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Pending legal review, vote stalled on county immigration plan

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BEAUFORT -- The Beaufort County Council kept more than 100 people waiting for two hours Monday while it met with attorneys behind closed doors to discuss the legality of a proposed ordinance that would punish businesses for knowingly employing illegal immigrants.

• Photo: It was standing room only in the Beaufort County Council chambers Monday night as the crowd anticipated a third reading of an ordinance to penalize businesses that hire illegal immigrants. When the council said there would be no third reading, most people left, not knowing there would be public comment later.
  Bob Sofaly/Gazette
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After emerging from the closed session, Councilman Bill McBride announced that the council was delaying the final vote so that the proposal could be refined next week during a committee meeting. Instead, the council unanimously approved a resolution calling on the federal government to strongly enforce immigration rules and to strengthen the laws.

The council's closed session was to receive legal advice about the proposal from McNair Law Firm. Earlier in the afternoon, council Chairman Weston Newton said in an interview that the closed session was necessary because the proposal could lead to "potential litigation." He also said he would ask the firm to make a similar presentation in open session, but nothing about the legal opinion was mentioned when the council returned from its closed meeting.

During a break after the closed session, Newton said the firm couldn't publicly present its findings because freedom of information laws would then require all future discussions between the county and its lawyers to be public. That could be a problem, he said, if the ordinance was challenged in court.

A majority of council members have said they would oppose the ordinance on final reading if they weren't satisfied with the legal opinion.

While the council met behind closed doors, several residents stood in front of television cameras giving interviews to reporters. As the closed session stretched past 6 p.m., when a public hearing on the proposal was scheduled, the crowd grew to more than 135 people.

More than half the audience left when McBride announced at 7 p.m. the issue was going back to committee. Several residents returned, however, when it was clarified that the public hearing wasn't canceled.

Hilton Head Island resident Ebba Gamer and her husband, Jack, both thanked the council for its leadership on the issue. Ebba Gamer heads Citizens for a Better Community, a local organization that has been pushing for stronger enforcement of immigration laws for employers. As in past council meetings on the issue, more opponents spoke than supporters.

"You were not intimidated by the large groups, and for that you should be applauded," she said of the council's 8-2 vote earlier this month favoring the ordinance. "This next step that you're entering is going to be the hardest step you go through."

Earlier in the day, the council's Community Services and Public Safety Committee discussed changes to the proposed ordinance. It agreed to delay its effective date, should it pass, to July 1 so that the county and businesses could determine how it would be enforced and what their responsibilities would be. The same committee will meet at 4 p.m. Dec. 6 to discuss other changes to the ordinance, though council members didn't specify what those might be.

Local immigration attorney Melissa Azallion, who is representing about seven businesses opposing the measure, urged the council to address some of the questions and concerns raised by the business community. Last week, Azallion along with the chamber of commerce and five local organizations representing homebuilders, restaurants, hotels and other businesses sent a letter to the council posing at least 50 questions about the proposed "lawful employment ordinance."

"Businesses are frustrated," Azallion said. "And they feel the business and legal concerns they are raising are being dismissed and ignored."