City, county apparently the exception rather than rule on state illegal alien law

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville and Hall County are apparently the exception rather than the rule when it comes to a new state law that requires use of a federal database on illegal aliens. But, a leading advocate of immigration reform in Georgia, D.A. King, takes issue with the use of the database by the two.

According to reports, most Georgia cities and counties are still not in compliance with Senate Bill 529, which mandates that local governments enroll in SAVE, the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program.

SAVE verifies any disbursement for public benefits; Hall County Interim County Administrator and Human Resource Director Charlie Nix said Hall uses SAVE.

"As I understand it we are tied into this program and we have been tied in for the past seven or eight months," Nix said. "We started with the E-Verify program for all of our employment hiring and all of that is what started this program."

Nix said the SAVE database cross checks between the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration, and even other agencies under the SAVE program.

"We put in whatever the data is and it verifies itself; it's a web based system," Nix added.

City of Gainesville Human Resources Director Joan Sheffield said SAVE is having its intended deterrent effect; since the city started using the program only a handful of illegal aliens have attempted to apply for benefits or become employed.

"We don't get near the number we used to have two years ago because the program is in place," Sheffield said.

According to a recent editorial published in the Gwinnett Daily Post, activist D.A. King, whose Dustin Inman Society opposes illegal immigration and employment, said only nine of Georgia's 535 cities and 159 counties as of April were enrolled in SAVE or had applied to be in the system.

And, King told AccessNorthGa.com Tuesday, "neither Hall County nor Gainesville are on the June 23 list supplied by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of SAVE users."

Public benefits not only include welfare and social entitlements; the term also means all professional licenses and commercial licenses from a state or local government agency.

King maintained that each time a Georgia city or county issues or renews a license without verification from SAVE, or getting a sworn affidavit of citizenship or lawful presence from an applicant, that local government violates state law and an illegal alien gets entitlement.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2008/7/211238