Thread: South Carolina's Illegal Aliens in the Crosshairs

Illegals in legislative cross hairs
By Brian Hicks (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, January 8, 2008



http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jan ... airs26899/

If the United States can't secure its border, state lawmakers say they will at least try to close South Carolina's to illegal immigrants.

But as the General Assembly reconvenes today, there are questions as to whether the members of the House and Senate can reach an accord — and keep the state out of court at the same time.


Brad Nettles
The Post and Courier

South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell (center) talks to the media as Rep. David Umphlett (left) and House Majority Leader Jim Merrill (right) look on.
On Monday, House leadership outlined their plans to give the state one of the toughest anti-illegal immigration laws in the land. Meanwhile, senators have sent their own bill to the House and will push for a constitutional convention to give states the right to deny benefits to illegal immigrants and have them forced out of the country.

Advocates for immigrants say that amounts to the state attempting to legalize racial profiling.

Speaker Bobby Harrell and Majority Leader Jim Merrill said Monday that within a month the House will pass legislation to:

-- Force businesses with government contracts to verify the legal status of their workers.

-- Make it a felony to harbor, transport or shelter an illegal immigrant.

-- Bar illegal immigrants from attending any state college or university and make them ineligible for scholarships.

-- Stop illegal immigrants from benefitting from public programs funded by the state;

-- Punish cities and towns that ignore immigration laws and give sanctuary to undocumented workers.

-- Allow people fired by companies that employ illegal immigrants a civil right to sue.

Audio clip
State House Speaker Bobby Harrell talks about the immigration legislation that will be discussed this session in the S.C. General Assembly
"I've talked to a lot of South Carolinians, and they overwhelmingly say we need to do something about illegal aliens," Harrell said Monday. "Frankly, there are only so many things we can do on our own. But Congress has been unable to do anything. If we want to do something, we'll have to do it ourselves."

House Republicans also want the State Law Enforcement Division to contract with the federal government to enforce federal immigration laws — for a fee. The plan would also make magistrates consider a person's immigration status when setting bail.

Some of these ideas come from Oklahoma, which Harrell said has seen a decrease in the number of illegal immigrants since passing its bill. The state also has been subjected to a litany of lawsuits questioning the constitutionality of its laws.

So far, at least one of those lawsuits has been thrown out of court.

"We are not anti-immigrant," Merrill said. "We just want everybody to play by the rules."

Georgia is another state that has taken on the issue itself, and Harrell said that could force more illegal aliens into South Carolina if the state doesn't act first.

Some of these proposals have been passed by the House before, and they have languished in the Senate. Some senators say their own bill contains many of the same provisions that are on the edge of what is legal for the state to do.

"We could pass a lot of laws that would make good headlines in your newspapers, but they're going to do nothing but make some lawyers very happy," Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell said. "We've got to be very careful so that we don't in the process have a lawyer employability act."

Diana Salazar, president of the Latino Association of Charleston, said the Legislature is trying to legalize racial profiling against people who handle the jobs no one else is doing. She said the economy would collapse without the help of undocumented workers.

And she called claims of 75,000 to 200,000 illegal immigrants in South Carolina costing the state $186 million a year (between $8,000 and $25,000 each) "a bunch of baloney."

"Those people don't get paid like you and I," Salazar said. "They pay into the system, but they don't file returns. What happens to that money?"

Salazar said that while it's true there are people illegally in the country, the discussion ought to be geared toward making them legal.

"These are real human beings," she said.

The other factor in what the state does this year is the Democrats, who say the Legislature will waste its time if Republicans do nothing but posture for votes. House Minority Leader Harry Ott, D-St. Matthews, said the Democratic priorities are education, health care and then immigration.

"The bottom line is we aren't delivering all of the services to the citizens that the citizens deserve," Ott said. "And we're spending way too much time up here trying to get re-elected."

Ultimately, McConnell said, the call for a constitutional convention or any legislation the General Assembly can pass will be little more than a bandage.

"We've got to get Washington to act," McConnell said.


Reach Brian Hicks at 937-5561 or bhicks@postandcourier.com. Reach Yvonne M. Wenger at ywenger@postandcourier.com or 803-799-9051.

Diana Salazar, president of the Latino Association of Charleston, said the Legislature is trying to legalize racial profiling against people who handle the jobs no one else is doing. She said the economy would collapse without the help of undocumented workers.

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!

"These are real human beings," she said.

Yes, these are real human beings who don't give a flying turd about OTHER real human beings (Americans). Why do the papers insist on quoting stupidity?

These are real human beings," she said

So are their victims..

Diana Salazar used just about every single cliche in their mantra. They need to come up with some new lines.

If South Carolina is trying to get a jump on things because of what Georgia is getting ready to do, then it sounds like William is really going to have his hands full when the illegals shift from GA to SC then on to NC! I worked for the local government in Wilmington, NC and the landscaping company used by the county had to be employing illegals.
They were required to sign in and out on the days they were working and none of them spoke english and couldn't write their names. Made me sick. But I was expected to smile at these people and play nice.