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PHOENIX — Gov. Janet Napolitano signed a new law Monday to enact what could be the toughest measure in the country to punish companies that hire undocumented workers despite some concerns that it may actually be too tough.
The measure, which takes effect in January says those that knowingly break the law could face up to a 10-day suspension of any state licenses they require. A second violation within three years would put the firm out of business in Arizona.
An intentional violation would mean a mandatory minimum of 10 days shut down, with the maximum decided by a state judge. And the company could not commit a second violation within five years or be shuttered.
“I have said for a long time you can’t deal with immigration simply by border walls and border security measures,” Napolitano told Capitol Media Services.
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“You must deal with the underlying labor migration,” she continued. “What we’re trying to do here in Arizona is to shut down the businesses that, not once but twice, are found to have intentionally hired illegal labor.”
The law, however, may never take effect: Both the state Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a group of Democratic legislators who opposed the measure said Monday they intend to ask a federal judge to block its enforcement.
David Selden, an attorney who handles labor issues for the business group, said he believes the legislation is an unconstitutional infringement on the exclusive right of the federal government to regulate who can be in the country and to punish those who hire them.
And Rep. Ben Miranda, D-Phoenix, who also is an attorney pointed out that many of the undocumented workers employed in Arizona are being hired to do things like harvest crops. That, he said, makes their activities a function of interstate commerce which is solely regulated by Congress.
Napolitano disagreed. She said federal law prohibits states from imposing criminal penalties and fines.
“The state always retains the ability to license what it seeks to license,” she said. The governor conceded, though, that “lawyers can differ and at some point there may be litigation about this.”
The governor did concede she has some concerns with what would be the “death penalty” for companies that have two violations of the law. She suggested legislators convene in special session to tinker with the measure between now and the end of the year.
For example, Napolitano feared what would happen if a hospital, a nursing home or even a power plant were found guilty of a violation. She said there needs to be some provision for “critical infrastructure” businesses.
But Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who crafted the measure, said he’s not convinced that the statute needs to be amended.
He pointed out that a judge is not required to suspend the license of someone who knowingly hires undocumented workers on a first violation. And he noted that employers are not only required in this law to use a federal database to check the legal status of new hires but that companies which use it have a “rebuttable presumption” that they have complied with the law.
“You’ve got to go out of your way to be punished,” he said. “Those are the ones we’re concerned about.”
The governor also questioned whether it is fair to close down a company’s entire Arizona operations if it turns out that the illegal hiring took place at only one location. But Pearce said she has misread the bill, saying only the site where the person was working would be shut.
And Napolitano said the measure needs provisions to protect U.S. citizens and legal Arizona residents from discrimination by companies that may try to avoid hiring undocumented workers by not hiring anyone who looks like a foreigner.
“We must not harm legitimate Arizona employers and employees as we seek to curb illegal employment practices,” the governor said.
But Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, said the law will harm others who are here legally.
She said if the measure really works it will result in about 250,000 people who are here illegally losing their jobs.
“If those people are not in our economy ... can you imagine the business that would be affected?” Wilcox said. And she said people might even abandon their homes, resulting in defaults of mortgages and schools being impacted as parents yank their children out, even those born here and who are U.S. citizens.
Pearce, however, said that’s exactly the point.
He said there might be some small disruption and perhaps even higher produce costs. But he said these will be more than offset by a decrease in what Arizonans are paying in taxes to provide health care, education and even incarceration of those in this country illegally.
Pearce said he is willing to abandon an initiative drive to put an even stronger measure on the 2008 ballot, one that would put companies out of business for a single violation. He said the future of that depends on whether his colleagues dilute this new law.
The governor said her decision to sign the measure was buttressed by the collapse last week of a comprehensive federal immigration reform bill. That measure covered everything from increased border security to employer sanctions and a new “guest worker” program.
Ideally, Napolitano said, this issue should be dealt with at the federal level.
“Congress finds itself incapable of coping with comprehensive immigration reforms our country needs,” the governor said.
Proud to be American wrote on Jul 30, 2007 8:40 PM: