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County tells Hilton Head, Bluffton: Get on board with illegal immigration ordinance

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Beaufort County wants Hilton Head Island and Bluffton officials to get onboard with a plan to revoke the licenses of businesses that employ illegal immigrants.

All but one of the Beaufort County Council's 11 members approved a resolution Monday asking the county's municipalities to adopt laws that verify the immigration status of employees.

The county only issues business licenses to companies operating in unincorporated areas. That means Hilton Head and Bluffton do their own business licensing. County Council members say they need the cooperation of the municipalities for the county ordinance to have any impact.

"I think it's going to be virtually impossible to enforce this ... without the municipalities coming on-board," said council member Jerry Stewart, who represents Sun City Hilton Head.

On Sept. 29, Hilton Head Mayor Tom Peeples and Bluffton Mayor Hank Johnston both said it's the job of the federal government to regulate illegal immigration. Johnston said the money it would take for additional business licensing requirements could be better spent elsewhere.

County Council Chairman Weston Newton said Monday that illegal immigrants in general take a toll on the county.

He pointed to the stress the school district faces teaching children with limited English language skills.

"We're building two new schools in Bluffton, potentially for illegal aliens," he said.

The county resolution asking the municipalities to adopt immigration ordinances came on the heels of a presentation Monday by county administrator Gary Kubic on how the county's business licensing program would work.

The county would hire a business licensing director to conduct random audits of the 5,000 licensed businesses in unincorporated Beaufort County.

Some council members felt the enforcement plan moved in the right direction but did not go far enough. That's because it doesn't target companies that knowingly employ illegal immigrants, pay workers under the table or accept false identification documents.

Councilman Paul Sommerville said that "unless these phony documents are compared against some kind of database, then we're kind of whistling in the wind."

Kubic made it clear in an interview following the meeting that the intent of the enforcement plan was not for the county to act as a surrogate Immigration and Customs Enforcement -- or ICE-- office.

"The issue of a company trying to play dodgeball with an undocumented worker is within the conscience of the business itself. If someone's going to cheat, they're going to cheat in every fashion," said Kubic. "This is a business license. We're not talking about deportation or sending everybody back to Mexico."

Peeples and Johnston did not return phone calls Monday night for comment.

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