By Ginny Johnson
Staff Writer
The small auditorium at Liberty's Rosewood Center was better than half full for a public forum about the effect of illegal aliens on Pickens County.
Retired trucker John William said he attended the meeting to get a feel for what the future might hold for his grandkids.
Williams said he was a little confused about why the issue was such a hot topic.
"I mean, what part of 'illegal' do you not understand?" Williams said. "If people don't stand up, we're going to be run over."
The forum was hosted by Clemson City Councilwoman Margaret Thompson. She said she's not against anyone seeking a better life, rather, her position is against local employers that hire people who are in the United States illegally.
Thompson has become an outspoken proponent of punitive legislation that would, she said, curtail the influx of illegal aliens to American job sites.
"I'm tired of being nice about it," Thompson said.
Pickens County Sheriff C. David Stone spoke briefly and answered questions. He was accompanied by his wife Donna.
Stone spoke of an agreement among four counties - Pickens, Oconee, Anderson and Greenville - to obtain federal funding for a regional illegal-immigration training center.
The funds would be available under law 287g, which has a detention component and a patrol component. The regional training center would be the first of its kind nationwide and would allow officers from the four jurisdictions to become certified in immigration policing.
Liberty City Councilman and candidate for sheriff Rick Clark also addressed the audience, encouraging everyone to get on the phone and let their voices be heard.
Representing the Americans Have Had Enough Coalition was statistician and activist Roan Garcia-Quintana, of Mauldin.
He said illegal aliens each cost individual American taxpayers about $20,000 annually.
"That's $2.6 trillion," Garcia-Quintana said, adding that illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.
"Illegal aliens and illegal migration affects every aspect of our lives," Garcia-Quintana said. "Schools, hospitals, law enforcement."
The number of English-as-a-second-language students increased by 200 percent last year alone, he said.
For more information about the coalition, visit www.americanshavehadenough.org.
Also present at the forum were representatives of the S.C. Minuteman Civil Defense Corp who also spoke against illegal immigration. For more information, visit www.scminutemanproject.com.
Thompson has yet to set a date or location of the next public forum, but said it would likely be in Easley.
For more information, call Thompson at 505-9698 or e-mail to tigerthompson@bellsouth.net.
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