Two sheriffs from large suburban Atlanta counties who cooperate with federal authorities under the federal 287(g) program to apprehend and deport illegal aliens have written letters to Georgia’s U.S. Senators David Perdue and Johnny Isakson opposing President Barack Obama’s nomination for a federal judgeship of DeKalb County State Court Judge Dax Lopez. Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway and Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren declare that Lopez’s service as a longtime director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) show that he aligns himself with “a radical organization” that, in the words of Conway, “promotes blatant disregard of existing federal immigration laws.”
Both sheriffs note that GALEO supports amnesty for illegal immigrants and opposes Georgia sheriffs’ cooperation under the 287(g) program. “From the moment we began working with ICE (Immigration Control and Enforcement) there has been a constant effort by GALEO to discredit, discourage and disband the partnership,” Warren says. “In fact, in my 38 years of law enforcement service in Cobb County, including 11 years as sheriff, I have never seen an organization work harder against the interest of Georgians. They have insulted the front line of law enforcement officers that protect our nation’s borders while aggressively lobbying against legislation intended to protect our citizens here in Georgia.”
Both sheriffs say that Lopez’s service as a GALEO director is “a conflict of interest.” Both Georgia senators have not taken an official position on the nomination. (An initial on-the-record statement to a reporter favoring Lopez by one of Senator Isakson’s advisors, Marietta attorney Robert Ingram, has been disavowed by Isakson’s office.)
The U.S. Senate must vote to confirm all federal judicial nominations, and Perdue serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee which could consider the nomination sometime this fall. There is speculation that the Lopez nomination could die a slow death if one of Georgia’s senators doesn’t hand in a so-called “blue slip” which by tradition is required for a judgeship nomination to go forward. Some Capitol Hill observers also tell InsiderAdvantage that Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, could simply kill the nomination by bottling it up in committee until Obama’s presidential term expires.
