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S.C. House offers another plan for immigration reform
By Scott Miller
Staff Writer
S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell said the state Legislature can approve comprehensive immigration reform within a month.
The Charleston Republican made the statement earlier this month while announcing a reform package that would deny state-funded benefits for illegal immigrants and bar them from attending public colleges or receiving scholarships.
Harrell, joined by House Majority Leader Jim Merrill, R-Daniel Island, also wants to bill the federal government for reimbursement for the state’s cost of detaining illegal immigrants and establish a civil course of action for anyone defrauded by an illegal immigrant. “You cannot address illegal immigration without addressing the rampant use of fraud that accompanies it,”
Merrill said.
Merrill and Harrell, working with the House Republican caucus, intend to file the legislation this week, calling it “The South Carolina Plan.”
The legislation will join a list of immigration bills already prefiled in the Legislature, many of which overlap. With an election looming at the end of the legislative session, illegal immigration seems to be the hot topic of the moment.
“The South Carolina Plan is the strongest reform package anyone has put together, and it addresses the issues head on,” Harrell said of the proposal.
Critics, meanwhile, have said immigration laws could hurt the state’s agribusiness and hospitality industries. Other opponents have said immigration is a federal issue and that states should not get involved in combating it.
Harrell, however, said lack of action from Congress is forcing the state’s hand. He said the estimated 75,000 illegal immigrants living in the state, a 15-fold increase from a decade ago, are costing taxpayers $186 million annually.
He and Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, are leading the charge for immigration reform.
Among the legislative proposals awaiting debate are efforts to punish businesses that hire illegal immigrants, to give the state authority to deport illegal aliens and to limit services to aliens.
Scott Miller is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at smiller@setcommedia.com.
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