South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford signed legislation last week that requires companies doing business with state and local governments to verify that newly hired employees are in the United States legally.
Businesses that do not comply risk being shuttered temporarily and fines of up to $1,000 per worker.
"The message is loud and clear: Stop the silent invasion of this state," Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, told the Associated Press.
Starting January 1, 2009, companies engaging in business with the state government will have to use an electronic database to verify worker names and social security numbers, according to the Columbia daily The State. All other business must follow suit by July 2010.
The new law also bans undocumented immigrants over the age of 18 from access to public assistance, except in cases of emergency medical care; makes it a felony to falsify documents and to transport undocumented immigrants; keeps immigrants from attending public colleges and qualifying for state grants.
South Carolina businesses – from mom and pop shops to large scale employers – are scrambling to determine how the new law will affect their hiring process.
"Basically, this law is asking every employer to become an immigration enforcement officer," Ken Carey, owner of Agil Staff, a Columbia, S.C., employment agency, told The State.
South Carolina will spend roughly $419,000 to enact the law in 2009 and an additional $300,000 per year afterward, Mike Sponhour of the South Carolina Budget and Control Board told The State.
