The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of an Arizona law that punishes employers who hire illegal immigrants. The high court should uphold this law and reject the efforts of the Chamber of Commerce and the American Civil Liberties Union to see the law struck down.
The immigration debate is highly charged. Most of the debate centers around the other, more controversial Arizona law that allows state and local law enforcement to check a person's residence status. A lot of dumb statements have been made. One was recently uttered by Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, who said that most illegals are smuggling drugs in this country -- that's ridiculous.
However -- and this is important -- anything that does not demonize people is a good law. And Arizona's law that requires companies to use the E-Verify database to prove an employee's eligibility to work and then sanctions those employers who deliberately hire illegals is a good law that goes to the heart of the illegal immigration problem, which is businesses seeking ultra-cheap labor. Utah recently enacted a similar law that mandates E-Verify -- or something similar -- be used by employers with more than 15 employees. The Utah law does not include sanctions.
The Arizona law is also a bipartisan effort toward finding solutions to immigration reform. It was signed into law in 2007 by then-Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat and President Barack Obama's current Homeland Security secretary. The law also was upheld by the liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in San Francisco. Distressingly, the Obama administration, despite Napolitano's presence, has sided with the ACLU and Chamber.
The Chamber and the ACLU will argue that Arizona's sanctions law, and similar laws, are wrong because only the federal government, through Congress, can pass immigration laws. The federal law that established E-Verify almost 15 years ago designed the electronic database as voluntary, plaintiffs will argue.
The problem with that argument is that Congress has clearly shown that it lacks the will to create laws that will deal with the illegal immigration problem. An estimated 12 million or so illegals are in this nation. While the majority are here to find work, the influx has also caused severe strain on state budgets, whether it's fighting crime associated with illegals or providing explanded social services and public education.
If one state can't enforce a law that sanctions employeers for hiring illegals, then we are truly in a paralyzed crisis over illegal immigration that will never go away. The Supreme Court must uphold Arizona's law.
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