcing our border. We have a right to be upset that illegal aliens go into our hospitals and get free dialysis twice a week. We have a right to be, to object to that.

I don’t like the idea that this would eve be a question. There should be a presumption that we are given this knowledge. It should be a rubber stamp. Because if I don’t do something that y’all want me to do, I get in trouble and I get harassed about it. Why would illegal aliens be treated any differently? Why would we want.. Why would we not want to know? Why is our Governor Kemp, who campaigned on getting his truck, why is nobody doing anything about deporting these people?

So I would like to know why you don’t contact our Senators and say to them, “Why aren’t you pressuring President Bilen, Biden and Mayorkas to enforce the border, instead of worrying about prejudice against illegal aliens?”

Chair:

Ma’am, if you wold, if you have another comment about the bill, that’s fine. You can speak about the bill, but we’re not going to direct specific comments.

Ms. STamper:

Well, I’m sorry-

Chair:

And I think we all, we all have a reason to be mad when someone goes in and kills innocent people. I, I don’t appreciate your comments there.

Ms. STamper:

What do you mean?

Chair:

When you were specifying that direct from there.

Ms. STamper:

I’m-

Chair:

When you were directing your comments about we should be angry. We should not necessarily be angry. We should be concerned, but I, I don’t think we want to make light of the situation where innocent people were killed.

Ms. STamper:

I’m not making light of anything.

Chair:

Well, I, I take your-

Ms. STamper:

I’m not making light of anything. What this committee-

Chair:

I think your time-

Ms. STamper:

… is doing.

Chair:

I think your time speaking is over with and you have, you have made it very clear that you support this bill, and I appreciate your comments. If you’ll please take your seat.

Ms. STamper:

Sure.

Chair:

We’ll move on. Thank you.

Speaker 6:

[inaudible 00:05:10], Mr. Chairman.

Chair:

The next person we have is, ah, Mr. D.A. Keen.

D.A. King:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members of the committee, my name is D.A. King. I use my initials because my mom named me Donald Arthur King and I’m afraid somebody would confuse me with the other Don King, so. If I live until April, I’ll be 71 years old. I started coming to this campus in tw-… in 2004 to educate legislators on illegal immigration. And we passed a lot of laws I helped draft, I helped pass, I’ve held rallies. I’ve urged, pleaded, debated and pushed. We have a lot of laws on the books here in Georgia aimed at illegal immigration.

I came today to thank State Representative Jesse Petrea, who is a very dear friend of mine, for introducing this bill. I’m here to support the bill. I run a nonprofit called the Dustin Inman Society. The Dustin Inman Society is named after a Woodstock youth who is forever 16 years old because we do not enforce our immigration laws.

At the minium, I hope this bill passes as it is so that we can at least have a look into the price, the cost, not just the human cost, but the monetary cost of the criminal aliens that are in the state prison system. I can’t imagine, I can’t imagine the upside to not passing this bill as is. Further, I can’t imagine anybody who would try to downgrade it to include only detainers.

As State Representative Jesse Petrea has said, that is a very small portion of the total illegal aliens in the prison system. Uh, Representative Petrea quoted a very dear friend of mine who I’d known for a long time on, on, wh- who worked for ICE. He is exactly right and I’m going to get done in a minute, but I want to say this to all the legislators here. Representative Petrea has learned a lot because he did his research on illegal immigration in a state where, folks, we have more illegal aliens in Georgia than they have in Arizona.

We have more illegal aliens in Georgia than we have Green Card holders. I admire and thank Representative Petrea from here and sincerely, while I look everybody in the eye on this panel, if you will spend the amount of time and show the interest in illegal immigration that Representative Petrea has, I will come to your house and I will wash your car.

It’s very, very important that this bill passes. I hope you’ll pass it out today. I can stand here and speak forever, but it’s a good bill. It’s worthy of your vote and if we don’t pass it, people are going to be asking a lot of questions about why not. I am more than happy to take any questions.

Chair:

Okay. Ah, thank you.

D.A. King:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Chair:

Any questions? I don’t think there’s any questions at this time. We have someone from the Department of Corrections that would, uh, be, be having testimony [inaudible 00:08:36] after this, before we, we [inaudible 00:08:37] the question on this?

Rob Thrower:

Yeah, I’ll be brief, Mr. Chairman. Um, first I just want to thank Chairman Petrea, ah, for his willingness to work together and for being transparent and honest with us of the direction of the bill. Ah, secondly, anything I say here today, I don’t want it to have any intention of us undermining, uh, our partnership with ICE and the 287 G Agreement.

The folks who work with ICE do a great job and we’re going to continue to work with ICE on the 287 G Agreement. Um, at this juncture between the department and the current version of the bill, there just is a disagreement about the language as it stands. Um, there’s a substitute out there that, ah, would accomplish what the department sees as what it can get its hands on, right now and publish.

And, you know, my intent today is not to be adversarial in any, way, shape or form. I’m just a mutual fact finder on some of the questions that you may have. So if there’s no questions, I’ll take my seat.

Chair:

Good, that’s fine. Number 19, you have a question? Do you have-

Rep Bill Werkheiser:

In relation to what you mentioned, what in, what in the bill would you need changing in order to be in support? You said there was a substitute version, ob- obviously not in front of us. So what it, what areas, ah, is the issue it was, I guess.

Chair:

The substitute is not in front of us. The bill that is presented was the bill that was presented in, in a subcommittee, as alluded by the author earlier in his comments. So if you want to answer that question about what it was the department preferred to be in the sub?

Robert:

Yes, sir. I apologize-

Chair:

We’re all friends here, we’re going to be friends after this is over with. Most of us, all of us sitting up here will be. But you feel free to answer that question.

Rob Thrower DOC liaison:

No, and, and I’ll clear that up. There was no substitute introduced. There’s a substitute that we were working on, so I’ll, I’ll clear that up. Apologies there. Ah, the piece about immigration status, um, felt that the might tie the department’s hands in what exactly we’re looking for with immigration status. Ah, the piece that we could… and there was a earlier version of this bill back in 2019, House Bill 202, that we had kind of narrowed down to publishing the information that we currently give, which is the number of ICE detainers broken down by crime.

Ah, the list that I think you have in front of you that we share with, ah, Chairman Petrea from time to time, ah, that is the quantifiable information that we can grab, or we can put our hands on immediately. And we can put it on our website without a bill or with the bill, but that’s what we can concretely put our hands on.

So, the immigration status was a bit confusing about what the intention was, and what we have, and what, how we could make that work.

Chair:

Thank you. One question I do have for you Rob, if you don’t mind, what’s it cost to house someone in our prison system?

Rob Thrower:

$73 a day.

Chair:

$73 a day. Okay. Wow. Do we have any more questions for the department? Number 29 over here. [inaudible 00:11:55].

Rep Bill Werkhieser:

Thank you, Chairman. Is there no reason that we could not, um, consider substitute, since the department that we’re asking to do this is saying they cannot even do the current version of the bill?

Speaker 12:

Mr Chairman, you have the ability to, to-

Speaker 13:

I would like to make a motion that we accept, ah, substitute-

Chair:

We’re, we’re not ready to do, to do that yet. But at the appropriate time, the Chair will be more than, ah, pleased to, ah, intro-… to recognize you. Number 26, that’s Chairman Petrea.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Mr. Chairman, to be clear, ah, Chairman Werkeizer just misspoke. He just said that the department cannot do this. That is inaccurate. Ah, Mr. Thrower did not say they cannot do it. You’ve heard him allude to the fact that, I think you said, I’m not going to put words in your mouth, and by the way, this young man has been enormously helpful to me. The department has been extremely helpful in every way.

What he said was, “It’s easy to get today.” Remember, we’ve got a little bit of a disconnect here between what I’m hearing from ICE, but this information… So I want you to contemplate something. Contemplate that someone has been arrested in the community, been found to be guilty. They’ve gone through all their… They’re not in our state prison system. They’re not in a county jail. They’re in our state prison system. And then I want you to imagine that we honestly don’t even know whether they’re here illegally or not.

Isn’t that hard to understand? It would seem that we would know that. And of course, we have 287 G. So I don’t think that now, so I’m going to ask Rob, to answer the question. Is it that you cannot do it, or that it is easier to do it with only ICE detainers which would be a subset of those that are in the system?

Rob Thrower DOC:

The ICE detainer information is, like I said, what we can put our hands on. The immigration status piece starts, you know, in my opinion getting into, um, did somebody walk over the border illegally? Did somebody have an education visa that’s expired? Did somebody have a work visa that’s expired, or [inaudible 00:14:06] has ICE identified somebody that’s, um, in violation of some form of immigration law that’s given them probably cause to put a detainer on.

And so, I.. We don’t have that information. When they send the detainer to us, they just say, “We have probably cause that this individual, ah, rises to the level of putting a detainer on them, and, you know, we’ve got the process of putting it in their file and contacting them after the sentence has expired.”

So that’s where I was going with the, ah, information that we have and what we can provide.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Is that, is that clear to everybody? I’m still trying to process that, but let me come back to you in just a sec. Number 20 down there, is that-

Speaker 16:

Yeah, and mine’s following on the exact same thing we’re all talking about now, is, ah, is your inability to provide the information, or a, again it, it-… This bill would require that, so if, if it was a requirement, could that information then be obtained because there was a reason to, and there’s no reason to get it now? Is that, is that what it amounts to?

Rob Thrower:

Well again, I don’t want to speak for what we can and can’t do under our 287 G Agreement. Um, you know, the information that is requested upon us when we get the email that says, “Can you provide the information of the number of detainers broken down by crime?” I can get you the number of detainers that we have on file in the system currently today. Um, the other stuff, I, I can break it own by crime, I can give you total numbers, but the other stuff is stuff that I just can’t put my hands on concretely to turn back over-

Rep Jesse Petrea:

So would the federal government, you think they would not give that to you if you asked for it?

Robert:

It would probably have to be, and, and I’m just, I, I don’t sit on our 287 G steering committee. But what it’d probably have to be is some kind of an agreement to our current 287 G MOA.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

But that could be done, right?

Robert:

[inaudible 00:16:13].

Rep Jesse Petrea:

We could make that agreement?

Robert:

Yeah, I’m not saying it couldn’t be done.

Rep Jesse Petrea:

Okay.

Chair:

Good, all right. Ah, we’re going to-

Speaker 17:

Mr. Chairman-

Chair:

No, sir,

Speaker 17:

[inaudible 00:16:21].

Chair:

No, sir, no sir. You got to sit down. You got a order. You got a order. All right, let’s see. I think there’s number 29 down there. Yes, sir. [inaudible 00:16:29], please.

Speaker 19:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m just trying to clarify your statement. So you’re saying the State of Georgia Department of Corrections does not ne-… know for sure who’s an illegal immigrant in our prison system today?

Robert:

What I’m saying is that we know who ICE has identified somebody with probably cause to put a detainer on. I don’t know the status or what the reasoning behind the probably cause that they have to put a detainer on him. But I just know they have a detainer. I don’t know the reasons why, for why a detainer’s been placed on an individual.

Chair:

Okay, all right. Let’s see here. All right, no further, no further questions at this time. We have talked about this bill in subcommittee, and we talked about this bill here today. And I know that members of the committee share, share the concerns, ah, that I do and some don’t. Ah, and now that it’s time, ah, we move forward, what would be the desire and the will of this committee, ah, in reference to House Bill 136? Motion made, duly passed? Second? All those in favor, please say aye?

Room:

Aye.

Chair:

All those opposed?

Room:

No.

Chair:

Okay, we’re going to move for division. All those, ah, aye, please raise your right hand for yes. 11, [inaudible 00:17:53] 11.

All those opposed, same sign. One, two, three, four, [inaudible 00:18:01]. The bill passes with a vote of 11 to support it and four against. Thank you all for attending today. We have one more bill. For those of you who would like to, ah, be dismissed, you can be…

GOP Gov. Brian Kemp (center) at the CRSA “New Americans” celebration event in the GA Capitol, Feb, 2023

SB 264 (and HB 640) would allow foreign nationals who are Refugees, “Special Visa Immigrants” and recipients of “Humanitarian Parole” (see also Biden’s parole scam) to move to Georgia and immediately access instate tuition rates. Americans migrating to our state would still be required to be residents for a year before they are allowed to pay instate tuition in our public colleges. The same bill died last year as HB 932. We had hoped the House would let us see who would vote for it.

Please read Inger’s terrific column from that adventure here.

Related: Federal court rules the Biden parole scam was illegal. And Biden won’t appeal.

We may want SB 264 to go to the Republican-controlled Senate floor next year – in order to see who votes “yes” in an election year. But we don’t want it to be used as a floor amendment this year because even the Republican co-sponsors of the Democrat bill don’t understand it. They do seem to know the Georgia Chamber of Commerce wants it passed.

Related: For academic year 2020-2021, the average tuition & fees for Colleges in Georgia was $4,739.00 for in-state and $17,008.00 for out-of-state. Americans who relocate here would pay the higher amount in their first year of residence. The foreigners there catagories listed above would pay the lower amount. That is a difference of $12,260.90.

Here are the sponsors of SB 264:

1. Jackson, Kim (D)	41st
2.	Dugan, Mike (R)	30th
3.	Butler, Gloria (D)	55th
4.	Payne, Chuck (R)	54th
5.	Hickman, Billy (R)	4th
6.	Halpern, Sonya (D)	39th

The below transcript from the March 16, Senate Higher Education committee hearing on SB 264 which was dropped after Crossover Day, 2023. There is a companion bill, HB 640.

Video here. See March 16, 2023

Transcript by Rev.com

My cost $50.00 and about 3 hours.
Note: The Coalition of Refugee Services (CRSA) sent out an action alert on March 20, 2023 telling their supporters to contact the senate and ask this bill be passed. You can sign up for alerts from the CRSA here.

Sen. Kim Jackson (L) SB 264 sponsor – Darlene Lynch, Coalition of Refugee Services (CRSA) & Chair of Business and Immigration for Georgia (BIG).

Begin bill presentation in Senate Higher Education committee:

Sen. Kim Jackson (D- bill sponsor)

Uh, and we were working off of Senate bill 264, which is LC500510.

Senate Higher Ed committee Chairman, Sen. Billy Hickman

You’re totally good.

Sen Jackson:

All right, thank you. And I- I want to begin by thanking the chairman for allowing us to have this hearing. This is, um, such an important conversation for us to begin. And so, um, as you can see from the sign that was there, uh, many people who are very much interested and invested in this issue. Um, so very briefly, what this bill does is that it allows people who are resettled here in Georgia via a special immigration status, so what we’re talking about specifically are people who served, um, and helped our military in Afghanistan. Um, people who have been, um, clearly on our side when it’s come to those wars.

They’ve come here with special immigrant status and this bill would allow them to receive in-state tuition, uh, upon being resettled here. I think it’s important to note that none of those folks that have come here have come from another state. They don’t have another state where they could get in-state tuition, right? Oftentimes, this is what we’re thinking about. We’re like, “Oh, we don’t want somebody who lives in South Carolina, say, um, where they could get in-state South Carolina tuition, we don’t want them coming to Georgia and getting our in-state tuition.”

For people who come here who are resettled by our federal government, folks who have been our friends, who have gone through extreme amounts of trauma and yet still been dedicated to, uh, this country, people who are resettled here, this is their home state. This is in-state for them. And so, this bill would allow those who have a Humanitarian Parole status, a special immigrant status, to be able to continue their education and to do that in a way that’s affordable by receiving in-state tuition. If, with that, there are a lot of people who signed up. And so I- I’m happy to yield as much time, um, to them, if that would be helpful, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman Hickman:

Can I ask a, ask a quick question?

Sen. Jackson

Oh, please.

Chairman Hickman:

Um, uh, s- I think, um, maybe Senator Payne and I had a conversation about Dalton, Georgia, and, you know, the Hispanic population, adult and- and- and so forth, and the parents of refugees, but children… I guess the children are also refugees in the school system out there. And [inaudible 00:02:27] when they graduate from the school system, they don’t qualify for in-state tuition. Is- is that a part of all this?

Sen Jackson:

So actually, that’s a separate bill, um, so, and- and one certainly that I hope many of us will support in the future. Um, so, ch- the children that you’re referring to, um, often have DACA status. So, um, they are children who- who came with parents of their own- no- no accord of their own, right? These children are… these young adults, these are, these are young adults or- or children, they’re coming here, um, with legal status from day one.

Um, they, on day one, uh, not only did they come here with legal status on day one, they were picked out, right, from Afghanistan, from the countries that they were, um, and recognized and acknowledged as having either assisted the US military a- as interpreters or, um, being people who are extreme in danger of being harmed because of their, um, support to the US military. So these folks arrived on day one with legal status in our state as a special immigrant, um, whereas the folks that you’re talking about don’t have legal status.

Chairman Hickman

Ok..[inaudible 00:03:35].

Sen. Jackson:

So this bill would be very clear, very specific, um, to folks with legal status to be here in the state, and this is their home.

Chairman Hickman:

Senator Payne?

Senator Chuck Payne:

Yes. Uh, this, would this apply to, um, my question is, ’cause I- I’m in the military, I- I remember we had a gentleman that was actually, uh, from Nicaragua, and he was serving in, next to us in the first 504th Second Airborne Division. And you know, was s- and I come to realize since then that we have a lot of noncitizens that are serving in our military. And so, would this… For those who are living here, this would allow them, if they were living in Georgia and states [inaudible 00:04:21] and for, that- that would bene- that would help those to access-

Sen. Jackson

I- I’m gonna bring my specialist here. I- I don’t think that’s accurate. I have a different bill, um, f- to allow those folks to become peace officers in our state. But, um, this is Darlene Lynch. She really is my expert who can answer that question definitively.

Senator Payne:

Okay, thank you.

Chairman Hickman,

So again, tell us who you are and-

Darlene Lynch – (Coalition of refugee Services (CRSA):

Sure.

Chairman Hickman:

… then who you represent.

Darlene Lynch:

I’m Darlene Lynch, and I’m a lawyer here in Georgia, and I represent the Business and Immigration for Georgia Partnership. It’s a partnership of, um, refugee and immigrant serving agencies in the business community, um, and so to answer your question, uh, as- as Senator Jackson said, it’s not possible to become eligible after you’re here. You have to be admitted to the United States as a special immigrant visa holder. So a- an interpreter from, um-

Senator Payne:

Oh…[inaudible 00:05:15].

Darlene Lynch:

… Nicaragua would not have that, w- would- would not have that ability. They’d have to be from Afghanistan or Iraq. However, if they were a Humanitarian Parolee, um, approved before coming to Georgia, yes. They- they’d be-

Senator Payne:

Okay. So this is specifically for those in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Darlene Lynch:

And for others who have Humanitarian Parolee, other special immigrant status.

Senator Payne:

Okay. Okay.

Darlene Lynch:

But it’s not something you can-

Senator Payne:

The reason I identified that, because this was [inaudible 00:05:42] Nicaragua was our [inaudible 00:05:44] (laughs).

Darlene Lynch:

[inaudible 00:05:46].

Senator Payne:

And that is always one of those questions that… He- he fled Nicaragua in a very t- tough time and- and joined the military to serve our country.

Darlene Lynch:

Mm-hmm.

Chairman Hickman:

Senator Moore.

Senator Colton Moore:

Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. So I’m just trying to understand what a special immigration status is.

Sen. Jackson:

Sure.

Senator Moore:

And, um, if I, if I read it off the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Homeland Security website, it says, “Special immigrant is a noncitizen who qualifies for a green card after meeting certain criteria. So, it doesn’t say anything about assisting the US or the state of Georgia, for that matter.

Sen Moore:

Do you want to [inaudible 00:06:27]?

Darlene Lynch:

So the… We’re… this bill addresses three categories of people: refugees, I think most folks are familiar with the US refugee program that dates back from the Vietnam War, and the Un- and Georgia’s program dates back four decades. Special immigrant visa holders are… There’s three programs that the US government have set up. The oldest program, they’re all referenced in the bill, would apply to interpreters from Iraq and from, um, Afghanistan who served as interpreters and translators for certain periods of time and applied for an SIV and then came here.

The more recent programs, there’s another one for Iraqis, and the most recent one for Afghans, who had supported or acted in a trusted role with the US government. They have to get approved by the- the head of mission, um, and then they apply for an SIV, uh, uh, permit. They wait many, many years, up to three years now, to get that. And then they come. So, all three of those SIV programs are for people who supported the US military or the US mission in those countries. And then the last program is for Humanitarian Parolees.

Sen Jackson:

And just to hopefully alleviate some of your concerns, we do spell out the exact code section in the federal law. If you look in lines, uh, 19, starting line 18 through 22. So we’re not, um, we’re not talking about just special immigrants, but we do specify the exact, um, types of special immigrants that, um, Ms. Lynch just a- Attorney Council Lynch just referred to.

Senator Moore:

Okay. Yeah, I’ll certainly have to go read those. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman Hickman:

Okay. Senator Burns?

Senator Burns:

Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And- and, uh, thank you to the author and to those who support the legislation. I certainly support the concept. Uh, I think, um, it’s a, it’s worthy for us to acknowledge the service of those who’ve helped our country. A few quick questions. Are other states offering similar benefits? Could you, could you, uh, could you share that and kind of give me an idea of what other states might have chosen to do?

Sen Jackson:

Yes. So, uh, there are other states. Tennessee, um, specifically, uh, Council Lynch might be able to add some more. Um, so, some of this is about clarifying the law. If you, if you look there, um, there is a sentence, um, I’ll see if I can refer to the line, where the Board of Regents is given some opportunity to determine. So if you look at, um, I think line, uh, it started on line 12. 12 through 14, um, the Board of Regents has some leeway already written into the law, and so in other states like Tennessee, um, they’ve actually chosen to interpret, um, that those who come as Humanitarian Parolees, who come with these SIVs, that they’re, that they qualify.

They didn’t necessarily… They then interpreted that and decided to have that kind of generous read already. So I know that’s one example, if, uh, Councilor Lynch can offer more.

Darlene Lynch:

Right. And so, different states are doing it different ways, but right now, there are 10 states who passed similar legislations. And some of them include Colorado, V- Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Vermont, both Democrat, Republican states, and now there are five pending, including in Utah as the most recent one. Um, similar legislation to this bill.

Senator Burns:

And thank you. Uh, another followup, Mr.- Mr. Chairman? Uh, how many students do you feel would be a part of this qualifying group?

Sen Jackson:

Yeah, thank you so much for that question, and- and that’s something we’re trying to kind of get a han- handle on. And we’re not, we’re not 100% sure. But we believe it’ll be somewhere in the hundreds. So two, three-

Senator Burns:

You said we’re talking hundreds, not thousands, probably?

Sen Jackson:

We’re not talking, we’re not talking thousands at all. We’re talking somewhere in the hundreds.

Senator Burns:

All right. And then one more. I apologize, Mr. Chairman. But, uh, have you had these discussions with USG and TCSG?

Sen Jackson:

Absolutely. And those s-

Senator Burns:

And are- are they… I- I would… Their response, how do they feel about it?

Sen Jackson:

We- we’re continuing in those conversations.

Senator Burns:

[inaudible 00:10:26].

Sen jackson:

So those discussions have been ongoing. Um, this legislation, I think the fact that we’re having this conversation, this is a bipartisan piece of legislation that many of you, um, on the majority side have signed on. Um, I think will help us in that conversation.

Senator Burns:

Yeah, yeah, it w- it would impact their tuition, but, uh, I recognize that, uh, um, the- they just need to be a part of the conversation. That’s all I ask.

Sen Jackson:

And- and they are. They absolutely are. Would you like to answer that?

Darlene Lynch:

No, [inaudible 00:10:51].

Sen Jackson:

Okay.

Senator Burns:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman Hickman:

Okay. Why- why don’t we bring the company speakers so that they would… Let them have about a minute and a half each.

Sen Jackson:

Excellent.

Chairman Hickman:

And so I’ll- I’ll let you choose.

Sen Jackson:

Um, do you have the list?

Chairman Hickman:

I do.

Sen Jackson:

Actually, I’ve got another list. Do you wanna pick?

Darlene Lynch:

Um, sure.

Sen Jackson:

Which, who’s gonna speak? I think if we have Yonas come first?

Darlene Lynch:

Yes. [inaudible 00:11:13].

Sen Jackson:

Yeah, did you want to testify? (laughs).

Darlene Lynch:

[inaudible 00:11:14].

Sen Jackson:

Well, we’ll begin with Darlene, and then we’ll have Yonas speak.

Darlene Lynch:

[inaudible 00:11:18].

Sen Jackson:

Where do you want them to testify from, Mr. Chairman?

Chairman Hickman:

Yeah?

Sen Jackson:

Where- where would you like… Do you want them to do it from here?

Chairman Hickman:

Oh, sure, right there. Yeah. Go ahead.

Sen Jackson:

Yeah? Yeah. Okay. I’ll switch with you (laughs).

Darlene Lynch:

Um, thank you all, and, uh, for the opportunity to share our support for this bill. Um, and thank you for the sponsors of this bill on this committee. Again, my name’s Darlene Lynch, chair of the Business and Immigration for Georgia Partnership. I want to, um, start by saying this bill arose out of months of work on the House side of a bipartisan study committee on how to maximize Georgia’s global talent. And what we recognized is that one in 10 Georgians is foreign born today. One-tenth of our population. Um, one-seventh of our workforce is foreign born. And yet we have so much talent that we have yet to tape.

And so the Global Talent Study Committee, um, looked at what are the barriers? How can remove the, we remove those barriers? And the number one recommendation was to address the barriers to admission to Georgia public colleges. That was the number one recommendation for really strengthening our workforce. Um, and every member of that committee, both Republicans and Democrats, sponsored the- the bill, the version of the, of the bill you have before you today in the House last year. And that was HB932.

So today, we continue the work, and we have a companion bipartisan bill in the House as well. And that bill is sponsored by Sen- uh, Representative Holcomb and Hitchens, both US veterans. Um, so there’s a lot of support for this bill, um, we’ve been doing a lot of education around this bill. And as I said, it’s part of a national effort to recognize the support that people from other countries have given to our country overseas. I just wanna, uh, clarify a little bit about Georgia’s history, uh, in this, uh, regard. Georgia has a-

Chairman Hickman:

30 seconds.

Darlene Lynch:

Okay. Proud history dating back four decades of welcoming refugees. Um, they’re vetted, screened, and approved by the US, and then resettled with the state of Georgia’s help. We have a state refugee program. And so we resettle a few thousand people every year, including many children and youth who had their education, um, disrupted. The bill makes a very small change, um, as we said, um, to ensure that they are treated as in-state students as soon as they are resettled here, because they have no other state, uh, to go. I’ll end by saying this bill addresses several challenges at once.

Chairman Hickman:

Yes, ma’am. Thank you. That- that’s it. I’m sorry.

Darlene Lynch:

[inaudible 00:13:58]. Okay (laughs). Thank you.

Chairman Hickman:

Sorry. Um, we are short on time…[inaudible 00:14:05]…

Sen Jackson:

Yeah. Um, Yonas, if you could [inaudible 00:14:05].

Chairman Hickman:

Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate that. Give us your name and what you do.

Yonas Abraha:

Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Kim-

Chairman Hickman:

Mm-hmm.

Yonas Abraha – Coalition of Refugee Services (CRSA):

… and Senators, thank you. My name is Yonas Abraha. I am the co-chair for CRSA, which is the Coalition of Refugee, uh, Resettlement, uh, Service Agencies. So CRSA helps the refugee when they arrive here, and the coalition has about 23, uh, different organizations. And before that, if you allow me, I was just sitting here thinking if this would be an opportunity where I come from, I would not have been refugee. So thank you for that. Because most of us end up refugees, leaving our school, our family, everything behind, because of this opportunity democracy offers. So for that, thank you.

So, um, our organization, our coalition supports this bill. The reason we support this bill is as soon as, um, some of the a- agencies receive, they welcome the refugees when they arrive here at the Atlanta Airport. That’s the first airport that they come. Once they come to the airport, the first thing they ask is if they left their school, uh, “I wanna continue my education. I wanna continue my education,” because by doing that is the way for them to give back to the country that has given them opportunity.

And for us to tell them, “Hey, you c- you can’t, you can’t afford it because y- you are considered out of state,” it’s very difficult to explain that, because this is the only state that they have. And a lot of them, they have, s- especially like the Afghanis and now the U- the Ukrainians, they have left s- like, they have certification that they need in order to continue with their career. So for all that reasons, we say this is a fair bill. This is a necessary bill that we needed, because Georgia is one of the best state. I came as a refugee. I’m a [inaudible 00:16:04] refugee.

I came here, went to Cross Hill High School. I went to West Georgia. I went under my undergrad. I like it so much there, I got my master’s from West Georgia. I was even thinking about becoming a professional student, which was not possible, but I like [inaudible 00:16:18]. So, for that, most of Georgians, you know, they help us. For me, for those from my school, for my teachers, all those things I would not have gotten. So we, as the coalition, we are asking for this bill as soon as possible, if it’s possible. Thank you.

Chairman Hickman:

Yes, sir. Thank you. Senator Jackson, one- one more person.

Sen Jackson:

[inaudible 00:16:38]. Just one?

Chairman Hickman:

Yeah. We- we’re running out of time.

Sen Jackson:

[inaudible 00:16:45].

Chairman Hickman:

It’s a great- great presentation. We appreciate them.

Sen Jackson:

[inaudible 00:16:48] fixed here.

Chairman Hickman:

You need to listen up then.

Hassene Alacuzi:

So, thank you.

Chairman Hickman:

Yes, ma’am.

Hassene Alacuzi:

It’s honor to be here and talk about the positive [inaudible 00:17:03]-

Chairman Hickman:

You need to a little louder [inaudible 00:17:03].

Hassene Alacuzi:

… on this bill. I’m Hassene Alacuzi one of the new [inaudible 00:17:08] Afghan refugee in Georgia. I’ve been here for one year and my family relocated here after the Taliban take over the country. Most of my family members are here and we are all excited and motivated to track our career back here. And also we are excited that what the youth provide for us, especially for me as a woman from Afghanistan. Before the Taliban seized in Afghanistan, the number of children out of the school were 3.7. When the Taliban seized in Afghanistan, the Taliban banned women from education.

So the number moved to 6.2 million peoples or children. Today, Afghanistan is the only country that forbidden half of its population from education, which are girls and women. So, the new [inaudible 00:17:59] Afghan and the USA are the only hope of my country. I’m optimistic that one day they leave the country, they break the chain of human right violation, and this inequality of mine, in my country. However, beginning a new life in USA is not easy. We face many challenges.

Since coming to USA or to Georgia, I have been looking for opportunities to obtain my master’s degree in public health in Georgia, and also to support my family financially at the same time. But I couldn’t make this in Georgia. So I didn’t give up. And I lo- I have been, I began looking for opportunities in other state. Uh, happily I made it, and now I’m awarded the prestigious, uh, scholarship of Peter Salama with the School of Johns Hopkins, uh, School of Public Health. And, uh, so, I’m leaving Georgia, but I’m optimistic one day I can be productive to the economy of this country.

Chairman Hickman:

[inaudible 00:19:05].

Hassene Alacuzi:

My second homeland [inaudible 00:19:07].

Chairman Hickman:

Thank you, ma’am. Great. Thank you. Thank you so very much for being here. Um, [inaudible 00:19:12]-

Senator Burns:

Just a, just a quick- quick question, please. First, uh, thank you, thank you for coming and thank you for sharing. Um, where did you, uh, what is your undergraduate work in?

Hassene Alacuzi:

So I did my under-… Ah, yes. I did my undergrad in [inaudible 00:19:23] B- Bachelor of Public Health.

Senator Burns:

Very good.

Hassene Alacuzi:

And then I start working with Minister of Public Health of Afghanistan and then I continue my career with UNICEF or United National Children Emergency Fund as a nutrition officer. And I work with the, uh, Nutrition Emergency and Development program for around five years.

Senator Burns:

Thank you. And- and- and currently, are you employed? Do you have the opportunity to work?

Hassene Alacuzi:

Yes. I’m working as an interpreter with the Department of Public Health of Georgia.

Senator Burns:

Mm-hmm.

Hassene Alacuzi:

With the d-… Yes, thank you so much.

Senator Burns:

Thank you.

Hassene Alacuzi:

Yeah. With the DeKalb County Board of Health Refugee Program.

Senator Burns:

Thank you very much. I appreciate you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Senator Burns:

Thanks for being here.

Hassene Alacuzi:

Thank you. Thank you for the [inaudible 00:20:03].

Chairman Hickman:

Thank you, Senator Burns, for the question. Let’s do one more.

Sen Jackson:

May I have one moment?

Chairman Hickman:

One more please.

Sen Jackson:

Uh, one more speaker or may I close?

Chairman Hickman:

One more, no, one more speaker.

Sen Jackson:

Yeah, oh, well, great. Um-

Chairman Hickman:

I wish we had more time. This is very interesting. But we don’t.

Sen Jackson:

No, that’s- that’s okay. Um, [inaudible 00:20:18].

Speaker 9 (*?):

[inaudible 00:20:18].

Sen Jackson:

David? Um, if David Garcia from GALEO?

Chairman Jackson:

Tell us your name and tell us your, where you come from and tell us what you’re doing now.

David Garcia:

Uh, uh, sure. Thank you for having me. I’m David Garcia. I work for an organization named GALEO Impact Fund. And we advocate for the Latino/Hispanic community throughout Georgia. I’m also a first generation US citizen, uh, Georgia resident, college graduate, and military veteran. Um, I graduated from Marietta High School and joined the Marine Corps shortly after. I served as a US embassy guard in Peru, China, and Serbia, and I also worked as a contractor for the US Department of State in Mexico, Bosnia, and Iraq.

And throughout my time in service, I had the privilege of working closely alongside many host country nationals who- who were vital to- to advancing US entrance worldwide. Uh, during my time in Iraq, I routinely worked with many young Iraqis who had committed most of their lives to supporting our efforts there, and their support, warmth, and commitment to our mission was vital to- to our success. And the same can be said for the thousands of Afghan citizens who’ve supported our efforts out there as well. Um, I currently live in Decatur, Georgia, which is very close to Clarkston, where I volunteer with many refugee serving agencies, including Clarkston Community Center, Refugee Coffee, Friends of, Friends of Refugees, and Clarkston United Methodist Church.

I’ve met many refugees and special immigrant visa holders in Clarkston who served alongside US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. And according to the US t- according to the Atlanta History Center, uh, more than 1,500 Afghans have resettled in Georgia over the past two years. Uh, to me this bill is about supporting a group of- of people undergoing major life transitions and- and I can relate to many of the challenges that they face. Um, adjusting, uh, to life after living abroad was very difficult. Um, my first year back in the US after- after serving abroad was- was very challenging, and- and having structure is key in- in transitioning successfully.

Higher education and the opportunities that come with being a student on a college campus can- can help immensely in easing one’s transition, and I think that making higher education more accessible for a group of people who have supported our country and our foreign policies is the least that we can do. And I ask for your support in this bill.

Chairman Hickman:

Timing was just right. Thank you.

David Garcia:

Thank you.

Chairman Hickman:

Thank you for your service, sir. Appreciate it.

David Garcia:

Thank you.

Chairman Hickman:

Yes, sir. Um, we have, um, oh. Senator Hufstetler?

Senator Hufstetler:

Uh, I can do this later, but I guess I wanna make one point. Obviously it’s finance, y’all working incentives and trying to get people, trying to make the state better. The biggest problem we have in the state right now is workers. The limiting factor on our economy in Georgia is workers. And, um, these people are here legally. So I’ll stop there.

Chairman Hickman:

Thank you. Senator Oorock?

Sen Oorock:

Thank you. Uh, uh, I certainly was gonna lo- start with, um, Mr. Chairman, with the- the- the point of our workforce shortage. But number two, we’ve heard from the chancellor of our great university system about the decline in enrollment, and- and the need he states urgently in our budget hearing. So the need to step up, uh, uh, enrollment figures in our university system. And so we certainly have the slots there, uh, uh, and I think the case has been strongly made, uh, [inaudible 00:23:40] for, uh, moving ahead with this initiative. And let’s catch up with Tennessee.

Chairman Hickman:

Thank you. Uh, I think… I think Senator Williams has a statement.

Speaker 13:

No, I’m just [inaudible 00:23:57].

Chairman Hickman:

Y- you had a previous, uh, what? What number are you? Uh, what number is it?

Speaker 13:

[inaudible 00:24:02].

Chairman Hickman:

S- Senator Jackson. Thank you so much. I wish I- I could listen to this for a long time. I appreciate- appreciate your passion and I know the committee appreciates your passion on this. And thank y’all for being here. You know, we, um, let- let- let’s- let’s move it forward. And not next week, but next session, okay?

Sen Jackson:

May I make one closing statement?

Chairman Hickman:

Yes, ma’am.

Sen Jackson:

Uh, so I do wanna thank you so much for having this hearing. I wanna acknowledge that there’s a family that’s come, um, here that’s from Ukraine, um, they came to witness our democracy-

Chairman Hickman:

Oh, wow, cool.

Sen Jackson:

… to be a part of this conversation. Uh, and so, um, I- I understand we’re on a time limit. But I- I wanted to at least acknowledge their presence and, um, and I do hope that we can continue this conversation.

Chairman Hickman:

We will.

Sen Jackson:

Thank you so much.

Chairman Hickman:

Thank you. Thank y’all very much…….

End of bill intro