Giffords: Void Ariz. employer sanctions law
By Howard Fischer

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.24.2009

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PHOENIX — U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wants to strip the state of its ability to shut down companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers.
Giffords, a Democrat who represents Southeastern Arizona, called the state's 15-month-old employer-sanctions law burdensome on businesses. On Thursday she said only 15 percent of state firms use the federal E-Verify system, mandated under the state law, to determine electronically if people they hire are in the U.S. legally.
Giffords is co-sponsoring a bill to dump E-Verify in favor of alternate online systems to determine if prospective employees are here legally.
But the president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which sued to have the state law voided, said fears about the law have not materialized.
Glenn Hamer said he would prefer no state penalties. But Hamer said the threat of having business operations suspended or terminated has been balanced by the online checks of new workers. Any company that uses E-Verify has an "affirmative defense" against being convicted of breaking the Arizona law.
And state Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who wrote the law, said Giffords, and anyone backing her measure, supports amnesty for those who hire illegal immigrants.
"These are folks that are so dishonest, so pro-open border, so pro-illegal alien that they ignore the damage to America," he said. "They're doing anything they can, for whatever group is moving them, to open these borders and stop enforcement."
Giffords' estimate of the low use of E-Verify also is in question.
Marie Sebrechts with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said there are more than 30,300 Arizona companies signed up to use the system her organization operates out of about 100,000 Arizona firms.
But Sebrechts said even the 30 percent figure is misleading because companies can use E-Verify only to check new employees. Those that have not hired anyone since the beginning of 2008 have no need to sign up.
Giffords said the new systems make it harder for someone to steal another person's identification.
But the Giffords-backed bill also pre-empts state laws dealing with hiring of undocumented workers, effectively voiding Arizona's employer-sanctions law.
Under both current federal law and this proposal, the federal government has the sole right to impose civil and criminal penalties on firms that hire undocumented workers. But existing law allows state and local governments to take away business licenses of firms that do so.
Pearce built the Arizona law on that exemption.
He said federal agencies have been lax in going after employers, and fines are insufficient to deter companies from trying to save money by hiring undocumented workers.
Under the state law, a first conviction for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants allows a judge to suspend any business licenses for up to 10 days; a second violation within three years puts the firm out of business.
Giffords said her legislation is preferable, saying no Arizona firm has been put out of business since the law took effect.
Pearce acknowledged that's true, but said it has led to investigations that found undocumented workers, even if prosecutors have been unable to make a case the company knowingly broke the law.
And Pearce said the law has a deterrent effect, sending companies that want to hire undocumented workers elsewhere, here the laws are more lax.
Hamer had his own theory: Enactment of the Arizona law forced businesses not only to use E-Verify but also put up signs warning job applicants their legal status would be checked. That, he said, has resulted in fewer undocumented workers being employed.
Giffords, however, said immigration is a federal issue.
"It is wrong for us to be asking for states or local municipalities to be doing federal immigration work," she said. "They don't have the resources, they don't have the training and they don't have the jurisdiction."
But Hamer said, "For all practical purposes, if you're an Arizona business and you're properly using E-Verify, the odds of being prosecuted are very slim," he said. "And the odds of conviction … are quite, quite low."
The suit filed in 2007 by the chamber and allies alleged Arizona's law infringed on an area of exclusive federal control. The federal trial and appellate courts found Congress specifically allowed states to enact the kind of laws that Arizona passed.
Voters last year rejected a ballot measure pushed by some business groups that would have undermined key provisions of the law.




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