Portions of Embattled SC Immigration Reform Bill Blocked
S.C. immigration reform was slated to take effect Jan. 1.
CHARLESTON — A federal court Thursday found major sections of the state's immigration reform law, which is known as S 20, were likely to be found unconstitutional, including those mandating that police demand documentation of people in virtually any lawful stop, creating a new state crime for transporting and harboring undocumented immigrants and criminalizing the failure to carry one’s documentation at all times.
Sections of the bill apply to hiring illegal immigrants and punishing those employers will still take effect Jan. 1, according to the bill's author and co-sponsor Sen. Larry Grooms.
The block is temporary and came after a lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union and others challenging the law as unconstitutional. The lawsuit was filed in October.
The decision is being hailed as "a major blow to efforts by state lawmakers across the country pushing unconstitutional anti-immigrant legislation that threatens individual rights" by the complainants. Several demonstrations were held across the state last week to protest the bill.
According to a statement by the ACLU, the law would require police to demand "papers" demonstrating citizenship or immigration status during traffic stops when they have "reasonable suspicion" that a person lacks immigration status, thereby inviting racial profiling. The bill attempted to criminalize South Carolinians for everyday interactions with undocumented individuals, such as driving someone to church, or renting a room, according to Victoria Middleton, executive director of the ACLU of South Carolina.
"The court's ruling means this Draconian law will not immediately threaten the safety of innocent people, including victims of domestic violence and human trafficking and even asylum seekers," Middleton said in a statement. "We hope the ruling means families will not be separated and South Carolina will not be turned into a police state."
Thursday's ruling comes after the U.S. Supreme Court decided to take a case involving parts of Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070.
"It's disappointing," Grooms told Patch Friday. "You can easily argue that South Carolina has the toughest immigration law on the books but it doesn't do a whole lot of good if you can't enforce it. I don't believe that it's unconstitutional. Folks are stopped every day by police officers and they are asked to produce identification. To say that if someone's here illegally in the United States, for some reason, they have a special right not to have identification that rings a little false ... All the South Carolina law did was empower South Carolina law enforcement officers to detain someone who has been stopped for another violation based on reasonable suspicion."
The U.S. Department of Justice, which also challenged the immigration law, argued that the law should be blocked because it will cause irreparable harm and interfere with federal immigration law.
The coalition in the South Carolina case includes the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center, MALDEF, ACLU of South Carolina, the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, LatinoJustice PRLDEF and the law firms of Rosen, Rosen & Hagood and the Lloyd Law Firm.
Randy Hamrick
10:23 am on Friday, December 23, 2011
What part of "Illegal Immigrant" doesn't the ACLU understand?
For heavens sake people...........IF these people want to be here do it the correct way!
Illegal means they broke the law..........so why is the ACLU and other groups backing someone that just adds to the poverty level?????
harry
10:44 am on Friday, December 23, 2011
NUTS, IF I GET STOPPED I HAVE TO SHOW AN ID.. THE PART OF CARRYING YOUR DOCUMENTS IS FEDERAL LAW. what gives these criminals rights i don't have.. put the troops on the border. mine the border if need be to stop illegals and drugs.. dems and repubs have failed us. they care more about illegals than they do about our familys.. time to clean house... stock up on our ammo, gonna need it the way things are going. feds don't do their job so we have to suffer. every city and town is broke because of them... schools,hospitals,prisons,jobs,wage rates etc. since georgia passed a tough law we are bing invaded...wake up america before our childrens future is tachos eaten with chopsticks.
stanley seigler
4:50 pm on Friday, December 23, 2011
@Randy Hamrick: "What part of "Illegal Immigrant" doesn't the ACLU understand?
COMMENTs
what part of "immigration is a fed function" dont the states understand...
states (including SC) should demand their representatives and senators in washington ensure existing fed laws are enforced or enact universal immigration reform...
states waste time/energy pandered to the racists with a plan for each state...
Paul Schilling
2:03 am on Tuesday, December 27, 2011
@stanley seigler: "immigration if a fed function" Well, when your own President states publically that "...the federal government is inactive with illegal immigration..." then one starts to think of the Xth Amendment.
There is something to be noticed by this particular writing. All of these special interests groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center, MALDEF, ACLU of South Carolina, LatinoJustice PRLDEF. And we would be remiss if we didn't mention the biggest absconder of them all, the National Council for the Race (La Raza).
These are lobbying entities, most are 501C companies that allegely support the community in some way. These organizations literally receive hundreds of million of dollars from the government to do the very thing [within limits] that they're doing. First the people -- are sick and tired of this b/s; Second the states are completely disgusted with the expense brought to bear by the state -- the government -- the big central federal one -- has not the guts or wherewithall to do anything about it, except accommodate these people more and give away more entitlements. It's a vicious cycle...that can end with good leadership which our nation sorely misses at this time. I still believe that So Carolina has the best illegal alien program going as I have used them many times on my own column.
Tonto
10:47 am on Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Here is a great illegal alien program: www.buildtheborderfence.com
stanley seigler
10:58 am on Tuesday, December 27, 2011
@Paul Schilling...not sure i understand your points...references that confirms and provides context for the following statements might help:
a. the federal government is inactive with illegal immigration.
b. organizations receive hundreds of million of dollars from the government
the fed is inactive? U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has a workforce of over 58,000 employees...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Customs_and_Border_Protection
NCLR (La Raza) receives funding from philanthropic organizations, such as the Ford Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as corporations such as Citigroup and Wal-Mart. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Council_of_La_Raza
la raza 2008 Tax Returns, (October 1 2008 to September 30, 2009) $5,136,535 in fed grants...kinda doubt grants to all organizations mentioned are in the hundreds of millions.
it doesn't help to deal in party line, partisan, sound bites.
It's a vicious cycle...supported by those who hire illegals...why dont citizens/voters insist their US senators and representative develop and pass comprehensive immigration reform...better yet insist they enforce existing laws...also get senators and reps to cut off funding la raza, etal.
seems immigration is an implied power of the federal government...in any event, it make little, if any, sense for SC to have one immigration law and CA another...
Paul Schilling
4:01 pm on Wednesday, December 28, 2011
@stanley seiger:
Of the first part of your response, please see official records and quotes from the Presidency of Barack Obama...(I googled it; however, I have come to understand that both Fox News and the New York Times have hundreds of articles on the topic.
Secondly, I have found for me the best source of finding out where the funding comes from is usually http://discoverthenetworks.com. This amazing site can pinpoint only those sources that use some type of reporting from the actual agencies, IRS, etc.
However, if one were to be shielded by only Ford (consider its reputation c. 1939-present) or Bill and Milinda Gates (love em') one must also consider the "soft" money as well that goes unreported. I find Michelle Malkin, Dan Rhiel, and The Alanta Journal Constitution section of "The Worse Spent Money by the Government" as well as the Congressional Budget Office; any and all other organizations that track government spending.
Third, your notion of the vicious cycle; I agree with you here. Go to http://numbers.com and take a real look at what's going on vis-a-vie our duly represented elites.
That is quite a similar situation that the Founders found themselves in when trying to unify 13 different colonies. As for me, I believe that the inaction of the central government, as well as those willing to break the law -- Pelosi, Reid, Congress are the real culpurits of the problem. Cheers!
stanley seigler
5:53 pm on Wednesday, December 28, 2011
@Paul Schilling
thanks for the links...but still have problems finding fed funds in the hundreds of millions to organizations to which you referred...and we are talking fed funds not private funds...
tho facts are the fed does not adequately enforce existing immigration laws have difficulty believing BO would make such a statement without any context "...the federal government is inactive with illegal immigration"...was unable to find context of the statement.
hyperbole and cherry picked statements taken out of context add little understanding issues...
re: those willing to break the law -- Pelosi, Reid, Congress are the real culprits of the problem.
as one might expect, i find reid/pelosi less culpritable than legs who are beholden industries that depend on illegals...also;
those who will not accept a path to citizenship (aka amnesty) as part of a comprehensive immigration reform...bare much blame.
happy new year...