Coalition Challenges Legality Of Arizona Immigration Law

Phoenix— Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform (AZEIR, a coalition that includes the American Subcontractors Association of Arizona) and the Arizona Contractors Association have gone to court following the enactment of a punitive new state law that would impose harsh penalties on Arizona employers for knowingly or intentionally hiring an illegal alien.

Filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, the lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the Fair and Legal Employment Act (H.B. 2779). Signed July 2 by Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) and effective Jan. 1, 2008, the law stipulates that any company knowingly or intentionally hiring an illegal alien could face revocation of its business license.

The AZEIR/ACA complaint contends that the new law violates both the U.S. and Arizona constitutions and is pre-empted by federal law, deprives state businesses of property without due process, and improperly regulates and interferes with state commerce.

"Punitive 'death penalty' employer sanctions without due process are too high a price for an unworkable, incomplete solution to unbridled immigration," said ASA of Arizona Government Relations Committee co-chair Richard B. Usher of Hill & Usher LLC, Phoenix. "The consequences of implementation are too dangerous to the Arizona economy to risk. AZEIR felt action to stop this bad law was essential to our economic future."

The suit seeks immediate injunctive relief and a ruling that the law is unconstitutional.

http://www.acppubs.com/article/CA6471939.html