Thread: Feds sue Maricopa colleges over green-card requests

Saturday, September 4, 2010
Arizona Daily Star

Employers who hire illegal immigrants can be fined, but the Obama administration warned this week that they also can be fined for asking legal immigrants to show their green cards before hiring them.

The Justice Department's civil rights division sued the Maricopa County Community Colleges in Arizona, seeking damages from schools for having "intentionally committed document abuse discrimination."

Prior to this year, the local colleges in the Phoenix area asked job applicants who were not U.S. citizens to show a driver's license, a Social Security card and their "permanent resident card," commonly called a green card.

The Justice Department said a valid driver's license and a Social Security card are usually sufficient to show that a person is authorized to work. Requesting a green card amounts to "immigration-related employment discrimination," said Thomas E. Perez, the assistant attorney general for civil rights.

Federal law forbids treating "authorized workers differently during the hiring process based on their citizenship status," Perez said. He said the department's Office of Special Counsel will bring legal actions against employers who impose "unnecessary and discriminatory hurdles to employment for work-authorized non-citizens."

Despite the fierce controversy over immigration, the Obama administration has launched three lawsuits this summer to protect the rights of Latinos and legal immigrants - all three targeting Arizona.

In July, it successfully blocked Arizona's law that authorized state and local police to check the immigration status of persons who were arrested. On Thursday, it sued Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio, seeking documents that could show he has illegally targeted Latinos in the course of his immigration sweeps.

The suit against the Maricopa community colleges could impact employers across the nation.

"Employers are getting very mixed messages from the government," said Jessica Vaughn, a policy analyst with the Center for Immigration Studies.

On the one hand, employers have been told they need to do more to verify that their workers are legal and authorized to work in the United States. However, another provision of the same law bars employers from requesting "more or different documents" than are needed to prove a non-citizen's legal status.

In the Maricopa college case, the Justice Department said it wanted "full remedial relief" for 247 non-citizens who applied for jobs with the community college district between August of 2008 and January of this year, plus a civil penalty of $1,100 for each of them.

"We are extremely disappointed by the Justice Department's action. We had no intent to discriminate against any foreign national, and we feel we have been singled out for the maximum penalty under the law," said Charles Reinebold, a spokesman for the community colleges. "There was no actual harm here. This was a paperwork error, and we revised it after it was brought to our attention."

Vaughn said she was "very surprised the administration would resort to a lawsuit. In the past, the emphasis has been on mediation to resolve these issues."

But others applauded the administration's move to enforce the anti-discrimination parts of the immigration law.

Gening Liao, a lawyer for the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles, said the law itself is clear.

"If you bring in a driver's license and a Social Security card, those documents are sufficient. Employers are prohibited from asking for extra documents or different documents," she said.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/ ... f1680.html

What if the green card has expired or been revoked? How are you going to know that, unless you as to see it?

The Justice Department has a political agenda.

Dixie

Employers who hire illegal immigrants can be fined, but the Obama administration warned this week that they also can be fined for asking legal immigrants to show their green cards before hiring them.

Insane!

This govt is not only crazy, but masochistic!

The Twilight Zone song is going thru my head again!

Originally Posted by Dixie

What if the green card has expired or been revoked? How are you going to know that, unless you as to see it?

The Justice Department has a political agenda.

Dixie

Your not going to know and that's what they want! What they really want is to protect illegal invaders who do not have a green card from being asked to show one!

Originally Posted by SicNTiredInSoCal

Employers who hire illegal immigrants can be fined, but the Obama administration warned this week that they also can be fined for asking legal immigrants to show their green cards before hiring them.

Insane!
This govt is not only crazy, but masochistic!
The Twilight Zone song is going thru my head again!

Call me crazy but i would think that anyone with a green card would be more than happy to show it and would proabably WANT TO show it since they are here legally and are proud of that

Whoah! Arizona has the worst unemployment situation of the nation from what I hear on radio. Why are we giving jobs to non-citizens when we have so many unemployed citizens? This is absolutely nuts!