Posted: May 12, 2010 2:32 PM CDT
Updated: May 12, 2010 4:57 PM CDT
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SC pushing for tougher immigration laws

SOUTH CAROLINA (WBTV) - A group of lawmakers in South Carolina are pushing to beef up South Carolina's illegal immigration laws, to resemble Arizona's controversial new policies.

Rep. Eric Bedingfield, R-Greenville, introduced a bill, H.4919, on April 29 to require state and local law enforcement officers to make a "reasonable attempt" to verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being in the U.S. illegally and arrest without a warrant and deport those unable to produce such proof. If the suspected person is not able to provide a valid driver's license or other government-issued forms of photo identification, they would be presumed to be in the country legally.

The bill also requires local law enforcement agencies to check the immigration status of someone arrested for violating state or local law before releasing them from custody. More than 25 state Republican lawmakers have signed on to co-sponsor the bill.

The bill also bans employers from unlawfully hiring and picking up undocumented workers in cars and trucks while impeding traffic and prohibits workers from getting into motor vehicles that are illegally stopped in the right-of-way.


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You can read the bill: http://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess118_200 ... s/4919.htm


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The Arizona immigration bill was signed into law by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer on April 23, requiring immigrants to carry identification and prove they are in the country legally or face arrest and deportation. The law also gives police the ability to verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being illegal.

According to statistics from the Federation for American Immigration Reform - there are 75-thousand illegal immigrants in South Carolina.

The law could affect more than just illegal immigrants.

It's strawberry picking' season in Fort Mill at Springs Farms, and there are a lot of berries to pick.

Ron Edwards at Springs Farm hires 12 to 15 seasonal workers to help pick fruits and veggies. All are Hispanic.

It's not like Edwards hasn't tried to hire locally, but working on a farm with acres of Strawberry, peach, and vegetable fields is a 7 day-a-week job.

"It's hard manual labor and we have a hard time trying to find people to do this work," said Edwards.

His workers don't have to worry about deportation because they are here in the US working in the H2A worker visa program.

"Our guys don't have to look over their shoulder," said Edwards.

H2A is a migrant worker program through the international labor board. They hire out of country workers on visas for farms and businesses in the program.

"They have their passports and all legal documents and they keep them with them."

However, if the Illegal Aliens Enforcement bill is passed in the South Carolina Statehouse -- Edwards feels that Hispanic workers, here legally, won't come to work for him, just because they might get harassed by law enforcement.

"Whoa I couldn't do it without them," said Edwards.

On the other hand, he thinks the proposed law will reduce fear for immigrant workers.

"Cause they have no reason to, cause they know they're here legal," said Edwards.

South Carolina officials will also begin auditing small businesses that tend to hire foreign workers to make sure all employees are in the country legally. The audits will begin July 1 for small companies, but have been going on for almost a year for larger employers.

State Labor, Licensing and Regulation Department spokesman Jim Knight told The Post and Courier of Charleston for a story Sunday that 94 percent of big companies are complying with a 2008 law designed to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the work force.

Knight says he doesn't expected the thousands of companies with fewer than 100 workers to have that kind of compliance.

A study by the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that 40,000 to 100,000 illegal immigrants live in South Carolina.


http://www.wbtv.com/global/story.asp?s=12470475#