About 100 people showed up at the South Atlanta Tea Party meeting in Peachtree City Thursday night to learn more about illegal immigration, what the law says about it and what the public can do about it.
Illegal immigration is a burden on all of us, local Tea Party leader Cindy Fallon said. She reported that her daughter who lives in Nashville had her apartment burglarized by an illegal alien.
Another way illegal immigrants harm is by using money for education and social services, said Inger Eberhart, a member of the board of directors of the Dustin Inman Society, named for a teen who was killed in an auto accident caused by an illegal immigrant in 2000.
Eberhart cited numbers: she claims that each year Georgia spends $1.37 billion educating children of illegal immigrants. The cost of health care for illegal immigrants in Georgia comes to about $200 million, she said. Aliens who are incarcerated cost Georgia about $22 million a year, Eberhart noted.
In all, she said, Georgians pay about $1.6 billion to serve "people who should not be here."
Remember, too, she said, that Georgia has an estimated 480,000 illegals. Arizona, which has passed a law requiring document checks of suspected illegals, has 460,000, she noted.
Eberhart did not back her numbers with a source. The main thing to keep in mind is that the illegals chose to come here, Eberhart pointed out. "They chose to leave their country," she said. By doing that, they became criminals, she pointed out.
The key to solving the illegal immigration problem is attrition through enforcement, Eberhart noted. If enough immigrants are deported, and if we patrol our borders, the problem of illegal immigration can be stopped.
Eberhart reminded the crowd that illegals come from all over the world. While 40 percent have crossed a border illegally, the remaining 60 percent overstayed their visas. She said law enforcement should do their jobs, but it is up to private citizens and businesses to check when they hire someone.
Fayette County Sheriff Wayne Hannah also spoke to the group about the illegal immigration situation here in the county. He said he had been told Fayette County doesn't have the numbers of illegals the federal government is looking for to be included in the the 287(g) program, which utilizes Homeland Security resources. He said he didn't know exactly what kind of numbers the county would have to post to become eligible. The sheriff said he did know that last year, they booked 5,000 people in the Fayette County Jail, and of those, 11 to 13 percent were not U.S. citizens. He said he could not say that they were all illegals.
Hannah explained the constrictions law enforcement operate under when dealing with suspected, or even confirmed, illegals. For instance, state law says they cannot prevent anyone who is eligible from posting bond, even if they are illegally in this country. "This is Georgia law, not federal law," Hannah said as the audience grumbled its disapproval. "Our hands are tied."
Hannah said he has hope a new program, Safe Communities, will be able to help counties such as Fayette. Safe Communities utilizes a national database of fingerprints to identify illegals, he said. Hannah also said Georgia is working to make it more difficult to counterfeit documents such as driver's licenses.
Hannah told the audience they need to contact their state and federal legislators and let them know their opinions. This point was echoed by Tea Party member Marty Harbin who closed the meeting by reminding the audience that they need to get involved. "Ask the candidates where they stand on this issue," Harbin said.
Protecting our borders is one of the basic jobs of our government, he pointed out. The blame for the current situation can be spread among both political parties, he said. "When Republicans controlled the House and Senate, they did nothing," he reminded the crowd.
"Those who are in office must be held accountable, and it's got to start at a local level," Harbin said. "We need statesmen, not politicians."
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