SC lawmaker proposes immigration crackdown

CarolinaLive.com
by Joel Allen
February 7, 2011

A South Carolina lawmaker has today proposed a law that he says would crack down on illegal immigration and reduce the number of people who are in the state illegally.

The bill introduced by Sen. Larry Grooms of Bonneau is based on an Arizona law that will allow police to check the immigration status of any person they believe might be in the country illegally.

Currently, Horry County police say if officers determine that a suspect in a crime might be an illegal immigrant, they file charges against the person for the crime he's suspected of committing, while forwarding information about the person's citizenship status to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

When asked how a change to an Arizona-style law might affect enforcement procedures locally, Horry County police Sgt. Robert Kegler said, "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Sen. Grooms told the Greenville News that to protect people in South Carolina, he wants the state to do all it can to have the smallest illegal immigrant population in the country.

But an attorney with the Appleseed Legal Justice Center in Columbia told NewsChannel 15 that Grooms' proposed legislation doesn't include any provision to pay for enforcement yet.

"The issues of cost alone are currently a problem," said Tammy Besherse. She said the state hasn't yet set aside money to enforce a 2008 law that requires employers to determine the citizenship of workers through the federal E-verify database.

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=577701