Posted on 05/29/2010 4:55:17 AM PDT by Bad~Rodeo
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WANTS END TO EMPLOYER-SANCTIONS MEASURE
PHOENIX - The Obama administration wants the U.S. Supreme Court to void Arizona's two-year-old employer-sanctions law, designed to punish companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers.
In legal papers filed Friday, Department of Justice attorneys argue the law illegally infringes on the exclusive rights of the federal government. Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal said it conflicts with a federal law barring states from imposing any sort of penalties on those who employ people not in the country legally.
Katyal said a federal judge in Phoenix and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals both got it wrong in concluding Arizona's law fits within allowable exceptions.
David Selden, attorney for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Friday's intervention by the Department of Justice is a good sign. Employers groups have challenged the legality of the statute from the start.
It also is a victory for the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups that believe the law is discriminatory.
Molly Edwards, spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office, said it is "unfortunate that the Department of Justice has taken a belated position against Arizona's efforts to reduce the demand for illegal labor."
The move, though, portends potentially bigger problems for the state.
The Justice Department is also weighing whether to ask a federal court to invalidate SB 1070, which requires police to question those they stop for other reasons about their immigration status if they reasonably suspect they are in this country illegally. It also makes being an illegal immigrant a violation of state law.
A decision to sue over SB 1070 could depend on whether the Department of Justice believes the state is treading on turf reserved exclusively for the federal government, which is the conclusion federal prosecutors reached on the employer-sanctions law.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act, approved by Congress in 1986, precludes states and cities from imposing any civil or criminal penalties on companies for hiring illegal immigrants. But the same law allows states to have their own "licensing or similar laws."
Based on that, Arizona legislators enacted the Legal Arizona Worker Act. It allows a judge to suspend any licenses of any firm found guilty of knowingly hiring undocumented workers; a second offense within three years puts the company out of business.
Lower courts said the Arizona law fits within that exception. The Obama administration disagrees.
"The Arizona statute is not at bottom a 'licensing or similar law,' " Katyal wrote in his brief to the high court. "It is instead a statute that prohibits the hiring of unauthorized aliens and uses suspension and revocation of all state-issued licenses as its ultimate sanction."
As proof, Katyal said nothing in the law allowing a license to be taken away requires a judge to determine if a company has the right character or qualifications to engage in the business.
"It identifies only one basis for suspending or revoking an employer's licenses - the knowing or intentional employment of an unauthorized alien," he continued. "And the decision whether to suspend or revoke is made on an across-the-board basis by a state judge rather than on a license-by-license basis by the authorities who issued them."
Beyond that, Katyal said there are procedures that cover cases where federal officials accuse employers of hiring undocumented workers, including the ability to appeal. That, he said, is not the case in Arizona.
"Proceedings occur before local judges, with no possibility of federal district court review," Katyal said. And he said Arizona law, unlike its federal counterpart, has no provision banning discrimination.
Finally, he noted that the penalty under state law - including possibly being put out of business - is far more onerous than the fines allowed under federal law.
Oh, my—the feds really DO want to get onto a pi$$ing match with the states to show them that states rights is just a fairy tale.
Obambie and his Marxist pals have only one goal...
The total destruction of the United States.
If the feds win on this we should go to AZ in such numbers that we can shut down every federal office in that state.
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This could turn into a battle royale for states rights. After two years now they are having problems with this law?
It looks like the feds have Arizona in its sights to bring the state to heel.
I hope we are ready for a fight.
Someone else had mentioned that by using that logic, then all state drug laws would be invalidated...since there are federal drug laws covering the same crime. Same with MANY other laws.
“States rights will rise and fall based on multistate concerted action. Red states need to act together and show Obama that they will nullify the regime decrees and, if necessary, cut off his funding and withdraw the consent of the governed. “
It really does sound like Obama wants written on his gravestone (when he dies of natural causes) something like: “President Obama, the man who single-handedly broke up the United States”.
Hey lil man-child Obama...you done picked the WRONG state.
What an amazingly stupid, wrong headed, dictatorial act. I just hope Obama and his henchman keep it up and tick off the country to the point where citizens insist on finding out Obama’s true immigration status. He has certainly proven how stupid he is to keep raising these issues on illegal aliens when he has yet to establish his own alienage. I hope the next time he ventures into Arizona territory that Joe Arpaio confronts him on his alienage. There’s a pink jumpsuit with his name on it that’s hanging in the locker waiting for him. Now that would be a news story worth reading.
Well, if they are illegal hires, I am sure they are not paying state income taxes. The state should revise the tax law and impose HUGE penalties ( enough to put a company out of business ) for not withholding state taxes from the employees pay. The feds don’t have a thing to say about it.
Note the role of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. These people serve as the mouthpiece of John McCain, the Arizona farming interests, the hotel/spa/tourist industry, restaurant owners — in other words, the open borders gang.
Discrimination has gotten a bad rap. We all discriminate everyday. In fact, I would say being able to discriminate is a survival instinct.
There are parts of a city I will not drive in, especially at night, I am discriminating because I know if I have a breakdown, or if I am at a stop light, I could find myself in trouble. Am I a bad person for not wanting to become a crime statistic?
There are restaurants I do not eat at, they do not meet my basic standards of hygene, am I a bad person for not wanting to get food poisoning?
There are some relatives I do not hang around with since I know they will hit me up for a "loan". Am I a bad person for not giving my money away?
There are some business opportunities that I beleive are too risky, so I do not invest in them. Amy I a bad person because I do not want to risk my financial health?
I could go on making a list of thousands of things I decide what to do, what I am doing is being discriminating in making a decision.
I may very well be wrong in any single interaction (I could drive through the wrong part of the city and not be mugged, I could eat off a "Roach Coach" and not get sick, I could make a risky investment and get rich, I could loan my brother in law some money and he would pay me back)but, the risk to success is too great to take.
Since we do not know the future, and since we can not get enough details to make an fair decision, we take short cuts in deciding things. If the crime rate is higher in one part of town it is easier to avoid it. If the restaurant looks dirty, avoid it. If the investment looks risky, avoid it. And if my brother in law ever ask to borrow any money, please don't give him any.
Discrimination is by itself not a bad thing,it has been made bad by those that want to manipulate us into accepting things that we would not normally accept.
The claim that they are afraid Arizona will somehow discriminate is false on the face of it. If 99% of the illegal immigrants in Arizona are from South America, then it only makes common sense that more people that look like they are from South America will turn up as illegal.
The Arizona law has exposed the conspiracy between the left and the Federal Governmewnt, that is, open borders. They give lip service to controlling our borders but do not give enough resources to actually secure it.
The real reason the Federal Government is against the Arizona law is because they may in fact be effective, showing up the Federal Government in the process.
This law has become a litmus test for Americans. Which side are you one, America or "the one world government" side.
In other words, they intentionally wrote double-speak into the law for just this kind of situation, to be argue either side and claim it's right there in The Act.
and for those hired with bogus papers and fake ss#, Assess each and every business 10 times the amount of wages paid too anyone without a valid ss#, per day per person. Obama is picking a fight with the wrong state.
Why do local cops arrest bank robbers?
If a federal employee is murdered, why do the local cops get involved?
Why does the state highway patrol work accidents on an interstate highway?
Lots of drug money for bribes.
I agree and this really disgusts me. This is a fair solution that Arizona has created and now the Feds have the audacity to fight the state on protecting itself. Arizona is under siege and they are trying to protect themselves. Republicans need to fight this. This is a huge issue that Americans across the land will rally around. Stop Obama and Holder from doing this.
Obama is doing this for strictly political reasons.
I would advise Arizona to go after these companies on state income tax issues - and filing falsely or not filing for these workers - and stiffen the penalties. It will have the same effect. State income tax is none of the federal government’s business.
We cannot be the repository of millions of unskilled, illiterate people no matter how sad their plight. We cannot afford this and the Mexican government is promoting this for their own economic benefit.
It's not just the left. The Republican Party elites are right in there.
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