That's the job of the immigration department.

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Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel issued the following statement following the U.S. Department of Justice�s denial of preclearance of Georgia�s voter verification process

Atlanta - �The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to deny preclearance of Georgia�s already implemented citizenship verification process shows a shocking disregard for the integrity of our elections. With this decision, DOJ has now barred Georgia from continuing the citizenship verification program that DOJ lawyers helped to craft. DOJ�s decision also nullifies the orders of two federal courts directing Georgia to implement the procedure for the 2008 general election. The decision comes seven months after Georgia requested an expedited review of the preclearance submission.

�DOJ has thrown open the door for activist organizations such as ACORN to register non-citizens to vote in Georgia�s elections, and the state has no ability to verify an applicant�s citizenship status or whether the individual even exists. DOJ completely disregarded Georgia�s obvious and direct interest in preventing non-citizens from voting, instead siding with the ACLU and MALDEF. Clearly, politics took priority over common sense and good public policy.

�This process is critical to protecting the integrity of our elections. We have evidence that non-citizens have voted in past Georgia elections and that more than 2,100 individuals have attempted to register, yet still have questions regarding their citizenship. Further, the Inspector General�s office is investigating more than 30 cases of non-citizens casting ballots in Georgia elections, including the case of a Henry County non-citizen who registered to vote and cast ballots in 2004 and 2006.

�It is important to underscore that not a single person has come forward to say he or she could not vote because of the verification process. Further, while DOJ argues that the process is somehow discriminatory, the historic voter turnout among Hispanic and African-American voters in the 2008 general elections clearly says otherwise.

�This decision provides a specific example of the inherently illogical and unfair nature of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. It is a sad day for the rights of our state and for the integrity of our elections. I remain committed to continuing the fight for citizenship verification. In the coming days, I will consider every option available to the state, including the possibility of legal action.�

As required by law and ordered by federal courts in October 2008, the eligibility of new applicants to register and vote is checked against the Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS) and Social Security Administration databases to ensure that individuals registering to vote report similar information. If information in these databases does not match information reported on the voter registration form, the applicant is asked to clarify the information. Additionally, if the applicant previously reported to DDS that he or she is not a U.S. citizen, that person is asked by a registrar to provide proof of citizenship.

Prior to the November 2008 General Election, Secretary Handel sent letters to 4,771 voter registration applicants whose records at DDS indicated they were not U.S. citizens, asking them to provide documentation of their citizenship. As of March 2009, 2,148 of these applicants still have chosen not to resolve the question about their U.S. citizenship.

In the November 2008 General Election, county election officials reported that 599 individuals cast a challenged ballot because the voter had previously indicated to DDS that he or she was not a United States citizen and had not resolved their status with county officials at the time of the election. Of those, 369 ballots were accepted because the voter provided documentation of their citizenship after the election; and 230 were rejected because the individual chose not to confirm his or her citizenship status.

On October 10, 2008, activist organizations including the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit to attempt to prevent Georgia from verifying the eligibility of applicants to register and vote in the November General Election, including whether those individuals were citizens of the United States.

On October 16, 2008, U.S. District Court Judge Jack Camp denied the motion by MALDEF and ACLU; directed the State to continue the verification process; and acknowledged the State�s requirements to verify information under the Help America Vote Act. In his order, Judge Camp stated:

HAVA requires that Defendant Handel match information in the statewide voter registration database with information from the Georgia DDS and the SSA databases �to the extent necessary to enable each such official to verify the accuracy of the information provided on the applications for voter registration.�

As we prepare for the expected Congressional battles over immigration numbers this fall, it�s a good time to take stock of the urgency of our cause and the tools we have available to help fight for lower immigration numbers.

This video captures the essence of NumbersUSA and is a must-see for anyone who wants to fully understand the basic information behind our work.

Or, you can cut and paste this link into your browser:
http://www.numbersusa.com/content/resources/video/recommended/immigration-numbers.html

There is, perhaps, no better way to quickly understand the essence of NumbersUSA than to watch

this video. If you haven�t already seen it, you must watch. If you have, I recommend taking another look or forwarding it on to your friends and family.

For more information and feedback on the video, please see my recent blog entry: http://www.numbersusa.com/content/nusablog/bealea/august-25-2008/13-minute-video-heart-numbersusa.html.

This is a major bone of contention with me and unfortuately both candidates want to give these illegals a "path to citizenship"......er amnesty. I believe this is a large part of what is wrong with the economy:

2. Big business wants cheaper labor. Illegals work for less with no benefits so what follows? They depress wages for American workers. Remember Bush's favorite saying (haven't heard him say that in awhile) "they do jobs Americans won't do." There is no job American workers won't do if the pay is right. Cherokee Casinos have obvious American citizens doing work, including cleaning the bathrooms, they don't employ....well, I'll say it...Mexicans. I believe they pay them around $9 an hour. Cleaning bathrooms isn't a job that I would like to do but Americans are doing it. Most of the construction jobs are done by Latinos. Those jobs used to pay well but now an American citizen is passed over in favor of hiring illegals.

3. A lot of our economic problems I think are because banks gave loans to illegals, knowing full well they might default on the loans.

From what I see we are not getting the cream of the crop immigrants, we are getting the bottom of the barrel that tax our welfare system and get free medical care while LEGAL citizens go without. Your neighbor is a classic example, come here illegally, have a kid and you're here to stay. The first thing that needs to go is the "anchor baby" thing. How the heck can a child born to ILLEGAL parents become a citizen automatically. Ridiculous.

Please note, these are from 2008 before the election, but I think they still hold true.

In fact, you can also check out Emanuel, Holder, McCain, Napolitano, Clinton, here:

Sensenbrenner: Bush Turned Back on Bill

Key House Republican Jim Sensenbrenner says Bush turned his back on immigration bill

(AP) Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who has pushed a tough border security bill through the House, accused President Bush on Wednesday of abandoning the legislation after asking for many of its provisions.

He basically turned his back on provisions of the House-passed bill, a lot of which we were requested to put in the bill by the White House, Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., angrily told reporters in a conference call. That was last fall when we were drafting the bill, and now the president appears not to be interested in it at all.

Sensenbrenner chairs the House Judiciary Committee and would be the House's chief negotiator on any final immigration package for Bush's signature. He said it was the White House that had requested two controversial felony provisions in the bill the House passed last winter.

We worked very closely with White House in the fall in putting together the border security bill that the House passed, he said. ... What we heard in November and December, he seems to be going in the opposite direction in May. That is really at the crux of this irritation, he said of Bush.