http://news.ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=430035

Measure Would Make It a Crime to Be Illegal

March 27th, 2007 @ 1:22pm

by Kevin Tripp/KTAR

Illegal workers and employers could face a new hurdle. A proposed ballot measure would make it a crime to be an illegal immigrant in Arizona.

Employers who hire illegal workers would lose their business licenses.

This contractor said something needs to be done.

"We've allowed it to happen and we need to change it," he said. "It is illegal and they shouldn't be here."

Immigrant rights advocates spoke out against the proposed measures.

"For all those who say we should punish the employer for hiring undocumented, I say you should be careful what you wish for," said Lidia Guzman from "We Are America."

She said the ballot proposals targeting employers could hurt all of us.

"Employers faced with stiff sanctions may just pick up their business and take it elsewhere and that's going to hurt the economy of this state," Guzman said.

She said the measure targeting companies who hire illegal immigrants doesn't have strong support.

"The employers are not behind it and it affects the legislators who in the past have been very conservative," Guzman said.

She believes the measure targeting illegal immigrants is unnecessary.

"It's already on the books that to be here undocumented that you will be punished," Guzman said. "They will ask for your deportation and they will deport you."

She thinks immigration legislation should come from the top.

"The national level is where immigration should be addressed, not at the local level," Guzman said.

The measure still needs thousands of signatures before it can make the 2008 ballot.