Thread: SC: Illegal immigration bill tops list; Enforcement standard

Illegal immigration bill tops list; Enforcement standards await lawmakers

The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
June 10, 2011
By YVONNE WENGER
COLUMBIA, SC

New illegal immigration enforcement standards will be headed to Gov. Nikki Haley's desk within days.

Senate leadership said Thursday a bill designed to authorize state and local law enforcement to report illegal immigrants to federal authorities is first up when lawmakers return to the Statehouse next week.

The legislation will require officers to check immigration status during a traffic stop or an arrest if they suspect the person is in the country illegally.

The identity and address of any illegal immigrant identified will be reported to federal agents for action.

Meanwhile, Gov. Nikki Haley said she received a call today from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to resolve an issue that has blocked the state from enforcing the 2008 anti-illegal immigration law in recent weeks.

Haley said in late May that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told the state it could not use E-Verify documentation to check whether a company's workers were legal.

Haley blasted the agency publicly for ignoring the state's requests to settle the matter. The governor said Napolitano returned her calls after the roasting.

Haley, a Republican, said she wants Napolitano to give her an agreement that authorizes the state to rely on the online system that uses Social Security numbers to screen new workers.

"She understood the urgency of it," Haley said.

Haley said she needs to review the Legislature's latest version of the immigration legislation before she could say whether she will sign it into law.

"I am absolutely in support of illegal immigration reform in a very strong way," the governor told The Post and Courier.

Passage of the bill comes over the objections by a few that the new enforcement requirements will lead to racial profiling.

Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said Republicans are pandering.

"I think all the members of the General Assembly are realizing what we're doing may be wrong," Ford said. "It is convenient for them to do this because they are going to satisfy most of the people in their districts who they feel want them to take this hard-core position."

Lawmakers also want to tweak a 2008 illegal immigration law by replacing fines as an enforcement tool with the ability of the state to suspend or revoke, temporarily or permanently, licenses that allow businesses to operate.

The law also will be altered to require that businesses use E-Verify to check immigration status, rather than state-issued IDs.

The changes were proposed to ensure the state is on sound legal footing following a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on a similar law in Arizona.

If the Senate passes the bill on Tuesday, as expected, it will go to the House for a final vote.

The House could agree with the changes on the spot or appoint members to negotiate a final version with senators in a conference committee.

Either way, Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, and Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, said they expect to finish work on the bill very quickly.

"I believe those boots on the ground - law enforcement officers in every jurisdiction - will make a very meaningful impact on the illegal immigration issue in South Carolina and do so in a very reasonable way," Martin said.

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/En ... 38&start=5

Employers using illegal labor should be fined AND have their licenses suspended.

They need to start contributing to the cost of using illegal labor which falls much more heavily on the States - Medicaid, schooling, law enforcement and all the other ills that illegals bring to the States.

We need to make this an across the board crackdown on illegals and also to go after those who aid, shelter, encourage and employ them.