Thread: VICTORY AGAIN: Judge lets employer-sanctions law stand

Judge lets employer-sanctions law stand
Takes effect Jan. 1 after judge says no to business groups groups
Howard Fischer

PHOENIX — Arizona’s new employer-sanctions law will take effect as scheduled Jan. 1.

On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake rejected a request by business groups and others to bar the state from enforcing the law before a final ruling on its constitutionality.

And just hours later, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused an emergency request to second-guess Wake and keep the law from being enforced.

That leaves those challenging the law without legal options until at least Jan. 16, when Wake will hear arguments on whether it is constitutional.

The law makes it illegal to knowingly hire undocumented workers. Offenders could find all their state licenses to do business suspended or revoked.
In his decision Friday, Wake had to decide who would be hurt more if he let the law take effect or kept it from being enforced. The judge said he easily concluded the greater harm would be to the state and, in particular, legal Arizona residents.

“Those who suffer the most from unauthorized alien labor are those whom federal and Arizona law most explicitly protect,â€

Judge Supports Arizona Law on Immigrants
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: December 22, 2007

A new Arizona law considered among the nation’s toughest against employers who hire illegal immigrants will go into effect on Jan. 1 after federal judges on Friday refused to block it.

Both a United States district judge in Phoenix and a federal appeals court in San Francisco, ruling on separate lawsuits by business and civil rights groups, declined to stand in the way.

The law calls for suspending the license of an employer found to have knowingly hired an illegal worker, and revocation for a second offense.

First, Judge Neil Vincent Wake of Federal District Court in Phoenix issued a sharp defense of the rights of lawful workers and said the law would not burden businesses in the short run.

Then on Friday night, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit deferred a decision on an injunction until after a hearing by Judge Wake on Jan. 16, provided a “decision is reached with reasonable promptness.â€