A blog post

Immigration reform important, but feds dropped the ball

Posted on the 21 March, 2011 at 8:18 am Written by in Blog

About four years ago, we passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill that placed South Carolina at the forefront on tackling illegal immigration at the state level. Newspapers were even calling it “the toughest immigration law in the nation.” But, and this will surprise some people, there’s only so much we can do. The law was predicated on laws that were already on the federal books. Thanks to Nancy Pelosi and Washington Democrats, those laws came under attack and put our state — and nation — in the position they are now.

With Republicans now in control of the House, some progress can be made, but the damage is done. The federal government dropped the ball on illegal immigration. It has a constitutional responsibility to secure our borders. It’s the feds’ job to pretty much run the show on all immigration matters, from borders to naturalization and everything in between, including detaining illegals.

Believe it or not, the federal government is trying to pass off its foul-ups onto the states. It is trying to craft a solution on the backs of South Carolina taxpayers. Illegal immigrants detained by law enforcement should be placed in federal facilities, since it is a job of the federal government. That’s not happening. In South Carolina, it’s falling to our state prison system. Our revenues are stretched beyond capacity as it is — South Carolinians shouldn’t be footing the bill for what the feds should, but aren’t, doing.

We’re still doing what we can, though. It does our state no good to sit back and point fingers at Washington while letting the problem persist. That’s why I’m joining Sen. Larry Grooms and 19 other co-sponsors on a new immigration reform measure, one that’s on its way this week to getting a vote in the full Senate. The issue that led us here is that the federal government didn’t live up to its obligation to protect its citizens. Now states have to take action to protect their borders.

That bill, S. 20, takes new steps to give law enforcement the leeway to investigate the residency status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if the officer or agency has reasonable suspicion to do so. The bill also makes it illegal in this state for undocumented workers to ask for work or attempt to ask for work. The Democrats have been going about their usual activity of delaying common sense conservative reform, but I’m confident we’ll be moving it out of the Senate in due course.

Of course, before that happens, the entire Senate gets a chance to amend the bill on second reading. That got me to thinking about tinkering with what was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. Maybe there needs to be an amendment on there. One that gets the job done here in South Carolina and sends a message to the federal government that we aren’t going to take its lackadaisical immigration enforcement anymore.

Let’s allow law enforcement to go about enforcing the immigration laws, then bus detained illegals to Washington and drop them off on the Capitol steps.

Now that everyone’s had a good chuckle, I’m not intending on becoming the latest South Carolinian to appear in a late-night TV monologue. But I am serious about the problem of illegal immigration in our state and the feds’ lack of resolve to do anything about it. S. 20 is a good bill and should be passed. However, we cannot forget to keep the pressure up on the federal government to live up to its constitutional duty.

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  1. Brittanicus 21 March 2011 at 5:03 pm permalink

    THE LEFTIST DREAM OF AN OPEN BORDER SOCIETY, DEMOCRATS WAITING FOR MORE VOTES AND REPUBLICANS FOR MORE CHEAP LABOR TO EXPLOIT AND SUBSIDIZE THEIR ENORMOUS PROFITS.

    It’s sad that our schools are crammed to the limit with children of illegal aliens. They come here–and never paid a single penny into the education system. States are burdened by unfunded mandates including schooling for illegal children, which when analyzed billions of dollars paid out of American people’s empty pockets. State colleges will be demanding more money from taxpayers, to subsidize the wishes of bleeding hearts, open border brain dead leftist and socialist insanity. California is in education mess and must look to parents to subsidize pens, paper and textbooks owing to the States descent into a disastrous financial pit. Governor Jerry Brown is pushing for a Statewide Dream Act will further erode the California education. This will mean even more State hands outs and higher taxes for property owners.

    Each State now has accumulated so much debt from the occupation of people from across our national border and economic tourists with no return airline tickets. England was so frustrated with economic health care tourist, that they are slamming the door on people turning up from impoverished regions of the world, to slap taxpayers with the bill. Same with our nation that the courts have mandated we must give health care, education and even low income housing to illegal alien families. The United States of America that has become the free health care center for central and Latin America, Eastern Europe and other poor areas of the world, who is consuming vast amounts of services meant for the legal populace.

    The Tea Party is discussing now with its tens of millions of members, to possibly joining up with reputable pro-sovereignty organizations that are ready to unseat corrupt politicians, who have flip-flopped over immigration laws in Utah and Arizona and States further afield. There is also talk of communicating the word to the membership of all organizations–to boycott–the corporate instigators that forwarded a veiled threat in a letter to the Republican Arizona Senate. At the head of the table was the US Chamber of Commerce that have been fully involved in crippling E-Verify to a voluntary basis amongst other laws, just like that old nut Senator Reid in Nevada.

    THE WORD IS OUT THAT UTAH, IS WELCOMING ALL THE ECONOMIC REFUGEES FROM ARIZONA

    Word of mouth will resonate across all frontiers, and internally throughout America and hundreds of thousands of economic illegal aliens will be arriving in lenient States. If illegal aliens think they can get drivers licenses in Washington State, New Mexico they will be pouring in from everywhere. They will pillage your welfare safety-net for all your impoverished citizens and legal residents, just as they have in the Sanctuary State of California and Nevada. Unions are losing memberships have been turning to the recruitment of foreign nationals that are now crowding the SEIU and other service Trade Unions. Trumka is just another Leftist with his trade union bullies, hoping to undermine the “Rule of Law” so that he can keep his power. When it comes to tourism suffering because of clamp downs on illegal alien workers, this fits only into the giant profits of travel and tourist companies. Entertainment industries should not be exempt from using E-Verify, as once the cheap labor bond is broken, they will have no choice but to hire legitimate workers, that will mean higher wages and benefits. Using foreign labor instead of Americas true labor force, is but one avenue to reduce the 10 million legit people who need jobs.

    Utah doesn’t have any notion of what is going to happen to them, once the illegal aliens start whispering to each other? The flood will turn into a deluge and all those under threat in Arizona and in other States building policing laws will become persona non grata. They will materialize in the hundreds of thousands in Salt Lake City, Ogden and start lining up for the food Stamps, Medicaid and anything else they can get for free. Their kids will suffocate the school system and they will have no choice but to hire more bilingual teachers. These people are well taught on how to wring the most welfare programs from the system, including free breakfasts and lunches for their children. They are well aware as in California the more babies they conjure up, they can receive $600 dollars of your money, for each child in their care. One only has to read on the Internet that there is a fraudulent game going on with child tax credits that is also costing hundreds of millions in your dollars.

    The hospitals in Utah will be crammed with the newly sick and arrive in the emergency room with 4 or five children and then Utah’s old folks, will have to wait 4 hours or more for treatment as the numbers grow. In one hospital in Texas there are a hundred illegal aliens on dialysis machines, costing taxpayers $100.000 dollars annually for each patient. Explore the Pdf file “Illegal Aliens and American Medicine.” http://tinyurl.com/o6r27 Remember this is not about honest, law abiding legalized people who are of many religions, creeds or races. This is about illegal immigration and the consequences now and in the immediate future. Anybody who really believes the US government, or the leftist newspapers or groups with special incentives that there is–ONLY–11 million unauthorized persons here, must have an insanity claim.

    Just as in the Sanctuary State of California being overwhelmed with welfare classes, so will Utah, Michigan, Florida and will smother other States with their demands. Neighborhoods will become the scene of rusty, derelict cars and the business owners will exploit them and enjoy obscene profits. Oh! But we must not forget the growing prominence of DUI (Drunk While in charge of a motor vehicle) Hit and runs will begin to rocket and more drug peddlers will move in, to sell their toxic wares to young children. Soon–more prisons will have to be constructed to incarcerate the murderers, kidnappers, home invasion crime, female and children assaults and other criminal enterprises. Just like California, Nevada and other refuge States, your debt will be accelerating because you will be forking out large sums of money like never before, to support Utah’s own little invasion. GOD HELP UTAH!! If this law for Guest Workers is found constitutional these illegal persons with their extended families will suddenly appear

    To repeat this statistic–that for every 1 dollar spent by illegal immigrants, they receive 3 to 4 dollars in service and public entitlements. According to (FAIR) one hundred and thirteen billion went out the door in federal entitlements, for education, health care and incarcerations; these dollar numbers are not what States payout. Each State has its own cross to bear, with no aid from the US government. CONTACT THE ARIZONA OR LOCAL TEA PARTY TO JOIN AND ERADICATE THIS TRAVESTY PLAYED ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

    America isn’t a melting pot anymore, it’s a powder keg.


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