Thread: AZ:No sanctions charges; appeal continues

Published: 03.01.2008
No sanctions charges; appeal continues
SHERYL KORNMAN
Tucson Citizen
The Pima County Attorney's office won't file any charges next week against businesses that may have violated the state's Legal Arizona Workers Act, Deputy Pima County Attorney Dan Jurkowitz said Friday.
Three complaints against Pima County employers have been lodged since the law took effect Jan. 1, Jurkowitz said.
Jurkowitz said the complaints are still under investigation, and it could be weeks or months before decisions are made on whether to prosecute.
County attorneys around the state agreed to wait until March 1 to begin prosecuting cases under the new employer sanctions statute.
The delay was to give challenges to the law time to work their way through the courts.
Efforts to block the implementation of the law so far have failed. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Thursday denied an injunction sought by businesses.
However, a challenge to the law by business groups, including chambers of commerce throughout Arizona, continues.
Jurkowitz said he expects oral arguments in that case will take place sometime this summer. A federal judge agreed to expedite a hearing in the case, he said.
Jurkowitz is Pima County's attorney in that case, he said. Some other Arizona counties have hired outside counsel.
The Arizona law punishes employers who knowingly hire workers not legally qualified to work in the United States. Workers must have a valid Social Security card or be resident aliens.
Alejandro Ramos Cardoso, spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in Tucson, said, "We haven't seen much of an impact so far in Pima or Pinal counties." Both are part of the consulate's area of responsibility.
He said consular officials met recently with county attorneys from each county and were assured no frivolous complaints would be accepted.
Ramos said the law has been heavily publicized by media in Mexico and it has had an effect.
"My general feeling is that they do know there is something going on here and that (Arizona) has become more harsh in its immigration policy."
He said he believes the new law "is working as a deterrent" along with the U.S. government's decision to prosecute illegal entrants, rather than voluntarily returning them to Mexico. He said some 50 Mexican citizens are being charged each day in the U.S. District Court in Tucson.
Ramos said the consulate has "no knowledge of any situation in which any Mexican national has been fired" as a result of the law.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/all_headlines/78384

There must be a conviction and example set before any real effect takes place.Greed drives businesses to hire illegals and loss of money will turn these businesses out of boycotting american workers