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.
It is a start but by no means is it going to be problem free or the end of what needs to be done to enforce the laws on the books.
Some of the potential problems are listed in the article.
It is already a federal offense to hire an illegal immigrant. But the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 has rarely been enforced, at least until this past year. And employers were not required to use the federal ID-verification system that sprang from that law. Now, under the Arizona law, companies have to use that system, known as the Basic Pilot Program.
And that requirement puts employers at risk, business experts say.
For example, an illegal immigrant may use a stolen Social Security number on a job application that throws up no red flags initially. But if that illicit number is later discovered in any investigation, the employer could see her business closed down for days while investigators figure out what happened.
Another challenge: the Basic Pilot Program had a 4 percent error rate last year, business groups point out.
"When the future of your license depends on one system, and one system only, you can't really refute much of it," says Steve Chucri, chief executive officer of the Arizona Restaurant and Hospitality Association. "We want to work through this to help them perfect the system. But at the same time, we don't want to lose our ability to conduct business in the state because the system may or may not have rendered accurate information."
Those vagaries make it difficult for businesses. "Because of the mistake of one human-resources person who vetted an illegal employee through a flawed database, a company can lose its license," says Spencer Kamps, vice president of legislative affairs for the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona.
Like I said, it is a start but it cannot be the end, they must address these "flaws", fix them and enforce the law to letter as well as SECURING THE DAMN BORDER.
Our system is not perfect, by no means, but we do need to enforce the laws on the books to the fullest extent before even attempting to add more to the books that will negate the need to enforce the ones we have.
No end runs around the American public.
Do it, do it right, follow the law and then perhaps, we, the people, will regain a little of the trust in our government to keep the promises they make.
Perhaps.
.