Judge Richard Gergel
After hearing oral arguments in a Charleston courthouse yesterday, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel indicated that he is unlikely to strike down South Carolina’s anti-immigrant law in its entirety, but the questions he posed suggest that the laws most heinous provisions could get nixed. Those include requirements that immigrants carry their papers on them at all times and another that cops must check their immigration status.
According to The State:
“We’ve got 20 sections [in this law] and we’re down to talking about just a few of them,” Gergel said.“The state doesn’t like calling it a traffic dragnet, but I fear that is what it is.”
And then:
Arthur Goldberg, an assistant attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, said the federal government has sole authority in creating and implementing immigration policy. If each state is allowed to set its own immigration laws, they would complicate foreign relations, he said.
“This prevents the United States from speaking in one voice,” he said. “The states are valued partners with respect to immigration but they are not equal partners.”
As part of the government’s case, Assistant Secretary of State William Burns filed a brief, saying individual state laws were interfering with foreign policy. That brief weighed heavily on Gergel’s questions.
“What Mr. Burns is saying is, ‘I’m talking about drug trafficking and the Mexican government is talking about South Carolina.’”
Later, Gergel said, “The whole country is going to be held responsible for the acts of any one state and that’s where there must be federal authority on immigration policy.”
Gergel also expressed concern about a piece of the law that would criminalize anyone in the country illegally. Under the state law, police would be allowed to jail people for no reason other than they are illegal immigrants. Currently, the federal government treats those cases as civil violations.
“We’re going to pull them over on the way to the Piggly Wiggly and put them in jail?” Gergel asked. “Come on. This is in direct conflict with federal law.”
Get the rest of the story here.
Filed under: Arizona-copycat laws, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Law Enforcement, Racism, S.B. 20, South Carolina | Tagged: Arthur Goldberg, Charleston, Judge Richard Gergel, Mexico, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, William Burns | Leave a Comment »
