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Jessica Nelms

Pickens County Sheriff David Stone said many Hispanic immigrants flock to the construction sector for work. He said illegal immigration has slowed in the area, largely due to a sagging economy.

News analysis

Evidenced by elected officials' efforts to get tough on illegal immigration, the dilemma and its impact on local job markets and economies seems to be on the minds of many in the Upstate.

One such effort was regarding an ordinance being considered by Pickens County to make English the official language and impose stricter guidelines on companies to hire legal workers. Another in September reported that Walhalla Mayor Randy Chastain claimed an influx of illegals in Oconee County was overburdening taxpayers and that federal officials should do more in picking up illegals at the overcrowded county jail.

Though local lawmen and county council members are limited in their ability to directly impact illegal immigration, their stances on the issue could, implicitly or otherwise, affect constituents' lives.

THE NUMBERS

Oconee District 5 candidate Richard Hughes (D) said he hasn't noticed a "wave" of illegals moving into the area but said "there seems to be some."

"I'm not aware of a large number in Oconee County," he said. "You can sort of gauge it by the number of kids in school, and that's been stable over the years."

Bryan Jenkins (D), Oconee District 4 candidate said quantifying the severity of the problem was hard to pin down. "It's kind of difficult to know. There's more illegal immigrants here, but you know, it's one of those situations that sometimes it's difficult to determine who's legal and who's not. I think the people in charge are trying to do their best."

On the Republican side, Hughes' opponent, Reg Dexter (R) was brief and seemed surprised that he was being asked about the issue. He did say he hoped employers were hiring legal citizens, also noting "neither candidate has a solution to this on the national level."

Jenkins' opponent Joel Thrift (R) could not be reached for comment.

According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates from 2006, Pickens County contains an Hispanic population of 2.6 percent, while those in Oconee make up 3.3 percent, compared to the statewide number of 3.5 percent. Nationally, a drop off in illegal immigration has occurred, according to a Pew research study, which found that undocumented immigrants fell to 500,000 per year from 2005-2008, a 300,000-person drop from 2000-2004.

Pickens County Sheriff David Stone (R), who said he has seen the largest increase in illegals during the last five or six years, said he had not seen any numbers on the amount of undocumented workers on a local level. He did say large numbers of illegals typically flow into the construction field.

"Since the economy has gotten like it is, you don't see that many around right now," he said, noting the difficulty in obtaining work in the struggling economy.

He categorized the problem as "not all that severe, but we're trying to get a jump on it before it gets real critical because a lot of them are committing crimes, and we certainly don't want that. We feel like if we could get illegals out, our crime rate would go down."

Stone, who has been sheriff for nearly four decades, will face Lt. Robert Crooks (D), an investigator with the Clemson Police Department. Crooks' opinion on the numbers: "No, I don't think it's severe. I think you can throw things out of proportion."

THE IMPACT

Most candidates questioned pointed to the loss of employment opportunities for legal residents and crime as issues that weighed heavily on residents’ minds with regard to illegal immigration.

"That's what I hear is basically the biggest concern," Hughes said of a loss of jobs for locals. "They want the jobs. The jobs should go to the citizens of the county. That's also part of the national issue too."

Stone, who said he has seen a smattering of gang activity pop up in Pickens County, including some graffiti in public places, noted some residents were concerned about crime.

"Some of them (legal residents) feel that if they're (immigrants) legal, it's fine, but they just don't want them breaking into their homes, using drugs or having drugs around their kids," Stone said.

He said due to a small amount of gang activity, the Sheriff's Office has employed a gang officer, who will work with the school resources officer to be on the look out for suspicious behavior.

Crooks said if he was elected, establishing a specific group inside the department devoted just to tracking down illegals would be "a waste of time for my agency."

Instead, Crooks would focus on keeping residents safe.

"Because we are up here in Pickens County, we don't have a border," he said. "So again, a lot of that stuff starts with our federal government, and my priority is going to be other things, protecting the people, the citizens of Pickens County, and I don't see where immigration has anything to do with our safety."

Pickens County District 3 candidate Sam Wyche (R), who will face Democrat Sam Burbage in the only contested race on that county council, pointed to other concerns: a lack of understanding of the general dilemma facing Hispanics and that of seeking to become legal through the correct avenues.

"Say the word illegal, (and) you've designated them as someone who is breaking the law," Wyche said. "So the first thought is, rather than getting mad at them, they did it out of desperation, most of them. They left their country and gambled their freedom, gambled their safety. ..."

On a personal note, he also noted the story of a distant cousin of his who was a Canadian seeking citizenship in the United States. Even with a wife, child and a good job in Pickens County, the process of obtaining his legal status languished in bureaucracy. While waiting, the cousin had to pay $6,000 per year to remain on the up and up.

"That’s stupid, that's dumb, that's penalizing people that want to do it the right way," Wyche said. "So those things have to be done."

Conversely, when asked for his view, Burbage said legal residents should generally be concerned about the problem.

"Coming across there (the Mexican border), and we haven't been able to stop them yet,” he said. “It's sad. It's sad. An electric fence should be put up and some kind of something to keep them from crawling up under the ground and making tunnels."

"That's something everybody ought to be worried about in the United States," he added.

ENFORCEMENT

When a suspect is charged by the Sheriff's Office, Stone said each, regardless of race, was run through a check list to establish legal status.

"We use every angle, resource that we have to find out whether they are illegal or not," he said. "Some of them come in with nothing on them, so you just take them at their word until you fingerprint."

Once a fingerprint is obtained, the print can then be sent to federal officials for a final check.

In September, Clemson City Council member Margaret Thompson, who has been a leading voice for tougher measures on illegal immigration, boasted that Pickens County officials have arrested more illegals than Oconee and Anderson counties combined.

That number, Stone said, stands at 116 in about a year's time, with 47 having been deported.

For his part, Crooks said: "Number one, whatever is the law, whatever the lawmakers provide for us to enforce as far as commander in chief, that's what I will enforce as being the sheriff, and I would not just zoom on a certain group of people, be it Hispanic, they are a case-by-case basis."

"I'm just going to assure that, once I'm in office, that's not going to occur, but that's all I hear, and you kind of wonder about that," he added about any perceived racial profiling among law enforcement officers.

He emphasized that his focus if elected would be more on resident safety than immigration.

“We don't have a border,” he said of Pickens County. “The border starts many, many miles from here.”