State Picks Top Immigration Cop
Retired state trooper selected to head South Carolina's new Immigration Enforcement Unit
South Carolina Department of Public Safety Director Leroy Smith on Wednesday picked retired S.C. Highway Patrol Major E.C. Johnson to command the department's new Immigration Enforcement Unit.
The unit, which was created by South Carolina's new, tough anti-illegal immigration law, is still in the process of being formed. And the future of the new law itself remains murky.
Recently, three of the most contentious provisions of the state's law — set to go into effect Jan. 1 — were blocked in federal court. Those included a requirement that law enforcement officials check the immigration status of any suspect they believe may be in the country illegally, and making it a state crime to harbor or transport an illegal immigrant. A third stricken provision was a requirement that immigrants carry federal registration papers.
Other portions of the new law will still go into effect Jan. 1. The ultimate fate of the blocked provisions will likely be determined by the U.S. Supreme Court, which will rule on Arizona's anti-illegal immigrant legislation in the coming year. That state's controversial law is very similar to South Carolina's.
After the law goes into effect, and assuming the Supreme Court's decision doesn't affect other provisions, Johnson would essentially become the state's top cop on immigration.
But Johnson's position is still a work in progress.
"We’re in the process of establishing policies and procedures," Smith said in a release about Johnson's appointment and the new unit. "We’re moving forward, but we can’t do anything in terms of enforcement until we get certification. That process can take as long as 18 months and we’re about six months into it."
Smith said Johnson’s duties range from developing the 12-person unit’s policies and procedures to designing uniforms and badges for the unit as outlined according to state law.
Johnson joined the Highway Patrol in 1978 after having served with the 82nd Airborne Division. That service included a tour of duty in Vietnam. A native of Marion County, Johnson and his wife have four sons, according to Smith's office.
Tonto
10:51 am on Thursday, December 29, 2011
This might help: www.buildtheborderfence.com
Eric Wood
10:58 am on Thursday, December 29, 2011
It's great that the state is creating a division to focus on illegal immigration, but we need to remember that immigration is a federal issue and we need to focus our frustration and efforts on Washington to do their job instead of wasting valuable SC tax dollars pretending we can actually do anything significant on illegal immigration on the state level.
www.canigetawordin.com
Dino Bravo
11:20 pm on Thursday, December 29, 2011
The Alabama law has been very effective in self-removal and discouraging further aliens to enter the state. I am all for any attempt at discouraging the invasion.
stanley seigler
12:33 am on Friday, December 30, 2011
@Dino Bravo: "The Alabama law has been very effective in self-removal and discouraging further aliens..."
[CLIPs]
“I’m going to do what the law tells me to do,” Hastie [AL, Republican license commissioner], 52, said in Mobile last week. “But, as an elected official representing the taxpayer, I feel it’s my duty to say what I feel is unjust to the taxpayer. My concern is for the way the citizens of this state are being treated. This process [immigration law] has not been good.” ... On Dec. 1, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange advised local officials to stop enforcing parts of the law after legal challenges...It’s been a real pain in the butt,” said Calvin Bosarge, 53, a U.S. citizen who owns two mobile-home parks...Meanwhile, the law had its intended effect on immigrants. Farmers across the state complained of labor shortages as migrant workers left.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-15/alabama-s-imperiled-immigration-crackdown-clogs-machinery-of-government.html
"I think the only way for the law to be fixed is to repeal it altogether," said Grace Meng, researcher with Human Rights Watch and author of the report
"Faced with backlash over the detainment of two foreign auto employees, two architects of Alabama’s tough immigration law say they are having second thoughts about the law.
"Suddenly the reality of what the state has done hit people in the face," said Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
stanley seigler
12:39 am on Friday, December 30, 2011
[mo CLIPs]
'U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said Wednesday that Alabama's immigration law is "beneath the dignity of this great nation."
"The University of Alabama at Birmingham faculty senate voted this morning to call for repeal of Alabama's immigration law... This will impact our ability to recruit talented faculty to UAB and Alabama.
"The initial human impact has been devastating, though the full consequences remain unknown,"
[end clips]
there are more...google "alabama, immigration".
Dino Bravo
11:26 am on Friday, December 30, 2011
The Alabama law, although necessary, was implemented foolishly. The timing during the growing season and little foresight or preparation. It would have much more effective and efficient ten or twenty ears ago. The adjustment is difficult, but better late than never. The other alternative is illegals continuing to flood the state and burden the system.
stanley seigler
12:11 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
well dino, we have a friendly disagreement...
as mentioned time better spent lobbying (harassing) AL (all states) US senators and representative (DC) to enforce existing laws or write comprehensive immigration reform laws...
illegals flood the states with cheap labor...and those who hire them have strong lobbyist to discourage enforcement...concerned citizens need let their legislators know that unless they enforce: they will NOT be reelected...
in the long run there will be immigration reform...green cards and amnesty...in the mean time states will muck it up as AL has done...so much time wasted writing state laws then straightening out the mess they create...
accept immigration is a federal function and lobby DC to enforce...
stanley seigler
11:50 am on Thursday, December 29, 2011
@Eric Wood: "...focus frustration and efforts on Washington to do their job instead of wasting valuable SC tax dollars pretending we can actually do anything significant on illegal immigration on the state level."
COMMENT
FOR SURE, for sure, say the valley girls...sad legs spend (waste) so much time-energy, pandering to get votes, on "illusions of progress" legislation.
all the time-energy states spend passing state immigration laws...much better spent lobbying their US senators/representatives to ensure enforcement of existing laws...or enact appropriate immigration reform...work permits and path to citizenship (amnesty) should be obvious...
it's inconceivable and totally impracticable that 12-20 million folks will be deported back to wherever...and economically unsound to stop hiring illegals...and;
forget the stupid fence...
Tonto
12:12 pm on Thursday, December 29, 2011
You don't have to deport them Stanley.You just take away all the free stuff we are being raped for in taxes and they will leave on their own. Very simple. Maybe the Democrats can pass a law that lets them vote for them even if they live in Mexico.
keepyourpower
3:14 pm on Thursday, December 29, 2011
Build a fence 10 feet below the surface and 20 feet above the surface. Then Bomb the heck out of the drug lords, gangs, arrest the crooked military and police ..then send all the illegals ...yes I said ALL...back home with the proper people to guide them..and start a whole NEW Republic! Mexico has so many resources that could make them a rich nation...but first...you have to treat the citizens of Mexico with respect and empathy...in their own nation!Take them from being a 3rd world nation to a prosperous nation...like we ONCE WERE. Then ..maybe US Citizens will start going South of the Border to live! ;.)
Tonto
8:04 pm on Thursday, December 29, 2011
We saved Europe twice and we will have to save Mexico too. I think American citizen sob stories are far better then illegal alien sob stories though. American citizens with run of the mill sob stories should come first over Mexicans with really good sob stories.
stanley seigler
7:53 pm on Thursday, December 29, 2011
@keepyourpower Build a fence 10 feet below the surface and 20 feet above the surface. Then Bomb the heck out of the drug lords, gangs, arrest the crooked military and police...Mexico has so many resources that could make them a rich nation...Then ..maybe US Citizens will start going South of the Border to live! ;.)
COMMENT
there is much truth in humor...one day the coyotes will charge gringos ($5000, current rate) to take them to mexico...
mexico, canada, USA, could be a world leading economic force...and all citizens could becomee 1%-ers...:), :)...
problem most politicians have no vision and pander to the likes of some who post on PATCH...hard to cure myopia and stupidity.
keepyourpower
2:10 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
Stanley, I believe in sovereignty. I do not want to combine Canada, Mexico and USA.
There really isn't a need. If each of these countries had decent people running them instead of corrupt politicians...it COULD be done. Alas..all 3 are going to hell in a handbasket.
stanley seigler
3:00 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
sorry for my poor communications...was not suggesting combining a US of North America)...was suggesting an international economic/trading arrangement...
Dino Bravo
11:31 pm on Thursday, December 29, 2011
This is Great!!! We know that the DOJ is not concerned about enforcing Federal immigration laws. If they were, they would go after the sanctuary cities that violate Federal law. It's all about votes for this administration. Cook County Illinois has released more than five illegal alien felons without holding them for ICE, which is against Fedaral law.
Tonto
12:34 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
Every little bit helps: www.buildtheborderfence.com :)
keepyourpower
2:15 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
The one thing that should be done..that is not is.....arrest those who hire illegals and those who rent to illegals...prosecute them and put them in jail. THAT will stop a lot of others from breaking the law. But..Noooo...they won't DO that!
stanley seigler
2:50 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
what they should do is charge illegals a $5000 fee for work permits/green cards...$5000 is the going coyote fee ...and there is no grantee illegals will not die in the desert or be caught and returned to country of origin...
revenue possibility:
there were 1.6M arrested at the border in 2000...350,000 this year so say 500,000 workers are needed at $5,000 each is $2.5 billion annual revenue...
if immigration were a state function CA could set up fee collection stations for workers (the majority end up in CA) needed in CA and eliminate its deficit without increasing taxes...
Dino Bravo
3:01 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
It has been difficult because they use fake ID's and steal SS#'s. It makes it hard to hard to hold the company responsible. E-verify is the best way to go for now. Any law implemented that will let illegals and their employers know that their activity will not be overlooked any longer is necessary.
stanley seigler
3:16 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
@dino
re: It has been difficult because they use fake ID's and steal SS#'s. It makes it hard to hard to hold the company responsible
those who hire know this (fake IDs, etc) and hire anyway...for the cheap (in some cases the only) labor...they would continue to hire...
they would take the chance of prosecution for cheap/only labor...as do many who break the law...drug dealers, prostitutes, bank robbers, wall street bankers/brokers, politicians, tax cheats...etcetc.
stanley seigler
3:39 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
FYI
Farmer Keith Smith says Alabama, HB 56 will put him out of business...he'd already lost eight workers due to fears about the law's impending passage.
"Majority of people that works for me," he said in a deep, marbled drawl, "with the kind of jobs I got, are illegal. There aint no use in beating around the bush saying they ain't or whatnot. Thats just the way it is." Fake papers, no papers, tax-filing mysteries..."I've worried about all this stuff and done it for years, and I just go to where I throwed my hands up and said, 'To hell with it. I'll just work 'em, pay 'em, and forget about it.'"
...anyone here legally refuses to do the kind of backbreaking work Smith has to offer. It stands to reason that anyone with good papers...even well-faked papers...would make the most of them. Agriculture is a grueling, billion-dollar industry in Alabama... Wages range from the $7.25-an-hour state minimum wage to about $14 an hour (other jobs are paid as "piecework"...30 cents a bucket of potatoes or a couple bucks per thousand chicken catchers). And while anti-immigration arguments hang on the idea that if illegal workers were barred from these jobs Americans would be enticed onto these fields and into these chicken houses, Smith and other farmers don't give it a second thought. Most of the non-Latinos that Smith has hired over the years last maybe a couple of hours at most, he says, before they quit.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/hb-56-alabama-immigration-law
keepyourpower
4:05 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
The farmer picked the wrong legal workers. There are people out there without jobs, homes, or food for their children. Believe me...they would work those farms...IF the farmer would just advertise further than he does.
stanley seigler
5:24 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
@keepyourpower: "Believe me"
i will if you have worked the fields or the dirty construction jobs...or have had the responsibility for hiring productive crews...
i also believe the farmer, who is not alone, and has been in the business for years and knows what it takes (pick crews and advertise) to make a living/profit...most who believe it's as simple as e-verification are in my opine clueless...
and when the economy picks up and more desirable jobs are available the gringo field hands would not show up the next day...and;
while they are working, unless they have been at for years (and none have) their productivity is not close to the average latino who has been at for many a year.
as a yute, i worked a dirty construction job and i couldn't keep up with the illegals...i would have been fired if the superintendent hadnt been a friend.
you may want to read the entire article...goto link.