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by DYLAN NOLAN
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South Carolina congresswoman and gubernatorial candidate Nancy Mace took to the North steps of the S.C. State House to unveil a law and order legislative agenda ahead of the General Assembly’s return to the capital city of Columbia next week.
Mace’s proposed bill, which she modeled after legislation passed in Texas, would criminalize South Carolina sheriffs who intentionally refuse to comply with federal immigration detainers.
Mace’s legislative push follows her war on former Charleston County sheriff Kristin Graziano. During her tenure in office, Graziano repeatedly released illegal aliens whom the federal government requested be kept in custody following arrests is to facilitate immigration enforcement.
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RELATED | SANCTUARY SHERIFF ENDANGERS S.C. CITIZENS
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“One of the things I was inspired by was the sanctuary sheriff that we had here in South Carolina,” Mace recounted. “Several years ago the state legislature banned sanctuary cities. Even though this law exists, there are no teeth behind it.”
Not surprisingly, partisan local officials were not deterred by the “toothless” approach.
“The South Carolina Immigration Enforcement Act would actually put teeth and penalties and prosecution behind anyone who is a sanctuary sheriff or sanctuary jail administrator,” Mace said, listing the penalties her proposal would impose on non-complaint officials and jurisdictions.
“It would create a misdemeanor offense for those who knowingly refuse to comply that would be punishable by up to one year in jail and $1,000 fine, it would trigger an automatic removal from office upon conviction, It would impose civil penalties of up to $25,000 a day for non compliant jurisdictions, which are already defined in state law, and it would cut off local government fund appropriations for three years to jurisdictions who violate the law,” Mace said.
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While Mace only referenced the specifics of one model bill, she told members of the media to expect numerous additional policy proposals over the next 100 days.
“What we are going to do over the next 100 days is showcase legislation I would support as governor that is already being worked on in the state legislature, legislation I would oppose, and legislation that I would propose as governor,” Mace said.
Mace’s proposals include a statute criminalizing aggravated voyeurism, a change she says is necessary to close a gap in current state law prohibiting nonconsensual sexual recordings. Mace said the current law treats these recordings too leniently by charging first time offenders with a misdemeanor – which she said “is basically the cost of a speeding ticket.”
“When you have someone who’s filmed in that manner who’s disabled, a child or being assaulted, there should be additional provisions and state law protecting those individuals,” Mace said.
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Mace attacked the Palmetto State’s justice system, and the work of the state’s top prosecutor (and her gubernatorial rival) Alan Wilson in-particular.
“You have an attorney general that didn’t prosecute a single pedophile in court last year, not one” Mace claimed, calling South Carolina “a haven for pedophilia because we don’t prosecute these things.”
She added that when pedophiles are convicted “they’re sentenced to very little (prison time).”
“I look at the entire system as being broken,’ Mace said – positioning herself as a change agent poised to upend the current system.
Mace noted state law presently allows repeat violent offenders to be granted bonds as they await trial, a policy which has had disastrous consequences on numerous occasions.
“People are committing felony after felony – getting out and murdering Logan Federico, or somebody else,” Mace said, referencing the tragic murder of college student Logan Federico last May. According to police, Alexander Devonte Dickey – a career criminal with a lengthy rap sheet including 25 felony arrests – brutally executed Federico as she was visiting friends near the University of South Carolina.
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RELATED | MACE PUSHES FEDS TO TAKE FEDERICO CASE
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Mace accused Wilson of failing to preserve the Federico family’s opportunity to seek the death penalty against Dickey.
“You have an attorney general that may have just screwed up her chances, her family’s chances, of getting the death penalty in that case because he got ahead of his skis and potentially tainted the jury pool in that case,” Mace claimed.
In a statement to FITSNews, Wilson spokeswoman Claire Brady defended Wilson’s prosecutorial record.
“Alan Wilson is the law and order candidate and that’s why the majority of Republican sheriffs endorsed him, including every single one in her congressional district,” Brady pointed out that during her stint as a state legislator “Mace voted for soft-on-crime judge Bentley Price, who sentenced an illegal immigrant to only 13 years after killing someone in a DUI crash.”
Brady also targeted Mace for her recent alleged confrontation with police at the Charleston airport.
“She berated law enforcement, calling them ‘fucking incompetent’: there’s only one law and order candidate in this race and it’s not Nancy Mace,” Brady said.
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Mace acknowledged the difficulty of passing legislation, noting she has yet to line up lawmakers to introduce her forthcoming bills. However, she expressed her belief that she could leverage the public’s support of anti-crime measures to advance her agenda in the coming legislative session.
“I think people will get excited about what I’m proposing,” Mace said, adding that during her time in the S.C. statehouse and U.S. Congress she’s “worked on legislation that’s been signed into law – I want to bring that same energy right here to the state legislature.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
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8 comments
Wasn’t it FITSNews that reported on former Lexington County Sheriff, James Metts, that was allowing video poker machines to operate in Lexington County?
It turned out that Metts was running a “catch and release” system.
That might conflict with the image she is trying to create, of being pro-Trump.
Hey Nancy how about you fight to release the full and unredacted Epstein files so we can go after those criminals!
That might conflict with the image she is trying to create, of being pro-Trump.
Sorry. The algorithm placed this under the wrong comment the first time I posted it.
Law and order? Great, let’s prosecute Epstein’s best buddy, the war criminal administration.
She must forget that the Governor in S.C. has very little power
Those (very few) men around her better be careful she doesn’ t get their names. Otherwise she will accuse them of rape and voyeurism at some point in the future.
I actually care more about who becomes the next AG more than I care about who becomes Governor. Except for disaster response and the ability to immediately get any information from any executive branch agency, Governors in SC don’t have all that much direct power. AGs on the other hand, wield tremendous power that can affect the everyday lives and freedom of citizens in major ways – both positive and negative. Stumbo for AG!