Immigration bill at center of new fight

Posted on May 2, 2008 
Filed Under News

Sanford, Senate spar over changes on how to verify workers’ status

COLUMBIA -The fight over an immigration reform bill heightened Thursday after the governor blasted the compromise the Senate thought he would support.

Gov. Mark Sanford said senators engaged in “political cowardice” when they adopted the latest compromise Wednesday night on a voice vote after a few hours of discussion, prompting the Senate’s leader to take the floor and say he had had it with the governor.

“What occurred yesterday crossed the line,” said Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, the Senate’s leader. “I’m extremely disappointed in him.”

He said the governor does not understand the Senate process. The vote was unanimous because an agreement was reached. It did not require hours more of discussion or a recorded vote, he said.

McConnell said the Senate has taken the forefront on the issue, while the governor was “over in the bushes” taking potshots, McConnell said.

Sanford called a news conference at midday to reiterate his stance. He called the Senate’s proposal weak because it gives employers the use of the federal I-9 form, which is simply filled out and kept in a file.

Sanford said he wants only the federal online verification system to be used, adding he might veto anything else that comes to his desk.

The penalties the Senate added to the compromise are not enforceable because they encroach on federal authority, Sanford said. He said his staff talked to federal Homeland Security representatives about it Wednesday night.

The Senate needs to push “quite a bit harder” to come up with the right proposal, he said, asking that voters call senators over the weekend to demand that they change the compromise again.

Sanford said he was not concerned with senators’ complaints about his criticism of the way the vote was taken.

“A stuck pig squeals,” he said. “We must have struck a chord.”

McConnell took the floor again after Sanford’s news conference, saying the governor apparently did not read the bill and does not understand it.

The penalties are enforceable by the state because they apply only to a state law, McConnell said. Federal law would forbid the state from imposing penalties for violation of federal law.

People will still have to abide by the federal law and fill out the I-9 form, but they can also use a state system that includes a driver’s license or photo ID card and a form similar to the I-9.

“What does it take for them to understand that?” said Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens.

McConnell said that to do what Sanford wants and require only the federal online verification system would be a weaker law because there is no way for the state to impose a penalty if an employer fails to do it.

The Senate did what Sanford had called for since the beginning of the session, McConnell said. But at his news conference, the governor said he had changed his mind from his earlier support of a state verification system.

He said he had been talking to Sen. Jim Ritchie, R-Spartanburg, leader on the immigration bill in the Senate, about the measure all week and that he wanted nothing but the federal online verification.

“We’ve been very emphatic about Everify,” Sanford said, using the name of the program.

McConnell said no one had heard from the governor about his wishes.

“That’s why he gets very little done, because it’s a moving target,” McConnell said.

The governor may be trying to prevent passage of a bill by confusing the issue, Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said. Or, McConnell said, Sanford is seeking the limelight for some reason.

The public should call the governor’s office instead of senators, demanding that he support the compromise, McConnell said.

Sanford is “deliberately trying to mislead the people out there as he does in so many things,” said Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence.

But Sanford said it may be the Senate that is trying to avoid passing a bill. Some people don’t want to pass a real law that can be enforced, he said.

True enforcement starts with determining if a Social Security number is valid, and that is done with the federal online system, Sanford said.

Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach, said Sanford has “failed to work with this Senate.”

Rep. Thad Viers, R-Myrtle Beach, a member of the House conference committee on the immigration bill, said the spat was unfortunate but he is still optimistic that a good bill will be passed.

The governor could have helped more by refraining from insulting the Senate, Viers said.

“I think he muddies the process,” Viers said.

The Senate’s proposal is a good step and he thinks the House is open to it. If it is true that Homeland Security believes the fines can’t be enforced, the agency needs to come and speak to lawmakers about it, not through the governor’s office, he also said.

The House will discuss the compromise Tuesday.

Myrtle Beach Sun News
Zane Wilson
5/2/08