South Carolina Senate is taking the next step to implement the bill requiring state police to track refugees residing in the territory. The recently approved bill is set to hold refugees' sponsors liable for any damages associated with any act of terrorism.
According to ABC News, the Senate Committee agreed to the implementation of the bill on Wednesday, January 27, 2016. A spokesman from a civil rights organization for Muslim expressed that South Carolina is the first state to have such concern and apprehension for refugees.
The bill is indeed very timely with the current civil war issues ongoing, especially in Syria. The said civil war in the country has produced thousands of refugees to various states. With this, European countries have put on pressure to United States to house some of these refugees in their territory and protect them.
There have been some loopholes though, from those who support the bill; hence, the need for further study. Senator Katrina Shealy, a Republican who supports the said bill, is having a doubt on placing the refugees' addresses and location in an internet registry. She expressed that this is something about the bill she could not support as it places refugees' in a tight area of immolating a piece of their privacy, The Journal Times shared.
As noted by Fox News, governors and attorney generals from different states had initially refused and asked the federal government to not put the tutelage of refugees in their territories. Now that South Carolina is taking the responsibility, they are putting a protocol on any refugee relocated in the area to register to the Department of Social Services within 30 days. These gathered information will be shared with the State Law Enforcement Division who will be responsible on tracking the refugees.
South Carolina will be the first state to do this kind of initiative for the refugees. Moreover, the state do not consider the said refugees to be domestic terrorist but deranged and perplexed individuals.
