Thread: Activist key to crafting illegal-immigration bill

Activist key to crafting illegal-immigration bill
Associated Press
Monday, July 4, 2011

ATLANTA --- With the fate of a proposal to crack down on illegal immigration still unknown in the final days of Georgia's legislative session, the bill's author was spotted several times huddled in hushed discussions in the Capitol hallways with D.A. King.

Activist D.A. King has become a regular face at the Georgia Capitol since leading his first rally there in 2003. He said the Sept. 11 attacks provided his "a-ha moment" on illegal immigration.

King, 59, has been a fixture at the Capitol for years, lobbying lawmakers and rallying supporters for phone and letter-writing campaigns. The broad-shouldered, 6-foot-2 activist's approach is sometimes confrontational and always outspoken.

His advice has been welcomed by some legislators, including state Rep. Matt Ramsey, a Republican in the Atlanta suburb of Peachtree City who wrote Georgia's strict measure.

"I can't think of anybody in my 20 years of working on this issue who has been more adroit in working inside the state Legislature to get legislation actually passed," said Roy Beck, the executive director of NumbersUSA, which pushes for tighter immigration control. "He's just kind of at the top of the heap nationwide in terms of local activists."

Ramsey said King provided integral guidance when drafting the law, and he rallied supporters to pressure lawmakers.

Though a judge last week temporarily blocked two provisions of the law, King claims victory. He cited several parts that were not blocked, saying they "will greatly deter illegal aliens from attempting to take jobs in Georgia."

One will require businesses with 500 or more employees to use the federal database E-Verify to check the immigration status of new hires starting Jan. 1. That requirement will be phased in for all businesses with more than 10 employees by July 2013. Another makes it a felony to use false information or documentation when applying for a job. Also starting Jan. 1, applicants for public benefits must provide at least one state or federal "secure and verifiable" document.

King's critics

The Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center lists King as a "nativist" and has expressed concern about his tendency to call illegal immigrants "invaders" and his contact with other more extreme activists.

"His tactics have generally not been to get up in the face of actual immigrants and threaten them," said the law center's Heidi Beirich. "Because he is fighting, working on his legislation through the political process, that is not something we can quibble with, whether we like the law or not."

Other critics take a harsher view.

"I think he works to push his agenda in a very divisive way," said Jerry Gonzalez, the executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. "One has to look at who this man is. He is a convicted felon who is advising our legislators and our governor on very important policy matters."

King talks openly about his felony conviction. He pleaded guilty in 1977 to a charge of interstate gambling, stemming from work he did answering phones and picking up money for a bookmaker taking bets on sporting events in Alabama. He was ordered to pay a fine and serve two years of probation.

Late to politics

The grandson of a police officer, King grew up in the suburbs of Detroit , served two years in the Marines and built a career as an insurance agent. He had no interest in politics or activism and didn't vote.

In the late 1990s, a Mexican family moved across the street from his house in suburban Atlanta. Before long, he said, about 20 people he suspected of being in the country illegally were living in the three-bedroom home, the yard was full of old vehicles and loud parties disrupted the neighborhood. He complained to his local government about code violations but got no response, he said.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks marked his "a-ha moment," he said.

"I realized if I could have people living illegally across the street from me and there are people in the country who are flying planes into our buildings, this doesn't seem like a big effort at national security," he said.

King stopped working as an insurance agent in 2003 to devote himself full time to his cause and held a rally at the state Capitol that year, the first of more than two dozen. He was profoundly affected by five trips to the Arizona-Mexico border between 2003 and 2006, he said.

He met Billy and Kathy Inman, whose 16-year-old son, Dustin, had been killed in a car crash caused by an illegal immigrant. In 2005, he renamed his group from the American Resistance to the Dustin Inman Society at their request, he said.

"This crisis took more than 30 years to develop," he said. "There is no overnight solution."

He said the federal government has a fundamental duty to secure the nation's borders and follow up on visas to make sure people leave once their time has expired, he said. Federal immigration authorities must also enforce the law so illegal immigrants won't come and won't stay, which he calls "attrition through enforcement." It is also important for English to be the official language of the U.S., he said.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro ... ation-bill

"I think he works to push his agenda in a very divisive way," said Jerry Gonzalez, the executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. "One has to look at who this man is. He is a convicted felon who is advising our legislators and our governor on very important policy matters."

HAHAHAHAHA! Pot meet kettle.

So tell me Mr. Gonzalez, do the Latinos not do the very same thing? YOU seem to think that people in this country illegally have the same standing and rights as a citizen. YOU push a LATINO agenda, even though you are supposed to represent all Americans. Your beloved illegals don't have any qualms about "advising" legislators,governors, congress, hell our so called President! So what's the difference? DA King is a LEGAL citizen... that's what gets your goat isn't it? That he has the RIGHT to do what he's doing. What a freakin' hypocrite you are!

Regarding the Jerry Gonzalez quote: This just seems to be the typical rhetoric of a Latino who's loyalties are to Latinos, not this country. Most Latinos I know have no problem saying that they love this country and then a few sentences later saying thing that indicate where their loyalties really lie.

I live here in Georgia. I know D A King. I am not a personal friend, I just know the good he has accomplished. Gonzales has stated that accusation about D A every time D A is winning on the illegal immigration issue.

It as nothing to do with the issues. It is classic Alinsky. Take the focus off the issue at hand.Gonzales is a Hispanic first person. He has loyalty to those of Hispanic heritage and little or none for America.

Sorry, Jerry, but every time you clash with D A King--you lose!!!