South Carolina now has nation’s toughest illegal immigration law

South Carolina’s Governor Mark Sanford has signed into law legislation that could shut down businesses and fine them up to $1,000 per worker for employing illegal aliens. Sanford said the bill will reassert the rule of law in the state. Senate President Glenn McConnell said “The message is loud and clear: Stop the silent invasion of this state."

Legislators called the measure the most strict and effective anti-illegal-immigrant law in the nation. One state representative predicted the law will lower the state's unemployment rate because immigrants will "self-deport" and make more jobs available.

The ACLU agreed "It's certainly one of the toughest, if not the toughest," said the state legislative counsel in the American Civil Liberty Union's Washington office. Other states to pass comprehensive efforts include Arizona, Oklahoma and Colorado. Georgia passed the first in 2006.

All South Carolina employers must either check each new hire's Social Security number through a federal online database called E-verify or hire workers with a driver's license from South Carolina or another state with strict requirements. Those found not checking their workers can be fined between $100 and $1,000 per worker. If an investigation finds they knowingly hired an illegal immigrant, the business can be temporarily shut down, for up to 30 days on first offense and five years if caught a third time.

The bill also bans adult illegal immigrants from receiving public aid, bars illegal immigrants from attending public colleges and requires them to pay out-of-state rates for private colleges. It creates felonies for harboring or transporting illegal immigrants and for forging documents.