♪ ♪ Gavin Jackson> Welcome to "T his Week in South Carolina."

I'm Gavin Jackson.

This week, we're looking at a hurricane season and how ready the state is with Director Kim Stenson from SCEMD.

But first, I'm joined by Attorney General Alan Wilson to discuss legislative developments from this past session, immigration concerns and more.

Attorney General, welcome back.

Alan Wilson> It's great to be with you.

Thank you.

Gavin> So, Attorney General Wilson, we just wrapped up the legislative session.

It was very busy when a lot of things happened this first year, the two year session.

Tell us what some of the big wins were for y'all when it comes to new laws that got passed or bills that got close to getting passed.

What did you guys see today at this session?

Alan> From the perspective of our office, it was a actually really good legislative year.

We asked the legislature for a number of tools and resources, statutorily speaking, and they came through for us.

It took us several years to get it there, but they, they did deliver this year, a couple of things.

As you know, we have an Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and one of the issues I have been championing now for over 2 to 3 years is addressing the evolution of AI technology and how it can be used to exploit children.

Last year, I led a 54 state letter to Congress asking Congress to close loopholes in federal law that child predators are going online and exploiting or basically taking advantage of children, but through the loopholes.

And here in South Carolina, we had the same loopholes.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about under state and federal law, it is obviously a crime to exploit a child by taking sexually provocative photos or videos of that child.

But the bad guys, the predators, they actually recognize that they can use AI software in a platform, and they can take innocent photos of children on Instagram or Facebook and morph those images into those child's engaging in illicit conduct.

They can also take composite photos of dozens of children.

Use those images to create a fake child that is indistinguishable from a real child, and then use that to feed the demand for more child sex abuse material.

So, we were successful in getting bills passed that closed those loopholes and allow us to go after those individuals who were trying to exploit children, whether they're real or fake, because we don't want them feeding the demand for sex abuse.

The other thing that we were able to get was an administrative subpoena bill.

Now that sounds very boring to the average viewer, but when we would get a cyber tip that there was a child being abused, we didn't get a physical address or a name of a person in that cyber tip.

We usually get it in the form of an IP address, or a screen name, or an email that does not identify anybody.

And so we have to go to the internet service provider to find out who that registry belongs to.

And so, it used to take us several weeks to a month or two to be able to get to the location where the crime is being committed.

But now we, the General Assembly has passed a bill that allows me to sign in a subpoena that allows us to go to the subscriber, the internet service provider, and get the subscriber data.

It doesn't tell us who's abusing the child.

It just tell us where that IP address is located.

And within a day or two, we can get to that location to identify if a real child's being abused.

So, these were huge wins.

And then lastly, we got a Homicide By Fentanyl Bill passed, which I think, it's not a perfect bill.

And there are some critics of it, but it is a great vehicle for us to go after people who knowingly sell fentanyl that is laced in other drugs, whether it be Adderall or an opioid pill.

And then a person dies as a result.

We can go after them and put them away for up to 30 years.

And that will, and that could be a very useful tool.

Gavin> And that took a long time to get that bill, especially that one across the finish line too.

But yeah, we did hear some criticism from some prosecutors and solicitors saying that, that really doesn't do much.

It's not that big of a game changer.

So, what do you say to that?

Do you think that maybe it will be able to do something, at least?

Alan> Well, listen, I do agree with the solicitors who, who did criticize the bill, that there were some - There were some issues with the bill that I do agree with.

As I said, it is not a perfect bill.

But I disagree that, that this bill has no utility.

It can be perfected upon and we need to go back and tweak it a little bit.

But it is a great vehicle for us now to go after a drug dealer or a drug trafficker who we know is taking fentanyl, which, by the way, one kilogram of fentanyl, is enough to kill half a million people.

And over my time as AG, we've either seized or recovered 140 kilograms of fentanyl.

Historically, 500 kilograms of fentanyl have been trafficked into the state with Mexican drug cartels.

So, fentanyl is everywhere and in every thing.

And that is why I'm telling parents and kids in high school don't make assumptions that when you're taking a pill that it is safe, because you could die from it.

And many people have lost loved ones.

But this allows us to go up the chain to the individual who was, got a pill press, who is taking one Adderall pill and making it into 20 Adderall pills by adulterating it, or mixing it with fentanyl.

And we can go after that person.

They don't even have to know that the person will die from taking the pill.

They just have to know that there was fentanyl in it, and we can put them away for up to 30 years.

Gavin> So that's a big problem, obviously.

But were there any other bills before we get to some other topics - any other bills that y'all kind of got close on, were waiting to push next year, essentially Alan> Every year, we get to, we get right up to the finish line and then we run out of time because there's only so many bills that you can get passed in, in a single year when you have to deal with the budget and, you know, the energy issues that are going on.

There are so many other issues that people are focused on.

Me, I'm focused on, first, My priorities are public safety, protecting the people in this state.

So that is where my priorities go.

But there are were other bills out there that we're reforming, how we prosecute cases, how we deal with appeals, how we deal with post post-conviction relief.

These are iss- these are not kitchen table issues that people think about, but they are issues important to the lawyers when it comes to turning the wheels of justice a little faster.

And we're going to continue to come back and work on those next year.

Gavin> Yeah.

Let's go to immigration.

You were just down at the southern border, back in May with some other attorneys general.

What was the need for that trip?

What did you learn down there at that time?

And, especially now with the legal border dropping, it's just really just dropping off border crossings, crossings, I should say, dropping off.

Alan> Well, every state in this country is a border state for purposes of public safety and even national security.

Over the last several years, I mean, we have had an uptick in the amount of drugs being trafficked into this state from Mexican drug cartels and various gangs.

I was in the El Paso, Texas sector last August during the Biden administration, and I was able to see firsthand how much was coming across the southern border.

That gives us an idea of how susceptible we are in South Carolina to all of that stuff crossing there, coming here.

Three weeks ago, I was at the Yuma Sector in Arizona meeting with Border Patrol officials, DEA and others, I.C.E., as well.

What we learned is shocking, that in May of 2023, they were, they were having approximately 1,500 illegal border crossings a day in that one mile section of the wall.

1,500 a day.

In May of 2025.

Just 2 or 3 weeks ago, they were averaging four illegal crossings a day.

Border patrol was overwhelmed.

They had become paper pushers.

They weren't enforcing the borders because of the constraints placed on them at the national level by the national leadership of the Biden administration.

And they, they were having stuff come across the border.

Mexican drug cartels were bringing in fentanyl, heroin, meth, cocaine.

There was rampant child trafficking going on.

We know that we can't locate 320 thousand unaccompanied minors, right now, from that time period, and that is very concerning to me.

But all of that stuff is going somewhere.

Just last week in the Lowcountry, there was a major press conference.

Gavin> Yeah.

Alan> And I was there with the governor, Sheriff Carl Ritchie, Charleston County Sheriff, with Mark Keel, Chief of SLED, along with federal agency leaders here in South Carolina, announcing that we had done a major bust at a nightclub where they found two cartel members that they arrested.

They found one individual who had a murder warrant issued by Interpol who was there, and they liberated a number of child sex, trafficking victims.

And they found numerous other minors, like, as young as 13 years old, at 3 o'clock in the morning at this club.

And there was, obviously lots of drugs, illicit drugs that were seized.

Cash was seized.

But this was a major example of when the, when the federal priorities and state law enforcement priorities are in sync, because you have people at the top in D.C. and people here in South Carolina working together who are mission aligned, recognizing that we need to go out and get out all these bad guys out of our state.

Gavin> So would you classify... That was classified as a sting, but it could also be a raid in some senses.

Do you see more of those happening in our state, now because of this renewed focus on immigration concerns?

Alan> Yes.

And as you know, for 30 years we've had what's called the 287(g) program, which is under the Immigration Nationality Act.

And it basically allows the feds to deputize local law enforcement to perform certain immigration functions.

Well, during certain administrations, that program was gutted or made impossible to join.

Prior to the president coming back into office.

There were three sheriffs in South Carolina who were members of that program, and most of those sheriffs would tell me that it wasn't a functional program, even though they were members of it.

It wasn't being supported by the feds.

Now that we have different priorities, at the federal level, we're now somewhere between 15 and 20 sheriffs have signed up to enroll in this program, and I expect more.

I know that the chief of S.L.E.D.

has indicated to me that S.L.E.D.

is now a member of the 287(g) program.

So, you're seeing a lot more coordination between local law enforcement and federal law enforcement.

I sent a letter to every sheriff in the state asking that they join the program.

I've met with the chief of S.L.E.D.

I've met with other state officials, and we intend to get far more law enforcement engaged in this federal program.

Gavin> So you'll see more, maybe more upticks in terms of immigration raids or looking for folks that are here illegally.

And how does that work at this level?

Everyone's talking about Los Angeles, and what's going on there?

But when you look at South Carolina, are you doing the equivalent here, at this point?

Alan> Absolutely.

I mean, let's look at something tragic.

A few weeks ago, a mother was murdered by six illegal aliens up in Lancaster County.

There was a young man who was tragically killed in a traffic fatality here in downtown Columbia, a few weeks ago by an illegal alien who was an unaccompanied minor.

Now, it wasn't a murder.

It was a traffic fatality.

But the point is, there were people who were here who should not be here, who were evading detection by state and federal authorities, and they need to turn themselves in, and they need to go back and go through the process, because right now we've got a lot of bad elements here.

There are harmless people here, but there are a lot of bad people here who are here, because they are members of Tren de Aragua, MS-13, Mexican drug cartels.

All the drug trafficking we're dealing with in this state, is originating with drugs that were born with Mexican drug cartels south of the border.

Gavin>And now, Attorney General, we're running out of time here, but I want to ask you about a letter that you and 25 other attorneys general signed, recently, saying that you stand with law enforcement.

We support President Trump's actions, and we will not let chaos take hold in our states.

You're talking about this deployment of these thousands of National Guard troops, the federalization of them in Los Angeles and now hundreds of Marines, against the wishes of the leaders in California.

So, do you think that inflames the situation?

Do you think that's what is actually needed when you have law enforcement saying, we're actually okay.

We don't need this to become more inflamed than it already is.

Alan> First off, when you look at the pictures of the burning vehicles in downtown L.A., those were burning before the federal authorities got there.

So talk about being inflamed, literally, in flames.

I mean, L.A. was...having riots and violence and people were, breaking down doors and shattering windows and attacking law enforcement.

That's what got the feds.

That's what got the president involved.

You don't see that happen here in South Carolina, because here we are mission-aligned with the priorities of President Trump.

And we are not going to allow people, outside agitators, to come here and do that.

Gavin> And there's going to be a peaceful protest on Saturday, with this, airs Friday.

It also airs on Sunday.

But, you put out a warning saying, you know, don't we'll, we'll be prosecuting people to the full extent of the law if they damage property, if they attack law enforcement.

I can say back in 2020, when those George Floyd protests were taking place at the State house, they did start peacefully, but then they did devolve into some destruction and some attacks.

Do you have any intelligence, any intel at this point, pointing to potential conflict happening with this rally?

Or do you just want to make sure that people know that y'all aren't messing around?

Alan> Like most people who are older than ten years old, I remember 2020 very well, and I remember when local and federal authorities failed to get in front of this, and I saw...lawlessness rampant in those states.

I don't want that to happen here in South Carolina.

And so we're trying to send a message to people that if you want to come out and peacefully protest, everyone's for that.

But there's a lot of outside agitators, people who are being paid by national groups in coordination and all around the country who are coming here, and their intent is to create chaos and anarchy.

And we're telling them, if you play stupid games, you're going to win stupid prizes.

And that prize is prison.

Gavin> And then, Attorney General Wilson, something I want to ask you really quickly about politics, you are a potential gubernatorial candidate.

The primary is about a year away, at this point.

I want to ask you if you are planning to run and if so, when we can expect to hear an announcement?

Alan> I hear this question every day, and I'm having people walk up to me on the street asking that question.

I'm getting lots of encouragement.

Everywhere I go, people are asking me to obviously consider this opportunity and it's something I am truly considering.

I'm leaning, hard into making this decision.

I will make a formal and firm decision in the very near future.

So stand by and you'll be hearing from us on that decision soon.

Gavin> Great!

Attorney General, Alan Wilson, thank you.

Alan> Thank you.

Gavin> Joining me now to discuss hurricane season is State Emergency Management Division Director Kim Stenson.

Kim, welcome back.

Kim> Well thank you.

Glad to be here.

Gavin> Of course it's always under circumstances like this, with hurricane season starting on June 1st and running through November.

But, we have seen our fair share of storms over the past few years, including Hurricane Helene, last year, which we'll talk about in a minute.

But N.O.A.A.

is calling for an above average hurricane season forecasting a range of 13 to 19 named storms.

Six to ten of those are forecasted to become hurricanes and three to five of those, major hurricanes.

So, Kim, when you guys see those...forecasts, what does that mean for E.M.D and how you all prepare for the season?

>> Well, we really don't do anything differently when we have an above average, hurricane season.

We prepare regardless whether we have one or ten.

And so we just go through our normal procedures, updating our plans.

Conducting exercises and that sort of thing.

So, we want to be ready every year.

Gavin> And you all just did... that big tabletop exercise.

What does that entail, essentially?

Kim> Well that's basically for the governor and the state agency heads.

And the governor gets briefed on capabilities at state agencies.

And see if there's any challenges by state agency.

And we go through a different, scenario every year.

This year was a scenario very, very close to Hurricane Helene, except there was actually a landfall in Beaufort, so it could be potentially more devastating, the exercise that we went through for this time, but certainly, underscores the fact and Helene did that, as well, is that- It's not just a coastal event, if a hurricane comes near South Carolina.

It can very easily be a full state event.

Gavin> Yeah.

Talk about Helene and those recovery efforts So, just how bad Helene was, because, I mean, it came up through, you know, the middle, the inland approach, essentially, and then hit us as a tropical storm back in late September, really hitting half a state, you know, like west of the 95 corridor, of course.

But like when you, when you look at that.

What, what did Helene, do to our state?

I mean, it was the deadliest storm we've seen since Hugo?

Kim> No, no doubt about that, certainly in the last, you know, 30 some years since Hugo on that end of it.

And we saw areas that were impacted, especially in the upstate and around Aiken area, that were very devastated in terms of debris and power outages.

We had a record number of power outages.

Almost 1.4 million people, or customers were out of, power during that period.

But the, utilities did a super job.

Within about a week, they had restored, about a million of those outages.

So that's, that's pretty critical.

And we had many, many roads throughout South Carolina that were blocked and had to be cleared.

And that was part of that process.

In Saluda, at one point, they did not have any road that didn't have some amount of debris on it.

They were blocked.

So, they were particularly, hit hard, as well.

And in the damaged area, for residential damages, we probably had about 6 thousand homes that were some level of damage of which, probably over 300 were, destroyed and, probably another 2000 with major damage.

So again, the most deadly storm since, Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina.

Gavin> So when, you look at that, Kim, what's the message for folks?

I mean, obviously when we see the tracks, we know where it's likely to hit an impact.

So is it really just a matter of everyone in the state, regardless of where you are, the coast, the inlands, the upstate.

What's the message there for preparation?

Kim> Well, the message is to be prepared, and to know what the threat is, probably your primary threat.

If you live in a low lying area, you know, have a plan to, to move out of that area.

You may not be told to evacuate, necessarily, maybe encouraged to do that by some of the local officials, but it's highly unlikely that we'd have an inland evacuation ordered by the governor that's better controlled at the local level.

But having a plan, be prepared to, be by yourself for at least three days, having everything that you need to sustain yourself for three days, food and water, battery operated radio, so, in case the electricity goes out, that sort of thing.

And all that information is on our website, at scemd.org .

It's also on our emergency manager app, the South Carolina emergency manager app and also our dedicated hurricane website at Hurricane.SC.

Gavin> So just sticking with Helene, for one more minute, when you look at the lessons learned and how different that storm was, what's the takeaways there?

What, what did you guys learn from that event versus maybe some other storms that we've seen in the past?

Kim> Well, in this particular case, the level of devastation was higher than we were used to.

And it certainly went, went inland, but I'm not really sure there was a whole lot of, lessons learned in terms of changing the way we do business.

We've had no real systemic problems here in South Carolina.

We've got good plans.

We practice them regularly and have excellent relationships with all our partners and in emergency management here in South Carolina.

Gavin> And the recovery remains ongoing, in a sense?

Kim> It remains ongoing and will be for some time.

The average amount of time to close out a federal declaration is eight years.

<Okay.> Kim> So, it takes a while, especially in terms of infrastructure repairs.

That usually takes a while in terms of, bridges and, in some cases, roads.

One area that we've had a lot of this time is debris.

But that should go fairly quickly.

The debris is off the roads, but certainly has been for some, some months now.

But there's still debris on private property.

But it'll be a while before all that gets taken care of, but, most of the debris should that should go quickly in terms of federal reimbursements.

Gavin> And that debris leads us to another problem that we have in our state, which is wildfires.

We saw that this year, in the upstate and also in the Grand Strand.

I covered those wildfires up on Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge in April.

And you all were up there, as well.

A lot of that was fueled by Hurricane Helene debris, but even still, there's still more on the ground drying out.

Still some of the bigger stuff that wasn't fueling those, fueling those fires.

But tell us about the threat of wildfires in our state.

I think we think of hurricanes a lot.

But this past year alone, when we saw what, 31 thousand acres burned compared to a typical year of eight thousand, or so.

Tell us about the threat of wildfires, and what you guys are doing to try and limit that threat.

Kim> Well, there is certainly a threat most of the time in South Carolina for wildfires, at any given time.

The Forestry Commission is tracking usually a number of fires, but they get them fairly, controlled and contained in a, you know, fairly rapidly.

So, but some instances, like we saw in Horry County at the Covington Drive fire and certainly in, up at Table Rock is that, they're hard to contain sometimes and get it under control.

But there's, it's definitely a very real, real event here in South Carolina.

We've not had a serious fire, really since 2016, the Pinnacle Mountain fire, <Yeah.> which, incidentally, was almost in the same area.

of the Table Rock fire that we just went through.

But we've had two, so far this year where they were federally declared and fairly large ones.

Gavin> And I think no structures were lost.

No lives were lost.

That was a pretty good success story.

Kim> It was.

No, it was very successful, successful.

I think there was a period of time they thought they were going to lose some structures during Table Rock.

And it was very, very close down at the Covington Drive.

I mean, there was the...

They managed to stop the fire line, just, really just a few feet from houses.

And there were some houses down in the Covington Drive area that were siding and some of the siding melted, but the houses, the structures remain.

Gavin> Yeah.

See, it's worrisome down there, when you're on the coast, and you're expecting hurricanes, but you're dealing with wildfires.

So it's, it's a one, two.

But when we look at funding, Kim, it's obviously very expensive when we talk about disasters and disaster relief.

The legislature provided an additional $35 million for roads this year, $40 million for the Office of Resilience Disaster Funds and $202 million to create the South Carolina Public Assistance Program that will be administered by E.M.D.

Tell us about that program and what it's for.

Kim> Okay.

Well, basically, it's to pay for the non-federal share for a disaster.

So, when we have a federally declared disaster, the federal folks pick up, 75 percent of that, and then 25 percent has to be, funded somewhere in the state.

And it might be the state itself does it, or it might be, locally funded, whoever the applicant is for that particular reimbursement.

So, in the last, I guess about 11 years, the state in conjunction with the governor has picked up that 25 percent.

So that will pay for those 25 percent cost share expenses.

Gavin> Okay.

Yeah, because over the years we saw storms like Matthew in 2016, Irma in 2017, Florence 2018 and some others.

So when we talk about that, there's obviously a lot of billions of dollars of damage and costs associated with it.

But when we talk about federal funding and the work that y'all do with FEMA, tell us how important or what role they play in support recovery and how you guys work with FEMA?

Kim> Well, they're a very important role for recovery, because they pay for a good bit, a good bit of it.

So that's, that's very critical.

And we're, going to have at least $200 million worth of cost share expenses.

And we're expecting... and that's on the state side, and we're expecting the disaster, to cost probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.2 billion, of which the, the federal folks pick up that 75 percent.

So that's very has been very critical in terms of, recovery in that funding.

Gavin> And President Donald Trump has announced that he wants to phase out FEMA, which would require an act of Congress.

But after, that happened after this hurricane season, it sounds like, saying, the governor should be able to provide for their own states.

Have you guys seen any decline in promised FEMA funds or, for Helene or any other previous disasters?

Kim> No, we've had close consultation with, our FEMA partners.

And there's no indication that during, during this hurricane season at least that, that they will not provide.

They will provide, the resources that they normally, normally do.

Gavin> And FEMA's down by about 10% of its staff, too.

Is that, have you seen any of that, a lot of that senior staff.

Have you seen any of those ripple effects affecting y'all or how you guys coordinate?

Kim> Not so far.

And if we have an event in South Carolina and there's not enough assets in our region, Region Four, FEMA Region Four, then they will surge in from other parts of the country.

So, we're very used to actually during events working from with FEMA folks that came from, you know, outside of the region, you know, out west, Chicago area, and that sort of thing.

So, that's not unusual.

Gavin> But if FEMA went away, how would that affect SCEMD?

Kim> Well, we don't know yet.

We, we don't know what the rules are.

We can speculate in a number of areas, but we just really got to see how this, how this unfolds.

And the, the president had asked and established the FEMA Review Council, to provide some recommendations to him.

He should get those recommendations before the end of the year.

And then I think we'll have a better understanding of what the landscape is going to look like.

But, it's very difficult right now to speculate.

It's all guesswork.

Gavin> And, as far as the National Weather Service, are you guys concerned about any effects of those, when we saw 600 positions cut?

Anything affecting South Carolina?

Kim> It's the same with them.

We've talked to them.

They're fully able to support us, and they've done a great job in the past.

And again, if there is a shortage of personnel here, in South Carolina, they can surge from from other states and other regions on that end.

And so we're comfortable with that as well.

Gavin> And Kim, 30 seconds, just tell us what people need to do to be prepared, again.

Kim> Well, by all means, get a hold of a copy of The Hurricane Guide, and that's available on our website and the emergency manager app.

It's at a number of locations, in Walgreens, DMV offices along the coast.

And, our dedicated website, Hurricane.SC .

Go there.

It has a lot of good information.

What you need to do before, during and after, a hurricane event, (It'll) guide you through the evacuation process and how you can prepare your home, and then, eventually come back if you have to evacuate and so it's got a lot of good checklists in there.

Gavin> Well, hopefully we won't have to see too much this hurricane season.

That's Kim Stenson, SCEMD Director.

Thank you sir.

Kim> Okay.

Thanks for having us.

Gavin> And that's it for us, this week For South Carolina ETV, I'm Gavin Jackson.

Be well, South Carolina.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪