“The law, known as the Legal Arizona Workers Act, requires firms to use the federal government’s E-Verify system to check whether new employees are legally entitled to work in this country.”
Judge refuses to block employer sanctions law
East Valley Tribune – Pheonix, Arizona
A federal judge on Tuesday refused to block prosecutors from enforcing Arizona’s employer sanctions law while foes ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn it.
Judge Neil Wake, who earlier this month ruled the statute is valid, said the potential hardships on employers and others forced to follow the law is “minimal.” He said there is only a small cost for companies to obtain the necessary equipment to run computer checks on the legal status of new workers.
Wake said putting the law on “hold” could financially damage the state.
In his Tuesday ruling, the judge cited a study commissioned by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office by George Borjas, a professor of economic and social policy at Harvard University, which showed legal Arizona workers lose $1.4 billion a year because companies hire undocumented employees at lower costs.
And Wake specifically rejected other studies proffered by employers challenging the law. That includes one by Judith Gans, immigration policy program manager at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona, which said the costs of illegal immigration are offset by the benefits.
Wake said such comparisons are inappropriate.
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