Neighborhood Outreach Connection (NOC)
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Mayor Tom Peeples on the South Carolina Immigration Law

from the Hilton Head Monthly Magazine (larger print below)

In larger print:

The South Carolina General Assembly recently adopted, and Gov. Sanford signed, the South Carolina Illegal Immigration and Reform Act that seeks to address some of the immigration issues South Carolinians wanted addressed as a result of increased illegal immigration. The Associated Press reports that nationwide, more than 1,560 immigrant-related bills were introduced last year, with 240 becoming law. More than 1,100 bills were introduced in the first quarter of this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Neighboring states have adopted or are considering similar measures, and that fact put pressure on the South Carolina General Assembly to "do something." One of the key components of the law deals with imposing new employment verification requirements and establishing various penalties for noncompliance. The emphasis of the Act places the burden on employers to verify employment status.

The General Assembly made illegal immigration one of its top priorities this legislative session. Most of the General Assembly debate focused on whether private businesses with no state contracts should be required to verify their workers, and how to legally enforce the requirements. Media reports indicate that under the final version of the bill, all employers must either check new hires' Social Security numbers through a federal online database named E-verify or hire workers with a driver's license from our state or another state with strict requirements. The State Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation is empowered to investigate complaints and can randomly audit businesses.

Here are some highlights of the Act, taken from various sources:

Require all businesses to verify that newly hired employees are in the country legally. Public contractors with at least 500 employees must begin verifying their new hires by January. All other businesses must follow by July 2010.

Create civil fines up to $1,000 per worker for failing to verify.

Require employers to temporarily shut down if an investigation finds they knowingly hired illegal immigrants.

Ban illegal immigrants over 18 from public assistance, with some exceptions such as emergency medical care.

Create a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, for falsifying documents.

Make it a felony to transport or harbor illegal immigrants, though it provides exceptions for some charities, such as churches and soup kitchens.

Ban illegal immigrants from attending public colleges and bar them from winning state scholarships or grants. They would have to pay out-of-state tuition at private colleges.

Allow fired workers to sue their former employers if they're replaced by illegal workers within 60 days.

Bar gun sales to illegal immigrants.

Some town residents have argued that town council should adopt ordinances addressing illegal immigration. The rationale for this is that we must act since the federal government has not. I hold the belief that it is precisely because the federal government has the authority to enforce illegal immigration laws that it should be accountable to the very standard it created for itself.

Why have laws that aren't enforced? And until Congress delegates immigration authority to states and local governments (I do not advocate this) we have to avoid the "feel good" attempts at considering ordinances we have no authority to adopt and ability to enforce. Other jurisdictions have adopted far-reaching immigration laws only to see them fall on constitutional grounds. These jurisdictions were euphoric that they had "done something" until such time as they realized the money, time and effort at adopting and defending their new laws went unrewarded.

I continue to believe that the best way for illegal immigration to be dealt with is at the federal level and hope that they will be compelled to do so as more and more states attempt to address the issue.