Thread: The states take on immigration

The states take on immigration
By Dan Moffett

Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Across the country, legislators, city council members, commissioners and assorted elected pooh-bahs watched Congress do nothing about immigration last year, then decided to take matters into their hands.

The result is hundreds of new state and local laws that attempt to take on responsibilities that were supposed to belong to the federal government. Many of those laws went into effect when the year began, some are just beginning to be enforced and others are coming soon.


In Southampton, N.Y., landlords who rent to illegal immigrants now can face fines of up to $15,000 and six months in jail. The city council in Georgetown, Texas, is about to pass an ordinance that would require contractors who do work for the city to prove that all of their employees are documented. In Beaufort County, S.C., a new ordinance calls for random audits of businesses to make sure that employers have copies of federal paperwork on file for their immigrant workers. Last summer, council members in Green Bay, Wis., passed an ordinance that would revoke the license of any business found to hire illegal immigrants.

The life expectancy of these laws is uncertain. Communities that have tried to get into the immigrant enforcement game have gotten out of it quickly when challenges in the courts became too costly. Hazelton, Pa., became the first town to enact laws against illegal immigrant workers in 2006, but last year, a federal judge struck them down. Riverside, N.J., passed illegal immigrant penalties for landlords and employers but then rescinded the ordinances after the attorneys' bills came in, small-business owners went bust and the tax base collapsed.

It has become politically fashionable to make noise about casting out all those terrible illegal immigrants who are destroying our American way of life. But sometimes it can get real quiet after they're cast out.

The nation's two great laboratories of immigration lawmaking are Arizona and Oklahoma, where landmark legislation took effect this month.

The Legal Arizona Workers Act inflicts severe sanctions on employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. A first offense results in a 10-day suspension of a company's license. After a second offense, the state can shut down the business.

The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, known colloquially as "1804" - as in House Bill 1804 - not only prohibits the hiring of illegal immigrants. It imposes felony penalties for providing the immigrants transportation or shelter. The law also prohibits illegals from obtaining driver licenses or public benefits.

The immediate impact of the two laws was not surprising: Surrounding states - in particular Nevada, Arkansas, Missouri and Texas - reported the arrival of large numbers of immigrants. Employers in Oklahoma and Arizona, meanwhile, reported widespread labor shortages. Pickers didn't show up for the lettuce harvest in Yuma, hotel rooms weren't cleaned in Tulsa and construction sites grew quiet in Phoenix.

The secondary impact of the two laws is uncertain. Some economists predict devastation. Small businesses will close because their customers have moved, and the damage will ripple up to big businesses. Labor shortages mean that employers will have to pay more to hire workers, which means that prices will rise for goods and services. Inflation hasn't been an issue in Oklahoma and Arizona but may be soon. New federal numbers show that U.S. consumer prices just took their largest leap in 17 years.

Proponents of 1804 and the Legal Arizona Workers Act say that inflation pressure will be offset by tax savings. Governments are supposed to spend less money on schools and social services because the immigrants have disappeared.

This is the experiment that will be played out in Arizona and Oklahoma. Will the states' economies prosper without illegal immigrants, or will their leaving bring recession or inflation or both?

The question will have an answer before too long, and it will have a mighty influence on the debate over what the nation should do about its most confounding problem.

www.palmbeachpost.com

Even if prices rose slightly, the people who are getting hired at a larger pay scale will beable to handle the slight rise in prices. If businesses go under because they catered to illegals, oh well.