The state Immigration Enforcement Review Board had appointed a subcommittee in June to look into accusations by Michael Dale Smith of Twin City that officials in Vidalia — home to Georgia’s famous sweet onion crop — were giving illegal immigrants safe harbor by allowing them to work and live in the city limits. City officials had denied his allegations, and review board member Phil Kent said at Thursday’s meeting that the subcommittee “didn’t find anything actionable.”
The board also discussed whether or not to take up three complaints filed in July by anti-illegal immigration activist D.A. King and ultimately decided to form a subcommittee to keep track of progress on one complaint and decided to delay action on the other two.
A three-member subcommittee was formed to gather information about King’s complaint that alleges the Department of Community Affairs is not complying with its obligation under state law to collect specific information from government agencies that administer public benefits and to compile that information in a report by Jan.1 of each year.
Commissioner Mike Beatty said that the department is trying to educate all the agencies and hopes to have full compliance as soon as possible.
“There was not widespread knowledge (at the department) that something was going on that wasn’t supposed to be going on,” he said, later adding, “If we messed it up, we messed it up trying to do what we thought was right.”
King’s other two complaints each list multiple agencies — one includes a list of more than 1,200 — that he says are not complying with parts of state law governing illegal immigration that require them to provide information about their compliance to either the state auditor or the Department of Community Affairs.
Post a Comment