Lone Protester- South Carolina and Illegal Immigration 11/14/07


I have been wanting to write an article on the problems of illegal immigration in my home state for a long time now. This state is a sanctuary zone for both illegal aliens and the employers that hire them and the landlords that allow them to fill single family homes to overflowing in contravention to our laws. Our home and commercial construction industry is flooded with illegals and their criminal employers and nothing is ever done to correct the problem. In fact our politicians and law enforcement professional here practice the art of killing the messenger instead of alleviating the problem by simply enforcing our laws. They would much prefer to sweep the problem and it’s effects under a very huge carpet that is beginning to rival Pike’s Peak in size.

If you ask our senior Senator (Graham) how big is the problem, he will more than likely respond with something like South Carolina does not have a problem with illegal immigration. And in fact, if you press Senator Graham on the subject of illegal aliens here, you will more than likely be slammed by him as being a racist and a bigot. If you ask Sheriff Metts of Lexington County about it he will inform you that most Hispanics in the Columbia area are here legally. And forget about getting him and other agencies to try to stem the problem, to my knowledge no cops in this state are trained in the 287g program. Not that it would do any good if they were. I will give you an example of how lax our mayor, the police department and sheriff’s office are when it comes to enforcing the laws that deal with criminal illegal aliens and their employers.

In the June 27th issue of the State newspaper, Jo Dell Pickens of Columbia, who is a roofing contractor is quoted as saying, “I employ 22 illegal aliens, they are a fact of life in the roofing industry here in Columbiaâ€