Thursday, May 26, 2011
Supreme Court Upholds AZ employment law on immigrants
Decision imposes penalties on businesses that knowingly hire undocumented workers.
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has upheld a 2007 Arizona law on employer sanctions and employment verification, finding that the Arizona law was expressly authorized by a provision of federal law. The decision does not apply to or address other state or local immigration laws, such as Arizona law SB 1070.
The Arizona law addressed in today's decision imposes licensing penalties on businesses that have knowingly employed workers who are not lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. but only if the federal government confirms the lack of employment authorization. It also requires Arizona employers to participate in the federal E-Verify program. The law was challenged by a broad coalition of civil rights and business groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Arizona, MALDEF, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and the United States Chamber of Commerce.
Cecillia Wang, director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project:
"Today's decision is a narrow one that only upholds Arizona’s specific law on employment verification. The decision has nothing to do with SB 1070 or any other state or local immigration laws. We are disappointed with today's decision and believe it does not reflect what Congress intended."
Linton Joaquin, NILC's general counsel:
"We're deeply disappointed that the Court has allowed this law, which has proven to have serious economic ramifications for Arizona's workers and employers, to remain in effect. However, the ruling does not grant states the right to enforce immigration law - the issue at the heart of current legal challenges to SB 1070, Arizona's racial profiling law. State legislators considering this decision a free pass to enact and implement legislation targeting immigrants are gravely mistaken."
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs Valle del Sol, Chicanos por la Causa and Somos America include Omar Jadwat, Lucas Guttentag and Jennifer Chang Newell of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project; Daniel Pochoda of the ACLU of Arizona; Jonathan Weissglass and Stephen Berzon of Altshuler Berzon LLP; Valenzuela Dixon of MALDEF; and Joaquin and Karen C. Tumlin of NILC.
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Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor : 'Permitting States to make use of E-Verify mandatory improperly puts States in the position of making decisions for the Federal Government that directly affect expenditure and depletion of federal resources'
ReplyDeleteSEIU : Service Employees International Union : "Business Death Penalty" Wrongly Upheld by U.S. Supreme Court"
It is my impression that SEIU and Sonia Sotomayor think that "Human Nature" as it is will create more cheating and shrewd methods to evade and elude the law.
You can have one million intelligent reasons to think that the Supreme Court Decision is right, or that it is very constitutional and juridically intelligent. And you may be right ..... But does this Arizona Law make sense from an economic point of view ??
SEIU : Service Employees International Union
"Business Death Penalty" Wrongly Upheld by U.S. Supreme Court"
By Gebe Martinez
May 26, 2011
"Business Death Penalty" Wrongly Upheld by U.S. Supreme Court
http://www.seiu.org/2011/05/seius-medina-business-death-penalty-wrongly-upheld.php
Some excerpts :
As Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent: 'Permitting States to make use of E-Verify mandatory improperly puts States in the position of making decisions for the Federal Government that directly affect expenditure and depletion of federal resources.'"
"Such policies ruin the economy and create a disadvantage for honest employers who are trying to follow the law, while tax-cheating employers drive the underground cash economy with disqualified workers.
"The clear message that should come from this ruling is this: Immigration continues is the sole responsibility of the Federal government, much in the same way that printing money is a uniquely federal responsibility. Immigration enforcement should not be up to the states where short-sighted efforts are more focused on attacking hard working people than on helping our economy.
"Congress must act quickly on comprehensive immigration solutions so that our economy can thrive with workers who become legalized and allow all employers in all states to play by the same set of rules."
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