SC Governor Sanford signs tough illegal immigration bill
Posted on Thursday, June 05 @ 10:47:10 EDT
Topic: State Laws Immigration illegal legal
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 Posted on Wed, Jun. 04, 2008
Sanford signs illegal immigration bill
By SEANNA ADCOX - The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. --Gov. Mark Sanford signed legislation Wednesday that
threatens to temporarily shut down businesses and fine them up to
$1,000 per worker if they employ illegal immigrants.
Sanford, surrounded by about 20 legislators, said the measure
reasserts the rule of law in South Carolina - cracking down on the
"wink-and-nod" employment of illegal immigrants. He and legislators
said they hope the ideas spread and force Congress to act.
"The message is loud and clear: Stop the silent invasion of this
state," said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston.
Legislators boasted the measure is the most strict and effective
anti-illegal-immigrant bill in the country. Lawmakers made the law
increasingly tougher as debate progressed, with constituents becoming
more frustrated by the federal government's inaction on the issue.
"It's certainly one of the toughest, if not the toughest," said
Larry Frankel, state legislative counsel in the American Civil Liberty
Union's Washington office.
Rep. Thad Viers, R-Myrtle Beach, predicted the law will lower the
state's unemployment rate, at 5.9 percent in April, because immigrants
will "self-deport" and make more jobs available.
Topics: SC, South Carolina, illegal immigration, laws, legislation, bills, passed, crackdown, taxpayers, employers, state laws
But immigrant advocates warn lawmakers may regret what they've done.
Other states to pass comprehensive efforts include Arizona, Oklahoma and Colorado. Georgia passed the first in 2006.
Arizona lawmakers have since considered creating a guest-worker program
in the state to fill labor shortages. On Wednesday, a federal judge
blocked parts of Oklahoma's anti-illegal immigration law, saying it's
likely unconstitutional.
"The problem with bills that are so harsh is they end up hurting
businesses who have problems finding employees," said the ACLU's
Frankel. "It's also driving people out of state. Some people think,
'That's great; they're illegals,' but it drives out people who are just
not willing to be discriminated against because people assume they're
illegal."
Frankel said the legislation could worsen the economic downturn's affects in South Carolina.
Sanford's signing ceremony, on the next-to-last day of session and
a week before primary elections, ends months of often contentious
debate between the House and Senate on a law legislators said at the
beginning of the year would pass within a few weeks.
The debate centered on whether private businesses with no state
contracts should be required to verify their workers, and how to
legally enforce the requirements.
Under the final version, all employers must either check new hires'
Social Security number through a federal online database called
E-verify or hire workers with a driver's license from South Carolina or
another state with strict requirements.
Employers caught not checking their workers can be fined between
$100 and $1,000 per worker, and if an investigation finds they
knowingly hired an illegal immigrant, their business can be temporarily
shut down, up to 30 days on first offense and five years if caught a
third time.
The state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation will investigate complaints and can randomly audit companies.
Advocates for Hispanics came to the Statehouse on Thursday to urge
the governor to reconsider, calling the measure unfair to hardworking
immigrants trying to provide for their families and a burden to small
business owners.
"We're just human beings who want a prosperous life," said Diana
Salazar, director of the Latino Association of Charleston, an
American-born citizen who said her great-grandmother came here
illegally with just pennies in her pocket.
She was surrounded by about 15 legal and illegal immigrants with
signs reading "America was built on immigrants" and "We are not
terrorists or criminals!"
Salazar warned the law will hurt the state's two top industries,
tourism and agriculture, because citizens don't want the hard labor.
She said election-year politics will have economic consequences.
"There's no way I will be picking those vegetables in 90-degree
heat," she said. "Who does the housekeeping at all those fancy hotels?"
The bill also bans adult illegal immigrants from receiving public
aid, bars illegal immigrants from attending public colleges and
requires them to pay out-of-state rates for private colleges. It
creates felonies for harboring or transporting illegal immigrants and
for forging documents.
Critics have warned it could lead to racial profiling.
Nationwide, more than 1,560 immigrant-related bills were introduced
last year, with 240 becoming law. More than 1,100 bills were introduced
in the first quarter of this year, according to the National Conference
of State Legislatures.
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Posted on Wed, Jun. 04, 2008
A look at S.C.'s new illegal immigration law
The Associated Press
The following are highlights of the illegal immigration bill signed into law Wednesday. It will:
- Require all businesses to verify that newly hired employees are in
the country legally. Public contractors with at least 500 employees
must begin verifying their new hires by January. All other businesses
must follow by July 2010.
- Create civil fines up to $1,000 per worker for failing to verify.
- Require employers to temporarily shut down if an investigation finds they knowingly hired illegal immigrants.
- Ban illegal immigrants over 18 from public assistance, with some exceptions such as emergency medical care.
- Create a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, for falsifying documents.
- Make it a felony to transport or harbor illegal immigrants,
though it provides exceptions for some charities, such as churches and
soup kitchens.
- Ban illegal immigrants from attending public colleges and bar
them from winning state scholarships or grants. They would have to pay
out-of-state tuition at private colleges.
- Allow fired workers to sue their former employers if they're replaced by illegal workers within 60 days.
- Bar gun sales to illegal immigrants.
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Governor signs tough illegal immigration law
Posted: June 4, 2008 03:07 PM PDT
Updated: June 4, 2008 03:19 PM PDT
COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - After years of debate and disagreement, South
Carolina has taken a stand on illegal immigration. And the governor has
turned that legislation into law.
They call it one of the toughest crackdowns on illegal immigration
anywhere in the nation, signed into law this afternoon by Governor Mark
Sanford.
"We've said from day one that
while we're a nation of immigrants, we're also a nation of laws - and
that South Carolina shouldn't be in the business of sanctioning illegal
activity with a wink and a nod," said Sanford.
A key feature of the new law is a so-called "E-Verify" system requiring
employers to verify the legal status of employees through Homeland
Security or with a South Carolina drivers' license.
The law sets up agreements allowing state and local authorities to
enforce federal immigration laws, and a hotline and online services to
report and track violations.
The law requires state and local agencies to verify the status of
adults who apply for public benefits, and it gives local governments a
chance to pass their own immigration laws.
The law also has an impact on colleges, such as no scholarships or
grants for illegals, and no in-state tuition rates at private colleges.
Workers replaced with illegal immigrants can sue their employers. Some
of those employers, especially in agriculture and construction, will
feel the effects of this new law.
Reported by Jack Kuenzie
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