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Illegal-immigrant ordinance lacks opposition
BY JEREMY HSIEH, The Beaufort Gazette
Published Saturday, October 7, 2006
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BEAUFORT -- Since Beaufort County Councilwoman Starletta Hairston introduced a measure to crack down on the hiring of illegal immigration last month, the effort has moved forward virtually unopposed.

In contrast, the small towns of Valley Park, Mo., and Hazleton, Pa., have become lightning rods of national attention for similar illegal-immigration measures, drawing lawsuits from heavy-hitting national civil rights organizations and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis. Both Beaufort County and Valley Park's measures are based on Hazleton's Illegal Immigration Relief Act.

All five County Council members who make up the committee where the measure originated said this week that they had received no negative feedback -- except for a letter from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund -- about the proposed amendment. It would make it tougher for county businesses to hire illegal immigrants.

The national civil rights group's letter, dated Oct. 2, singled out a section of the proposed ordinance that created a $100-per-day fine assessed to landlords for each illegal immigrant allowed to rent an apartment or home.

The section, which was from an old draft of the ordinance, required the creation of a county rental-permitting process to make the measure enforceable and blurred lines between federal and county jurisdictions of immigration law.

Much of the letter's impact evaporated following county attorney Kelly Golden's Monday presentation of a revised version of the ordinance, which had dropped the section on harboring illegal immigrants.

The revised version makes the county's business-license office a clearinghouse for complaints about illegally employed workers. It uses three-day and 20-day business-license suspensions as penalties for businesses with illegal workers.

The measure encourages a business owner's voluntary enrollment in the federal Basic Pilot Program, which verifies Social Security numbers and checks an employee's status with the Department of Homeland Security. Businesses must enroll in the program to be eligible for county grants and contracts of more than $10,000.

Enrolled businesses will not be subject to license suspensions under the county amendment for violations that occur after verification under the program.

Support for the measure has been overwhelming, with local residents consistently speaking against illegal immigration at county functions. State Rep. Richard Chalk, R-Hilton Head Island, commended Hairston on Tuesday for "bulldogging" the issue.

"Every conversation I have -- the natives are getting restless," Hairston told the delegation.

"My computer is smoking," Councilwoman Margaret Griffin said of the flood of e-mails she has received.

The Beaufort County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, based on Hilton Head, doesn't have a stance on the measure yet, said chapter president John King. It will meet to discuss immigration Tuesday.

Unlike the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the Diocese of Charleston, which oversees all Catholic churches in South Carolina, has not taken a stance and hasn't received any inquiries about the matter, said diocese spokesman Stephen Gajdosik.

St. Peter's Catholic Church in Beaufort, which holds a weekly Mass in Spanish, also has not fielded any comments on the matter, church spokeswoman May Inglis said.

If local opposition is to arise, it could come from the business community, said County Councilman Mark Generales, who had warned that the county must brace for legal attacks if the ordinance is passed.

"To do this properly, there's got to be some kind of assessment of the impact on local businesses," he said.