NYT: Arizona Is Split Over Hard Line on Immigrants

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/14/us/14arizona.html?ex=1198299600&en=41aa7bdc4bd51d31&ei=5043&partner=EXCITE

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: December 14, 2007

PHOENIX — A new Arizona law against employing illegal immigrants has shaken businesses, scared workers, delighted advocates of stricter immigration controls and added to tensions in a state split over who belongs here and who does not.

And that is even before the law’s scheduled effective date, Jan. 1.


Day laborers looking for work in Phoenix on Wednesday. Some say a law that takes effect Jan. 1 has made jobs harder to find.


State officials are seeking to curb illegal immigration by choking the supply of jobs with the law, which threatens to pull the business license of any employer that knowingly hires an illegal immigrant.

It is an example of the scores of state and municipal laws meant to address illegal immigration on the belief that the federal government has not done enough to thwart it. But the Arizona version is among the toughest and could test states’ ability to crack down on the countless businesses that have relied on illegal workers.

Arizona makes for a striking laboratory. Its estimated population of 500,000 illegal immigrants is among the highest and fastest growing in the country, and illegal workers make up an estimated 9 percent to 12 percent of the work force, mostly in low-skill jobs in the service, construction and landscaping industries, according to research at Arizona State University.

Legal challenges to the law, signed in July by Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, were filed by business and immigrant rights groups, asserting that the law would usurp federal authority, lead to ethnic profiling and hinge on sometimes inaccurate government records. A federal judge on Tuesday will consider a temporary restraining order blocking the law from going into effect; the judge rejected another challenge last week.

FULL story at link.

[FreakinDJ]

1. I don't have a problem with the law

Read the law concerning H2B visa and then you can understand why we have an immigration problem. It is not the fact these people want jobs it is the employers want to pay them even less

Tough enforcement on employers is a major step in the right direction