Thread: New Law Aimed At Illegal Immigrants Signed In S.C.

New Law Aimed At Illegal Immigrants Signed In S.C.


ACLU Vows Lawsuit, Cites Discrimination


Mandy Gaither, WYFF News 4 Reporter


POSTED: 10:12 pm EDT June 27, 2011
UPDATED: 10:38 pm EDT June 27, 2011

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The American Civil Liberties Union has vowed a lawsuit in response to Gov. Nikki Haley’s signing of a new illegal immigration bill.

The law signed Monday afternoon requires all businesses to check their hires through a federal online system and authorizes law enforcement in the state to check a suspect’s immigration status.

"We think the bill is discriminatory and unconstitutional," said S.C.’s ACLU executive director Victoria Middleton. "The bill mimics the unconstitutional Arizona bill 1070, but it even goes further trying to create South Carolina's own immigration enforcement agency further interfering with federal law."

Middleton says the law also allows racial profiling and discrimination.
"We understand the need for serious immigration reform, but this patchwork of state initiatives is really setting back that effort rather than advancing it, and in the process it's going to open anyone who looks foreign in our state to potential discrimination," said Middleton.

State Sen. Larry Martin, a sponsor of the bill, says the law explicitly prohibits discrimination and only allows a person to be pulled over for a legitimate law enforcement reason.

"I think most folks have reached a point that they want to see local law enforcement to have the ability, not to racially profile, not to just indiscriminately pull somebody over, and our law doesn't allow for that, but to have the ability to deal with illegal immigration when they confront it and when it confronts them," said Martin. "The amendments we made on the employment side of the immigration bill, the E-Verify, taking out the fines, we attempted to really go the extra step in complying with the May 26 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Arizona enforcement bill that was ruled on by the court."

Clemson political science professor Dave Woodard says even if a judge overturns S.C.’s new law, South Carolinians are in for a change.

"I'll predict that the Legislature will pass another law that maybe doesn't give law enforcement quite as much authority, but nonetheless gives them more than they have now," says Woodard.

The new law is set to go into effect in January 2012.

http://www.wyff4.com/r/28376799/detail.html

Related:
Haley OKs S.C. immigration cops
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-241870.html