Published: 07.24.2007
Our Opinion: Immigration law: a dream to enforce or a nightmare?Tucson Citizen
letters@tucsoncitizen.com
Will Arizona's new law imposing strict penalties on businesses for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants be a business nightmare or easy to live with?
Businesses are betting nightmare, and they have expressed their fears in a lawsuit challenging the new law.
Politicians and others seeking to end illegal immigration because they say it drains state resources and damages the American culture are on the other side, saying honest businesses will find the law easy to comply with.
The rhetoric on both sides serves only to further drive us away from the truth about this complex issue. That truth lies somewhere in the middle.
The law takes effect Jan. 1, requiring counties and the state to investigate all reports of illegal immigrant employment. Penalties to businesses for "knowingly" hiring illegal immigrants are a 10-day business license suspension for the first offense and permanent revocation for the second.
Businesses must begin preparing for implementation of the law, and the legal system must prepare to deal with it. They can't simply hope that the lawsuit prevails.
At the same time, proponents of even harsher penalties should back off their planned ballot initiative for next year to see the impact of this law.
Gov. Janet Napolitano said she signed the bill reluctantly, to avoid an even harsher law via initiative next year. The joke's on her, because proponents of a harsher law - permanent business license loss on first offense - are still pushing their initiative.
Napolitano said she hoped to call a special legislative session to change the law, but so far she has shown no signs of doing so. She apparently fears, rightfully, that there will be no consensus because of the unbending stance of conservatives.
This complex issue has many implications, for law enforcement and culture and for the state's economy.
The truth is that immigrant labor is needed at the low end of the job market. Should it be illegal immigrant labor? Of course not.
But Congress hasn't seen fit to change immigration laws to meet economic needs, so the law of supply and demand has prevailed.
The newly enacted state law will create an artificial imbalance in supply and demand by restricting the ability of businesses to hire the labor they need to survive and thrive.
It's a bad scenario that will hurt the economy and thus hurt Arizonans at all levels, because of higher prices for commodities, housing and services.
Realizing that rather than knee-jerk reacting one way or another can help lead to federal legislation dealing with labor supply issues. That then will ease the law-enforcement issues.
It's the truth, and the only route to real change on this complex topic.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/opinion/58136.php