Atlanta - City repeals ordinance after immigration complaint

City repeals ordinance after immigration complaint

by KATE BRUMBACK
The Associated Press
Monday, April 30, 2012

ATLANTA —

The city of Atlanta has repealed an ordinance that recognized a particular Mexican ID card for city government transactions.

The city council voted April 16 to repeal the ordinance after a complaint was filed with the newly created state Immigration Enforcement and Review Board. The complaint said the ordinance adopted in 2004 violates a new state law targeting illegal immigration by recognizing a Mexican ID card, known as a matricula consular, for city government transactions.

The complaint filed in February by anti-illegal immigration activist D.A. King was the first complaint received by the board, which was also created by the anti-illegal immigration law enacted last year.

The seven-person panel has the power to investigate complaints, hold hearings, subpoena documents and witnesses, and take disciplinary action. If the board finds a "knowing and willful violation or failure to enforce an eligibility status provision," a public employee or agency could be removed from the list of qualified local governments, lose state funds, and could be ordered to pay a fine between $1,000 and $5,000.

"I'm happy to hear about the common-sense repealing of the ordinance," King said Monday.

The matricula consular is an identification card issued by Mexican consulates to Mexican citizens in other countries. The Georgia law says agencies that administer public benefits must require applicants to submit a secure and verifiable form of identification proving eligibility, and it specifically says a matricula consular is not acceptable.

The city has said it did not knowingly and willfully violate the law because the ordinance in question was enacted before last year's law took effect, and pointed out that it took quick action to remedy the situation once it was made aware of the problem. The city is asking the Immigration Enforcement Review Board to dismiss the complaint now that the ordinance has been repealed.

Board chairman Ben Vinson did not immediately respond to calls and an email seeking comment Monday. He has previously said the complaint process could end with a written response if the person or agency that was the subject of the complaint demonstrates that the complaint is not true or that remedial action has been taken.

source: City repeals ordinance after immigration complaint | www.wsbtv.com

Atlanta Bans Mexican ID Card After Anti-Illegal Immigration Activist Complaint
By John Hill on May 1, 2012 in Blog, News, Opinion

http://standwitharizona.com/blog/wp-...ar-300x201.jpg
A stalwart foe of illegal immigration has won a victory over sanctuary city policies in a major U.S. city.

Atlanta has repealed an ordinance that recognized a particular Mexican ID – the infamous “Matricula Consular” card – for city government transactions.

The city council voted to repeal the ordinance – which was adopted in 2004 – after a complaint was filed with the newly created state Immigration Enforcement and Review Board – which was created after passage of Georgia’s Arizona-style immigration law H.B. 87 in July 2010.

The complaint, filed in February by longtime anti-illegal alien activist D.A. King, said the ordinance violated H.B. 87 by recognizing the Mexican ID card for city government transactions. It was the first complaint received by the board.

The “Matricula” has a long and disturbing history in America. Purposely created by the Mexican government and distributed in its dozens of U.S. consulates to facilitate illegal aliens’ exploitation of U.S. social service benefits, it has been used for years by illegals to steal services in sanctuary cities across the nation. It is routinely used to mask identity thieves by creating new false names as needed to escape past wrongdoing. It was even accepted by unscrupulous entities like Bank of America to issue massive subprime loans to illegal aliens, which helped precipitate the start of the housing collapse in 2007-8.

The Consular card is still accepted in dozens of sanctuary cities across America, for social services, for opening bank accounts, and even for boarding airlines, despite being declared insecure and dangerous by the FBI, as one official testified before Congress back in 2003:

Federal officials have arrested alien smugglers who have had as many as seven different Matricula Consular cards in their possession. … These criminal threats are significant, but it is the terrorist threat presented by the Matricula Consular that is most worrisome.

- Testimony of Steve McCraw, Assistant Director of The Office of Intelligence, FBI, before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims, June 26, 2003

McGraw testified that “the Department of Justice and FBI have concluded the Matricula Consular is not a reliable form of identification, due to the non-existence of any means of verifying the true identity of the card holder.”

“At least one individual of Middle Eastern descent has also been arrested in possession of the Matricula Consular card,” McGraw said. Thankfully, America’s ninth largest city no longer accepts these IDs.

Anti-Illegal Immigration activist D.A. King



We salute D.A. King – who has always stood with Arizona and against illegal immigration – for fighting to rid Atlanta of this favorite ID of identity thieves and welfare fraudsters.

Please go to the Facebook page of King’s group, “The Dustin Inman Society” (named for a boy killed by an illegal alien in Georgia who inspired King’s efforts) and LIKE it. Also let D.A. know how much you appreciate his steadfast fight against illegal immigration and amnesty in Georgia and across America.

And does YOUR city or town accept the Matricula Consular card? If you live in a “sanctuary city”, it probably does. Check this LIST of such cities and contact your elected officials (LINK here) – give them the FACTS about this dangerous and insecure ID – and DEMAND they stop accepting it today.
About John Hill
John Hill is the Executive Director of Stand With Arizona, one of the nation's largest organizations opposing illegal immigration and amnesty. SWA's members have been instrumental in passing legislation in states and counties around the U.S., and blocking the DREAM Act in 2010. Join us!
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