Hearing set on employer sanctions challenge

Business groups, civil rights organizations and immigration opponents finally will get their day in court.

Thursday afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake ordered a hearing on the state's highly contentious employer sanctions bill. Arizona Contractors Association et al. v. Napolitano is set to be heard Nov. 14 at 10:30 a.m.

On Jan. 1, Arizona is scheduled to enact what is widely believed to be the nation's strictest immigration law. Under the Legal Arizona Workers Act, employers will be required to verify employment eligibility through a federal database. Those found to knowingly hire illegal immigrants will face criminal penalties up to and including suspension or termination of the company's business license.

Recent federal court rulings have gone against hard-line approaches to illegal immigration and border security, which could bode well for business groups' efforts to derail the Arizona law.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco sided with business interests and labor unions and temporarily stopped a Bush administration effort to force employers to verify their workers' legal status.

The federal government wants to require businesses with employees who have invalid Social Security numbers to determine whether those employees are in the U.S. legally, and to fire nonverified workers within 90 days. Businesses that fail to comply would have to pay fines.

But the verification system faces questions from corporate interests and unions about its accuracy. Breyer's ruling restricts the federal government until those questions are resolved.

This past summer, U.S. District Court Judge James Munley struck down an ordinance in Hazelton, Pa., that denied business licenses to employers caught hiring illegal immigrants and fined landlords for renting to them. The American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Chamber of Commerce were among the groups opposing that local ordinance.


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