Employers feel heat on immigration

Arizona's new law imposes sanctions – the stiffest in the US – for hiring illegal workers.

from the July 5, 2007 edition

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Phoenix - Arizona leads the nation in population growth. More illegal immigrants cross its border than any other in the United States. Now, in an apparent backlash to those trends, the state is leading the charge to halt illegal immigration by cracking down on employers.

Its new law effectively sets up a two-strikes penalty. A business employing an illegal immigrant would have its business license suspended temporarily. A second offense would mean a permanent revocation of that license.

The new law "takes the most aggressive action in the country against employers who knowingly or intentionally hire undocumented workers," says Gov. Janet Napolitano (D), who signed the measure into law late Monday. She said she decided to sign the bill because "Congress has failed miserably."

This get-tough attitude with businesses is growing across the US. As of April, 40 other states had introduced 199 bills related to employment of undocumented workers – the top subject of immigration-related legislation in the states, according to a report for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). Although Arizona's new law is apparently the harshest so far, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Tennessee, and West Virginia are still in the process of enacting legislation to force employers to verify their workers' legal status, cautions Dirk Hegen, an expert on immigration policy at NCSL. Now that federal immigration reform has stalled in Congress, more states are likely to act, he adds.

The bigger challenge, however, may be enforcing such laws, if Arizona is any example.

The ink had barely dried on Governor Napolitano's signature of the new law before employers began scrambling to figure out how to comply with the measure that many have dubbed the "business death penalty."

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