Thursday, May. 20, 2010


Panel to meet on immigration
Bill won't have time to pass


By Noelle Phillips - McClatchy Newspapers

A state Senate subcommittee meets this morning to discuss a bill that would empower local police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop or detain.

However, it's too late in the legislative session for the bill, which mimics Arizona's controversial law, to become state law this year. That leads critics and political watchers to believe today's meeting is more about political theater than creating a new law.

"By doing it when they don't actually have time to pass the legislation, they get credit for the symbolic stand without having to worry about how to fund the measure," said Scott Huffman, a Winthrop University political science professor.


However, Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, who will lead this morning's meeting, said that is not the case. None of the five members of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee are up for re-election, he said.

"We are not playing to anybody," he said. "It's not a pandering-type thing."

Instead, he said, the hearing's purpose is to find out if legislators need to "tweak" South Carolina's immigration law that was passed in 2008 and to compare Arizona's law to it.

The Senate bill would allow state and local police to check immigration status after detaining or arresting a person for another reason. The officer would need reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally.

People questioned would have to provide identification issued by the S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles, a tribal enrollment card or an ID issued by the U.S. government. The bill also includes a provision that would outlaw the hiring of illegal immigrants for day labor.

The Senate bill has 19 sponsors, including Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston.

A similar bill was filed in the S.C. House in late April, but no hearings on it have been scheduled.

Both are drawing criticism from the state's Hispanic community.

"They're, of course, going to target Mexicans," said Ivan Segura, a member of the S.C. Hispanic Leadership Council. "They're, of course, going to target Central Americans. They're going to target people because of the color of their skin."

Martin said South Carolina should tread cautiously in its consideration of the bill, especially since Arizona's law is being challenged in court.

"I don't want to get our state entangled in a legal matter," he said.

Martin agreed it was too late to move the bill forward this year.