Arizona Gets Tougher on Illegal Immigrants: At What Price?

Arizona’s state legislature has been in an immigration crackdown mode since 2006 when it passed a law to dissolve companies with a pattern of hiring illegal immigrants. In 2009, it became a crime for a state government worker to give benefits to an illegal immigrant. According to the Los Angeles Times, the legislature has now enacted a bill making it a misdemeanor for an immigrant to lack proper paperwork and requiring police officers to investigate a person’s immigration status if they form a “reasonable suspicion” that the person is an illegal immigrant.

While Congress finds it impossible to enact meaningful immigration reform, states are left to their own devices, and Arizona has wasted no time. Arizona’s porous border with Mexico makes anti-immigration sentiment run high. And after all, being in this country without following the proper procedures and having the proper documentation is illegal.

From an employment law standpoint, employers run the risk of substantial penalties under federal law for hiring illegal immigrants. Immigration compliance is important. See previous posts (here, here, here, here, here).

It shouldn’t be forgotten, however, that we’re still a nation of immigrants. Without our immigrant heritage, the U.S. wouldn’t be the country it is today. Without present immigrants, some employers would be out of business, and some industries would have gone the way of the auto industry.

The subject of immigration raises tough issues. But do we want people detained because they have an accent, leave a wallet at home, or are otherwise “reasonably suspicious” from an immigration standpoint? Should they also be required to wear a symbol of some kind? Maybe I’ve watched too many WWII movies, but Arizona’s most recent law on immigration is more troubling than illegal immigrants. From an employment law perspective, the law makes a difficult employment situation today even more so.