Rick Jackson, the Republican frontrunner in Georgia’s gubernatorial race, was pressed by his primary opponents this week on his history of hiring illegal alien labor.
“You claim to be tough on illegal deportation, but you’ve got illegals working in your backyard as we speak,” Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a fellow Republican candidate, said Monday night. “Who’s the real Rick Jackson?”
Jackson refuted the claim by stating that he is not aware of the immigration status of his employees.
Jones later raised the charge during a segment in which candidates were allowed to question one another directly.
He pointed to criticism that Jackson, while calling himself President Donald Trump’s strongest ally in the race, has donated to Trump rivals such as Liz Cheney and Nikki Haley, profited from staffing abortion doctors at Planned Parenthood, and hired illegal immigrants to perform landscaping work at his home.
Jones also referenced a legal case involving Jackson Investment Group LLC, and its subsidiary JIG Real Estate LLC. The case reportedly alleged that the companies—led by Jackson as CEO—employed multiple workers without proper employment authorization documents to perform landscaping services.
“So, you don’t have any illegals working for you right now?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Jackson replied. He said he was not directly involved in hiring individual workers, noting that he employs thousands of people each year and relies on others to manage hiring and verification. Jackson said his companies obey the law and use employment verification procedures, before Jones cut him off.
“It’s just a yes or no answer,” Jones responded. “I asked him if he has illegals working for him right now. He said he did, and then he said he didn’t.”
Moderators then moved the debate on.
Ahead of the debate, the New York Post reported on legal documents from a workers’ compensation case involving Jackson that allegedly stated he had “maintained a long‑standing workforce of multiple laborers performing landscaping and property maintenance work for decades,” including individuals without work authorization.
According to the report, Jackson testified in a deposition that he was unaware any workers were undocumented but also acknowledged not personally vetting new hires using required I‑9 employment verification forms.
In the same deposition, Jackson reportedly said he was not directly involved in hiring decisions and primarily interacted with a landscaping superintendent.
“I know that sounds confusing,” Jackson said in the deposition, according to the report. He added that employees were often hired through other entities affiliated with his businesses and that he was unsure whether JIG Real Estate directly employed workers from a payroll perspective.
Jackson has said that if elected governor, he would prioritize deporting criminal illegal aliens. In a recent campaign advertisement, he said, “I don’t care if you’re Muslim or Mongolian, you don’t have the right to force your culture on our country,” adding that criminal illegal immigrants would be “deported or departed” under his administration.
Asked about the exchange at the debate, Jackson’s campaign told Fox News Digital that “it’s just like a corrupt politician to attack Rick over someone hired by his landscaper.”
“Rick would never knowingly hire someone in the country illegally, and as governor, he’ll make Georgia No. 1 in criminal illegal deportations,” the campaign added. “The takeaway from this debate is the universal agreement that Burt Jones has used his office corruptly to enrich himself and attack his political opponents.”
The Republican primary—featuring Jones, Jackson, Attorney General Chris Carr, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and others—will be held May 19.