The abysmal economy and the unavoidable fact that at least 15 million Americans are out of work has apparently killed the 2010 illegal alien/criminal employer amnesty legislation. Even the Obama White House can see that the ridiculous argument promoted for so many years that we must grant amnesty because of some contrived "labor shortage" and that there are "jobs Americans will not do" won't fool enough people this year.

It would be a mistake to gloat about the likely demise of the 2010 "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" scam. Including an "Amnesty Inc." open borders coalition of "conservatives" such as Grover Norquist, the chambers of commerce and leftist radical groups like the National Council of La Raza, many powerful people will never stop the attempt to create the international free flow of labor and the lowest possible wages in America.

After a campaign promise to get legalization done in his first year in office, Obama threw the radical La Raza network under the bus in his State of the Union speech by avoiding the amnesty issue, aside from just 37 words near the end of his speech: "And we should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system to secure our borders, enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation" said the president. Oops.

The La Raza mob is seething, and collectively threatening to stay home for the mid-term elections. Maybe they backed the wrong candidate. John McCain had promised to present a comprehensive immigration reform to congress and "would do it in the first day" of his RINO (Republican in Name Only) reign.

It should also be noted that Obama's remarks amounted to 37 more words on illegal immigration and that crime's consequences than were uttered by anyone at a recent Gold Dome rally staged by "a coalition of coalitions" called the "Conservative Leadership Coalition of Georgia." The rally included at least one Tea Party group.

One of the greatest fears of the upper management in both political parties is that the Tea Party movement will aggressively take up the border security/ immigration issue. So far, though, no worries. Anybody ever heard of a Tea Party rally against illegal immigration and illegal employment - while our neighbors stand in the unemployment line? Me neither.

Which brings us to the Cobb County Courthouse Criminal Construction Caper ... and existing law. Let's get something straight: It has been a federal crime since 1986 to knowingly employ illegal aliens.

In 2006, state Sen. Chip Rogers (R-north Cobb) courageously stood up to an assortment of powerful anti-enforcement forces and authored what was then the most advanced and effective state level illegal immigration legislation in the nation. During a long international media frenzy, he was called a variety of dreadful names, had a map to his family home published on the front page of a foreign-language Atlanta newspaper and received threatening late-night phone calls.

Rogers is an American hero. His legislation, the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, passed and was signed into law.

It includes language that requires public employers and their contractors - and their subcontractors - to use the federal E-Verify database. The law is unambiguous: "Subcontractor" includes a subcontractor, contract employee, staffing agency, or any contractor regardless of its tier" (OCGA 13-10-90).

Enough with the "sub-sub-contractor" imagined "loophole" conversation. Let's all stop the redefinitions and get to work on protecting the American worker in Georgia.

A recent AP report on the illegal alien population in Georgia uses a quote from a specialist in demographic trends at the University of Southern California, Dowell Myers. "The only way you're going to get the illegal immigrant population in Georgia to go down is to legalize them or get rid of the jobs," observed Myers.

He is half wrong. We tried the legalization reward in 1986. It doesn't work. Let's resort to "Plan B." Let's enforce the law on jobs.

Many elected officials need to listen more closely. We The People have had enough. We need more heroes.

E-Verify use should be a requirement for obtaining and renewing a business license. It should be very costly for all concerned to violate Rogers' 2006 law - a law that says we must obey the law.

D.A. King is a nationally recognized authority on illegal immigration and president of the Cobb-based Dustin Inman Society, which advocates for the enforcement of immigration laws. On the Web: www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org