South Carolina is the latest state to join the growing list of those fighting illegal immigration. The state legislature has sent a bill to Gov. Nikki Haley (pictured, whose parents are legal immigrants from Amritsar, Punjab, India) — whose spokesman has confirmed she will sign it — to begin the kind of crackdown envisioned in Texas, Georgia, and Alabama. Unsurprisingly, leftists are in a rage, and the traditional coalition of lawyers have threatened a lawsuit, alleging racism.
The states are ignoring these threats and passing laws to put illegal aliens on notice: This state is closed to border jumpers. In Georgia, illegals are fleeing the state.
The Law
Like the laws in its sister states, South Carolina’s gives police the authority to investigate the immigration status of arrestees or those they otherwise lawfully detain:
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If a law enforcement officer of this State or a political subdivision of this State lawfully stops, detains, investigates, or arrests a person for a criminal offense, and during the commission of the stop, detention, investigation, or arrest the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the person is unlawfully present in the United States, the officer shall make a reasonable effort, when practicable, to determine whether the person is lawfully present in the United States, unless the determination would hinder or obstruct an investigation.
If an officer catches an illegal, he must notify the newly created “Illegal Immigration Enforcement Unit” within the Department of Public Safety or federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and jailers must attempt to determine the immigration status of those they incarcerate.
If the prisoner is an alien, the keeper of the jail or other officer must make a reasonable effort to verify whether the prisoner has been lawfully admitted to the United States or if the prisoner is unlawfully present in the United States. Verification must be made within seventy-two hours through a query to the Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) of the United States Department of Homeland Security or other office or agency designated for that purpose by the United States Department of Homeland Security. If the prisoner is determined to be an alien unlawfully present in the United States, the keeper of the jail or other officer shall notify the United States Department of Homeland Security.
As well, the bill establishes what kind of identification proves citizenship.
Beyond that, harboring or transporting illegals becomes a felony under the law, and it requires employers to participate in the federal E-Verify program, an instant online background check service.
Every public employer shall register and participate in the federal work authorization program to verify the employment authorization of all new employees. …
A public employer may not enter into a services contract with a contractor for the physical performance of services within this State unless the contractor agrees to register and participate in the federal work authorization program to verify the employment authorization of all new employees and require agreement from its subcontractors, and through the subcontractors, the sub-subcontractors, to register and participate in the federal work authorization program to verify the employment authorization of all new employees.
The bill also requires the state to notify the federal government of employers who violate the law.
South Carolina’s bill, which strengthens a tough immigration measure passed in 2008, mirrors those is Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and Arizona, and is one wave of a tsunami of immigration legislation across the country. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports state legislatures are considering thousands of bill that treat illegal immigration.
The Left Is Enraged
The bill’s backers make the obvious point: The federal government has abdicated its responsibility to secure the borders, notwithstanding the repeated lies the Obama administration has told about its success.
The Associated Press quoted Rep. Bobby Harrell (R-Charleston), the Speaker of South Carolina’s House of Representatives:
If Washington refuses to effectively support our law enforcement officers by enforcing immigration laws, it is left up to the states to stand up and do what is right. That is exactly what South Carolina did today by making sure our officers have the enforcement tools they need during this time of federal indecision.
To that came the usual reply:
“We’re setting up another avenue for racial profiling,” said Rep. David Mack (D-North Charleston). “We’re going to have situations of hard-working Americans of a certain color … pulled over for no reason but they’re brown. That’s wrong.
Andre Segura, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union in New York, brought up another of the left’s boilerplate rejoinders: “It’s a definite throwback to the pre-civil rights era,” he told AP. “It really strikes at the heart of American values and makes these states into ‘show-me-your-papers’ states.”
The left has filed a lawsuit to stop the implementation of Georgia’s tough new law. And it has promised to file in Alabama. They have also threatened to sue in Alabama.
Along with the ACLU, the legal coalition opposing the bill includes the National Immigration Law Center and the discredited leftist Southern Poverty Law Center.
When Arizona passed its tough immigration law, partly inspired by a suspected illegal alien’s murder of rancher Roger Krentz, the Obama administration went to war against the state, persuading two federal courts to strike down the provision of the law that allowed police to investigate the immigration status of arrestees and others with whom they come in lawful contact.
Arizona will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Related articles:
Texas to Join Georgia, Alabama, in Fight Against Illegals
New Mexico Murder: Illegal Alien At Large
Alabama Gov. Signs Immigration Bill; Leftists Outraged
Georgia’s Law Sends Illegals Fleeing; Leftists File Suit
Alabama Joins States’ Crackdown on Illegals
Three Texas Lawmen Refute Obama’s Claim That Border Is Secure
Obama Repeated Falsehood That Border Is Secure
