Thread: Horry County, SC Proposed law boosts violations' penalties

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/ ... 720832.htm

Proposed law boosts violations' penalties

10/11/2006

By Travis Tritten
The Sun News
Horry County may become part of a growing number of localities considering new laws to stem the tide of illegal immigration.

A proposed law, sponsored by Myrtle Beach County Councilman Marion Foxworth, would fine Horry County landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and temporarily revoke the business licenses of those who employ them.

The county is following the path of many other local governments, including Beaufort County, despite some legal challenges elsewhere and a lack of accurate local data on the size of the problem.

Foxworth said the law would protect local businesses and residents who are competing against a low-cost illegal workforce, made up mostly of Hispanics who have crossed the southern border of the United States in recent years.

"Obviously, we can't send 12 million people back across the border, but if we don't start trying to get a handle on it in quick succession, we are going to have a bigger problem than we have now," he said.

Foxworth's proposal is expected to go before the county Infrastructure and Regulation Committee in coming weeks, where a more detailed plan will either be hammered into legislative language or be rejected. If it survives committee, it must be approved by the 12-member County Council.

While overall immigration rates have fallen nationally since highs in the late 1990s, many of the more than 1 million who come to the United States each year are attracted to the growing economies of South Carolina and other southern states, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

"In the South ... the local economies are growing robustly, even as some undergo dramatic restructuring. Such conditions have acted as a magnet to young, male, foreign-born Latinos migrating in search of economic opportunities," according to a center study released in 2005.

Immigration has traditionally been an issue for the federal government. But as local pressures build over a massive influx of legal and illegal immigrants, state and local governments such as Horry County are more often taking the lead.

State legislatures across the country, including South Carolina, considered 500 pieces of immigration legislation and passed 44 bills this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Beaufort County is now considering a law that would make it illegal to employ illegal immigrants - landlords do not face any fines for now - but the proposal is still in the early phase of committee review and has not reached that County Council, county spokeswoman Suzanne Larson said.

"We are trying to come up with an ordinance that will work here. Council felt that the business license process would be the best route to go," she said. The county committee wants "to get it through as quickly as possible to council."

Both Larson and Foxworth said the proposals are based on a law passed by Hazelton, Pa. That town's law, which punished those who employ or rent to illegal aliens, triggered a court battle with civil rights groups that is still playing out.

Foxworth said he has been approached by residents across the county who have complained about having to compete with illegal immigrants for jobs and work contracts.

Business owners such as construction contractors find themselves losing out on bids, Foxworth said.

"They are being underbid by people who are using illegal labor," he said.

The new law would likely open jobs to local businesses that follow the law and to residents from nearby counties where unemployment is high, Foxworth said.

It could also slow growth by cutting off an illegal, low-cost workforce, he said. The details of the proposal have yet to be worked out and fines could still vary widely, Foxworth said.

It is unclear how Horry County businesses and landlords might react to the proposal and how it might affect the local economy, said Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

There may be support from the majority of Horry County businesses and residents, who do not depend on illegal immigrants to make money, he said.

"I think the bigger picture is those employers ... who are trying to follow the rules yet they have a competitor down the street who is not," he said.

Meanwhile, there are no accurate statistics on illegal immigrants in the county, making it difficult or impossible to draw conclusions on the law's economic effect, Dean said.

Other problems may arise over enforcing the law because no existing laws requiring landlords to check the legal status of tenants and because federal rules on reporting contract labor, such as workers used on construction projects, remain "complicated and extremely inefficient," he said.

If the county passes Foxworth's proposal, it would be stepping into both those gaps.

"The devil is in the details in terms of how you administer such a program," Dean said.


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Ismith, 1338, I found a link to the Horry County Council members, is this who we need to write to?

http://www.horrycounty.org/council/index.asp

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=44041

Hey nitty,

Horry just became a foucs campaing. See above link!

Dixie

Thanks dixie, I will get on that today!

Sent emails to all 12 coucil members, will post any replys.