State Senate panders with wasteful “border protection” legislation

NC Newsline

The first time most people hear about a bill introduced by North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger entitled the “Border Protection Act,” a lot of them think: “Wait — are South Carolina or Virginia up to something?”

And as silly as that sounds, it’s no sillier than the bill itself — which has nothing to do with state or national borders, but rather is the latest effort by a politician to pander to prejudice and irrational fears about immigration.

Not only would the bill force state law enforcement agencies to, among other things, run down the immigration status of everyone in their custody, it would mandate costly audits of numerous public programs to make sure no unauthorized immigrant is receiving a benefit — something that’s already illegal.

The bottom line: This cynically labeled bill will impose expensive and wasteful new mandates on already overworked and understaffed agencies, while sowing more alienation and stress in the lives of thousands of good and hardworking men and women who clean our public restrooms, help build our homes and put food on our tables.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.