State lawmakers are considering a bill, that if passed, could make South Carolina rival Arizona in immigration reform.
The Senate Judiciary Committee adjourned Tuesday before debating the bill. If passed, it would allow police to check the immigration status if an officer thinks a person is in the country illegally. The question could come after a suspect is stopped for something else.
Republicans in both the state Senate and House have called it a top priority for this year.
Tuesday night, Horry County Council listened to a proposal from the Palmetto Minutemen to crack down on illegal immigrants on a local level.
Four members of the Palmetto Minutemen argued for
immigration reform in Horry County, similar to what the state is doing.
"Horry County does have an immigration problem," Edward Koziol said. "If the people in charge here, the council and that, were really honest with themselves, they would come out and tell you that too."
The Minutemen want county council to pass a law to allow police to check for proper identification.
That proposition has other parties worried. Oblan (who asked that we omit his last name) moved here from Honduras legally in 2003, but his paperwork has since expired. That means he's an illegal immigrant.
Now with a three year-old daughter, a job, and life he has built in South Carolina, he doesn't want to leave. Not only because he has much more opportunity here, but because his daughter's future is in South Carolina too, not Honduras.
"There's nowhere to go over there. There's no jobs. Life is very tough over there,"he says.
Arizona gained massive amounts of attention last year when they passed the country's first anti-immigration bill.
According to the AP, the president of a national civil rights group
accused state legislators of trampling the U.S. Constitution in the name of immigration reform on Monday. Wade Henderson of the National Conference of Civil and Human Rights spoke at the King Day at the Dome Rally. He chastised legislators, saying they are segregating Hispanics.
As for Olban, he says the possibility of a state anti-immigration law fills him with fear.
"It's scary. Every time I go out you know... It's just it's scary."
