Rick Jackson, a Republican gubernatorial hopeful in Georgia, is facing heat from critics calling him a “fraud” and claiming he lied during a debate earlier this week when the candidate struggled to answer whether he has illegal aliens working for him.

“I don’t know,” Jackson replied when his fellow Republican frontrunner in the race, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, asked him point-blank whether he has any illegal aliens working for him. 

Jackson explained he was not directly involved in the hiring process in question, but he also said on the debate stage that anyone making hires for him “obey[ed] the laws,” including verifying employment eligibility using the appropriate federal “verification” measures despite saying the opposite during a sworn deposition.

After his contradictory remarks on the debate stage Monday night, Jackson’s critics leaped at the opportunity to call him out, pointing to his sworn remarks from a worker’s compensation case, during which Jackson admitted that new hires were not vetted using mandatory federal I-9 forms meant to ensure employees are eligible to work.

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“Rick Jackson is lying to someone. Either he lied in his deposition under oath or he lied to Georgians on the debate stage,” said political strategist Phil Vangelakos after the debate. “It’s pretty clear that he knows he’s employed illegal immigrants.”

“Richie Rick Jackson is a fraud that will say what he needs to in order to win and is pretending to be a Trump Conservative, when in fact, he is a Bush moderate,” said Georgia Tea Party activist Debbie Dooley, who is unrelated to the football coach turned Republican candidate for Georgia governor, Derek Dooley. “He campaigns against illegals, yet he hires them.”

The criticism against Jackson stems from a worker’s compensation lawsuit Jackson found himself embroiled in, which included documents and records indicating he was paying at least one landscaper at his mansion who is undocumented, possibly more. The story was first reported by The New York Post ahead of Monday night’s debate.

The suit was filed against Jackson Investment Group, LLC, and JIG Real Estate, LLC, which is owned by the former firm. Jackson is publicly listed as the CEO of both companies as well.

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According to the case’s filings, Jackson “maintained a long-standing workforce of multiple laborers performing landscaping and property maintenance work for decades, including individuals without work authorization who nonetheless performed continuous employment for the employer.”

Jackson was deposed as part of the case, during which Jackson indicated he was unaware that his hires were undocumented immigrants. However, according to the deposition, Jackson was aware that his new hires were not being vetted using mandatory I-9 verification forms.

“No,” Jackson replied when asked in the deposition if he does any employment verification through the I-9 system.

In other parts of the deposition, Jackson echoed what he said Monday night, that he was not directly involved with the hiring of workers and only engaged with the landscaping superintendent.

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“I know that sounds confusing,” Jackson explained in his deposition. “But most of our — if we have other employees, we usually hire them through JIG or another entity. I’m talking about if JIG has employees, we hire them through another entity. I’m not sure that we have any direct employees, from a payroll standpoint, out of JIG Real Estate.”

Greg Bluestein, a reporter with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, pointed out Wednesday that it “didn’t take long” after Monday night’s debate for one of Jackson’s leading opponents in the GOP primary battle, which will culminate with a May 19 primary election, to attack Jackson over the inconsistency of his statements.

“No I-9’s, no background checks for decades,” says a narrator in an attack ad from the Jones campaign. The ad then cuts to Jones asking Jackson on the debate stage whether he has any illegal immigrants working for him, to which Jackson responds, “I don’t know.”

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“He knew,” the narrator chimes in. “He’s not just hiring illegal immigrants, he’s lying to Georgians.”

When asked for a response to the backlash, Jackson’s team said that the takeaway from the debate “is the universal agreement that Burt Jones has used his office corruptly to enrich himself and attack his political opponents.” The campaign spokesperson also alleged that much of the criticism targeting Jackson stems from people part of the Jones campaign.  

“It’s like a corrupt politician to attack Rick over someone hired by his landscaper,” the spokesperson added. “In the debate exchange, Rick talked about hiring thousands of people per year, a reference that could only be about Jackson Healthcare, which has used E-Verify since 2012. Rick would never knowingly hire someone in the country illegally and, as governor, he’ll make Georgia No. 1 in criminal illegal deportations.”

The primary election on May 19 will also include GOP front runners Attorney General Chris Carr, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and former college football coach Dooley.