South Carolina Passes Restrictive Immigration Legislation

06 Jul 2008

On June 4, a new bill was signed into law in South Carolina by that state’s governor, Mark Sanford. The new legislation, HB 4400, is an omnibus immigration bill that mandates a series of limitations and restrictions for that state’s undocumented populations. Included in the law are the following provisions:

1) Employers are now required to verify the identity of all employees either via a South Carolina driver’s license or via the national E-Verify system.
2) Clinics and hospitals funded by the state can no longer provide non-emergency medical care to undocumented adult immigrants. (Note that this provision directly counters federal law that states medical care should be given without any form of discrimination. The South Carolina law, however, has not given enforcement of this provision to any particular state agency.
3) Undocumented immigrants are not allowed to attend public universities or receive scholarships funded by the state of South Carolina.

The new immigration bill includes legislation similar to that seen in an Oklahoma law passed last year.