Governor Names Roswell Activist to Immigration Enforcement Board

GOP grassroots leader Shawn Hanley and six other men are set to inaugurate a state board that will investigate local governments accused of failing to verify the immigration status of all new staffers as well as their contractors' employees.

"Problems are going to be sent to us" by citizens, explained Hanley, rather than the board having the duty to go seek problems. "That gives us an opportunity to research some of the complaints."

The board is only a small part of the new law's measures that discourage illegal immigrants from coming to Georgia, in part by making it risky for any employer to hire them.

Hanley, the former chair of the Fulton County GOP and former candidate for the state GOP chairmainship, was named to the state Immigration Enforcement Review Board by Governor Nathan Deal earlier this month.

The board will have the power to subpoena documents, hold hearings, issue fines up to $5,000, or cut funding to government agencies that fail to make sure everyone doing government work is in the U.S. legally. The standard is the federal E-Verify database, which matches names against visas, social security numbers or other documents that confer U.S. work authorization. 

The state law specifies that the board can accept complaints from any Georgia "registered voter."

Not all governments or potential contractors are yet set up to use E-Verify.

"Everybody has to make adjustments," Hanley acknowledged. But "the bill has been signed, it's law. There are some things that are illegal today that were legal yesterday."

Yet he also emphasized, "This is a board that is going to focus on law enforcement, but we also want to be helpful, we want to help all the citizens, help the business owners of Georgia" comply with the law.

The board must give agencies 30 days to respond to adverse findings, but will write their own rules on any preliminary steps, which could theoretically include warnings or deadlines or some provision for mistakes made in good faith.

The board includes some attorneys and one sitting sheriff. Hanley, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and now a government relations and procurement consultant, described his role as a grassroots advocate working to ensure that illegal immigrants do not "continue to be a burden to the Georgia taxpayer."

The law takes effect on Jan. 1, 2012, and public agencies need to be ready to hand in their compliance data by the end of 2012. That data should include sworn statements from contractors attesting that they E-Verify.

As for private employers, by Jan. 1, 2012, all those with more than 500 employees must comply. Six months later, so must companies with 100 or more staff. Finally by Jan. 1, 2013, companies with 11 or more employees need to be on E-Verify. Smaller private companies are exempt.

There is no budget figure for the board yet. Its members are unpaid, but can claim reimbursement for board related expenses. The board is attached to the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts.

The other board members are Atlanta attorney Ben Vinson of McKenna Long and Aldridge, Dallas Mayor Boyd Austin, Coweta County Sheriff Mike Yeager, attorney and former GOP state Representative Robert Mumford of Conyers, Colquitt County Commissioner Terry Clark, and Sandy Springs' Phil Kent, national spokesman of the lobby group Americans for Immigration Control. Board terms last two years.

The board is tentatively trying to set its first meeting by Oct. 1.