Thread: Pickens County to address immigration issue

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Pickens County to address immigration issue
By GERALD GARRETT
Independent-Mail
September 30, 2006

Immigration enforcement may be a federal and state issue, but that isn't stopping Pickens County from throwing in its two cents' worth on the problem that is plaguing communities nationwide: the loss of local jobs.

At its meeting Monday night (Monday, Oct. 2), Pickens County Council is to consider a non-binding resolution calling for the county to "refrain from conducting any business with contractors, bidders, or any company that knowingly uses illegal immigrants as a part of their workforce or sub-contracting" and "discourages the practice of any company or agency permitting the use of illegal immigrant labor."

The resolution was long past due, said council member Ben Trotter, who proposed the move.

"We should welcome those (immigrants) who are here legally and pay taxes," Mr. Trotter said. "But I think, as a country, if we hire people to do work for us who hire illegal immigrants, we are aiding and abetting a crime, and we are just as guilty as they are."

In South Carolina, the estimated Hispanic population is almost 500,000, with up to one-third without proper documentation. Nationwide, federal estimates of illegal immigrants vary from 5 million to more than 11 million.

Mr. Trotter’s main concern, other than the loss of local jobs, is the loss of money to the local and national economy.

"The people in Pickens and Greenville counties raised Cain when Carolina Investors lost $275 million," he said about the local investment company that went bankrupt. "Right now, Mexico’s second largest income source is about $11 billion a year sent back there from their residents working here. That’s money that’s leaving the United States and going to Mexico. We’re going to have to get a hold of this situation.

"As long as they work here legally and pay taxes, they’re welcome just like anybody else," he added. "Our nation was built by residents who came here from other countries, but they did it legally, and they worked and did their part."

Council Vice Chair Neil Smith said he was supportive of the idea, but he has some questions about the purpose it will serve.

"It’s already illegal for employers to hire illegal aliens," Mr. Smith said. "That’s already a federal law. Now, are we going to enforce federal law? The best approach I think we can take when it comes to county business is to say, ‘What’s federal is federal. What’s state is state. And what’s local is local.’ "

"The practical question here," he added, "is what exactly are you going to do? I don’t see the county doing anything about illegal immigration. How do you enforce it?"

County Administrator Champ Hurst noted that the non-binding resolution does not carry the weight of law with it but rather is designed to set a direction for future councils.

"It calls on us not to do business with contractors who knowingly have an illegal alien working for them," he said. "But I don’t know that we have any way to specifically verify what contractors are hiring illegal immigrants. That would have to come from some other source."

Mr. Hurst agreed with Mr. Trotter, however, that if the county does business with contractors and subcontractors who hire illegal immigrants, the county faces some legal liability as a result.

"We don’t normally want to do anything that violates the law," said Mr. Hurst, who became county administrator in August. "If we find that somebody’s employing people who are here illegally, then certainly we wouldn’t do business with that company.

"Certainly, immigration is a federal issue," he added. "But once those illegal immigrants get here, the only thing we can do is to avoid violating the law by participating in an illegal act. That’s what we would be doing indirectly by hiring them."

Larger enforcement efforts afoot

The U.S. Congress has struggled this year to pass comprehensive legislation dealing with the millions of illegal immigrants already in the country and the hundreds of thousands more who cross the border between the U.S. and Mexico annually.

Efforts so far have focused on tougher border enforcement, chiefly funding for 700 miles of fencing along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. Other measures include stricter enforcement and a possible "path to citizenship" for those illegal immigrants already here.

A number of states have passed legislation addressing illegal immigration, including such measures as requiring social security numbers for drivers’ licenses and providing proof of legal residences to qualify for state benefits.

A South Carolina legislative committee has begun discussions for consideration of a tougher illegal immigration law in its next session, likely to be patterned after a Georgia law signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue last spring.

Georgia’s law is considered to be one of the toughest in the nation. Among other things, requires proof of legal residence before an individual can begin receiving local, state or federal benefits administered by that state and requires all contractors verify employees’ legal status.

A number of local governments have passed legislation regarding illegal immigrants, most recently Suffolk County, N.Y. It requires roughly 6,000 companies and agencies that have county contracts to refrain from hiring illegal immigrants.

Unlike Pickens County’s non-binding resolution, however, the Suffolk County legislation carries the weight of law and carries penalties including fines and potential jail time.

Among other local governments to weigh in on illegal immigration was Hazelton, Pa., whose legislation would punish employers and landlords for dealing with illegals, has been challenged by the ACLU. Courts also prevented San Bernardino, Calif., from putting a question regarding illegal immigrants to a referendum.

New focus campaign page below. October 2 the council will consider this resolution.

Pickens County, SC Focus Campaign
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