Thread: Immigration Ordinance Passes in Beaufort County

http://www.wtoctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5864582

12/27/06
Immigration Ordinance Passes in Beaufort County

It's a plan to make South Carolina employers responsible for their workers, if they are illegal immigrants.

Wednesday, the Beaufort County Council voted in favor of an ordinance that could take away an business's license if they hire illegals. But some business owners say by passing this they are taking away local employers ability to make money.

"It would break every business," says Flor Chaverri a Beaufort business owner. "Hotels, restaurants, construction, you name it. It would bring it down to pieces, development would crash down."

Council members say illegal immigrants are putting a strain on county resources, like schools. The county school system says it has almost doubled in the past few years, thanks to illegal immigrant children. Children who's parents aren't giving back much needed tax money.

It's a contentious issue which led to heated debate among residents at the council meeting.

"Obviously the federal government has been remiss in doing its job. I think the final declaration that this will make is that this bill is making is more of a wake up call than anything else. To try and get the federal government to try and do something."

"If the federal laws are in place and we've got these laws in place for a reason. Then why not support them as opposed to dovetail into something new."

"No one of us can change the world, but we can change our part of it, our corner of it by doing what we think is the right thing."

In the end, their feelings were heard, but the decision had already been made.

A unanimous vote in favor of the ordinance, and against the estimated 20 thousand illegals working in the county.

And against what they call a lax policy by federal authorities.

"Lets show the Federal government that we want a solution, give them a way to work here," says Beaufort County councilperson Starletta Hairston. "Because I think that the only way that American citizens can compete is if we follow the same rules."

The ordinance will now go into effect sometime next year, but the debate is far from over. Beaufort business owners say they plan to take the county to court to stop the ordinance.

The U.S. Senate judiciary committee is looking into the issue. It could be up for discussion in the full Senate sometime in 2007.

Horayyyyyyyyyyyyyy for Beaufort Co.!

hhhaaa ray .....for them
IT'S TOO BAD SOME OF THESE TOWNS DON'T DO A CLASS ACTION OR STAND UP TOGETHER SO THEY CAN BETTER FIGHT THE UCLA AND THESE OPEN BORDER GROUPS...BECAUSE THEY COME IN AND THREATEN THE TOWNS TO SPEND THEM OUT OF BUSINESS....
I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHERE ARE THE AMERICAN BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS WHO BELIEVE IN AMERICA.....WHY AREN'T THEY STANDING UP FOR THESE TOWNS AND SUPPORTING THEM???

I wonder how long it's going to take the ACLU to get involved?

We have another victory!!!!!!!!!!!

Beaufort business owners say they plan to take the county to court to stop the ordinance.

Look, the crooked business owners that hire illegal aliens are going to sue.

Dixie

VICTORY

http://www.nationalcitynetwork.org/news/444467.html

COUNTY CRACKS DOWN ON HIRING

By Ruth Ragland Morris News Service
The Augusta Chronicle (Georgia)
December 29, 2006

Copyright 2006 Southeastern Newspapers CorporationAll Rights Reserved

BLUFFTON, S.C. - Employers will lose their business licenses if they can't verify the immigration status of their workers.

The Beaufort County Council unanimously approved the Lawful Employment Ordinance in a special session Wednesday.

Council members were in agreement in trying to counter critics who characterized the measure as "a rush job" despite a request from five incoming members that the vote be postponed until they are sworn in next month.

The ordinance is to take effect Jan. 1, 2008.

It will apply to business owners, but not those in the cities of Bluffton, Beaufort or Hilton Head Island.

Councilman Dick Stewart, the only member to vote against the ordinance on its second reading Dec. 11, was absent from Wednesday's meeting.

The ordinance was proposed by Councilwoman Starletta Hairston, who represents Hilton Head Island.

In an article published in the Wall Street Journal, Ms. Hairston and her husband, William, talked about the impact undocumented workers have had on his stucco business.

Initially he profited by hiring immigrants willing to work at lower wages.

But later his business was severely undercut by some of the same workers, who underbid him for jobs.

Ms. Hairston insisted that there was no agenda on her part in proposing the ordinance other than to send a message to Washington that federal law wasn't being enforced.

"We are creating a situation that depresses wages," she said of illegal hiring.

Ms. Hairston is among several council members who won't be returning to office in January.

Each council member spoke in favor of the ordinance, citing the advice of the McNair Law Firm that the measure was written in compliance with federal law. Councilman William McBride said the ordinance was the product of a long process and adequate input.

During public comment, speakers warned of possible discrimination and retaliation against Latinos in the county, against both legal residents and unauthorized ones.

Chris Gomez, an employer on Hilton Head, brought a sign he said he found that listed a toll-free phone number for reporting illegal immigrants.

The ordinance "is little more than what is already on the books," he said. "Expect to be treated differently if you look Hispanic."

Beaufort resident Louise Battle said the ordinance "was ill-advised and ill-considered" and said the council had "wasted time and the taxpayers' money."

Others urged the council to take a different direction and promote a guest-worker program for immigrants or other pathways for gaining legal status. Speakers warned, too, of the potential for lawsuits against the county and of an undue hardship on small business owners because of the ordinance.

Yeah!!!

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

I wonder how long it's going to take the ACLU to get involved?

Funny you should ask Hawk. Not ACLU but just about as bad...................

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local_ne ... 7634c.html

Hispanic civil rights group threatens lawsuit
Beaufort County's immigrant ordinance is discriminatory, legal fund says
Published Fri, Jan 19, 2007


By TIM DONNELLY
The Island Packet
Comments (7) Add Comment
A Washington-based Hispanic civil rights group is threatening a lawsuit against Beaufort County unless the county repeals the controversial illegal immigration ordinance it approved last month.

The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which has successfully fought laws targeted at immigrants in New York and New Jersey, sent a letter to county officials Wednesday citing concerns about the legality of the measure and the potential for civil rights violations. The group said it was acting on behalf of local Hispanic leaders, attorneys and business owners.

"A lawsuit would undoubtedly result in nationwide negative publicity which could potentially cripple Beaufort County's tourism industry," the letter states. "Your revised ordinance duplicates what the federal government requires of business owners and will only serve to burden Beaufort County businesses with a wasteful bureaucracy."

The County Council approved the lawful employment ordinance Dec. 27 after three months of debates and changes to the measure. The ordinance originally would have essentially made the county's business license office a clearinghouse for all complaints and investigations about employers hiring illegal immigrants. But the final version was significantly less severe, calling for little more than what the county already does.

The ordinance allows the county to audit businesses in unincorporated Beaufort County to make sure their employment verification documents are legitimate. If there's a problem, the county can suspend a company's business license, as it could prior to the ordinance.

The ordinance came under fire from business owners and members of the Hispanic community, who said it was onerous to business owners and discriminatory. Others in the community applauded the county's efforts for finally tackling an illegal immigration problem they say the federal government has neglected.

Cesar Perales, president and general counsel of the fund, said the ordinance does little else than foster ill will between different segments of the community.

"All it does is send an expression, an expression that says 'We don't want Latinos in the community,'" he said.

"It really is a bizarre, strange piece of legislation that has very little impact except to express an anti-immigrant -- and in Beaufort County, it's clearly an anti-Latino -- sentiment."

County Council Vice Chairman Skeet Von Harten, R-Burton, said the letter used "scare tactics" to urge the county to repeal the ordinance. But he said the county built in some time to reconsider the ordinance over the next year. Since the law doesn't go into effect until next January, the county plans to watch how similar cases around the country stand up to legal scrutiny.

"Anytime somebody threatens to sue you, you have to consider it seriously, of course," he said. "We can observe and learn from other litigation so we can see what problems we have with ours, if any."

If necessary, the county would fix or eliminate the ordinance, he said.

"I would not put the people of Beaufort County in an indefensible position," he said. "If we're wrong, we'll correct it."

Hilton Head Island, Bluffton and Beaufort, meanwhile, have balked at adopting similar ordinances, citing concerns about trying to enforce federal laws on the local level.

Newly elected County Councilman Stu Rodman, R-Hilton Head, said he received the letter but hasn't formed an opinion on it yet. But he said the council will have to bring up the immigration issue soon anyway because it has to determine how the ordinance should be enforced. That may be the time to renew the debate over the issue, he said.

The Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund was successful in a lawsuit in Mamaroneck, N.Y., this fall, declaring that town's ticketing and harassment of day laborers was unconstitutional and based on race discrimination.
Contact Tim Donnelly at 706-8145 or tdonnelly@islandpacket.com.