The Beaufort Gazette: U.S. Rep. Wilson worried Democrats will offer amnesty

U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson said Thursday he is concerned that Democrats taking control of both houses of Congress in January could back amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Such a move could foil local efforts to stabilize labor markets flooded with illegal immigrants, an issue addressed by the Beaufort County Council's newly passed Lawful Employment Ordinance, which uses business license suspensions to penalize employers discovered with illegal workers.

Wilson, a South Carolina Republican who represents Beaufort County, made the statement after his annual legislative press conference held outside his office in downtown Beaufort on Thursday, where he outlined goals for the upcoming session of Congress.

His goals were light on specifics, but included:

Remaining on the offensive in the war on terror and accelerating training of Iraqi security forces;

Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, which provides financial aid to college students, and the No Child Left Behind Act, which creates test-based benchmarks that schools must meet or face tough

penalties;

Advocating fiscally responsible, pro-growth policies; and

Pushing for small business health plans, which create networks to spread out risk and reduce healthcare costs, and continuing implementation of Medicare Part D, which provides seniors with reduced-price prescription drugs.

"We'll be sworn in Thursday and get to work," Wilson said.

Immigration reform was noticeably absent from his speech and a poster outlining his agenda, though County Council Vice Chairman Skeet Von Harten raised the issue during the

event.

Wilson said he backed legislation in the last session of Congress to build a 700-mile border fence between Mexico and the United States' southern border. He said he also backed other measures to tighten up problems with illegal immigration that had passed in the House of Representatives but not in the Senate.

When asked later about the County Council's efforts to stem illegal immigration, Wilson said, "I'm not going to pass the buck, this is a federal issue."

"A hallmark of American society is rule of law. A unique success of our nation is respect for law," Wilson said, adding that giving amnesty to immigrants who arrived here illegally could erode that respect.