Posted on 05/26/2011 11:31:58 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
The Supreme Court on Thursday gave Arizona and other states more authority to take action against illegal immigrants and the companies that hire them, ruling that employers who knowingly hire illegal workers can lose their license to do business.
The 5-3 decision upholds the Legal Arizona Workers Act of 2007 and its so-called business death penalty for employers who are caught repeatedly hiring illegal immigrants. The state law also requires employers to check the federal E-Verify system before hiring new workers, a provision that was also upheld Thursday.
The court's decision did not deal with the more controversial Arizona law passed last year that gave police more authority to stop and question those who are suspected of being in the state illegally. But the ruling is likely to encourage the state and its supporters because the court majority said states remained free to take action involving immigrants.
Thursday's decision is a defeat for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, several civil-rights groups and the Obama administration, all of whom opposed the Arizona law and its sanctions on employers. They argued that federal law said states may not impose "civil or criminal sanctions" on employers.
But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said another portion of the same law made clear that states were free to use their "licensing" laws to punish employers. Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. formed the majority in Chamber of Commerce vs. Whiting.
The Arizona law upheld Thursday was signed into law by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, .. now .. secretary of Homeland Security for President Obama.
In dissent were Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor. They said federal law prohibited states from imposing their own immigration-related rules on employers. Justice Elena Kagan sat out the case.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
YAY! Faith restored in the justice system somewhat.
No, you force your way in with a BB gun, hold John Candy hostage and make him operate the rides and ride them with you. But, I agree that this is a good idea.
“It is the responsibility of a business owner to ensure that they obey employment laws. That means if they are paying someone then that person needs to furnish a legitimate social security number.”
I agree that business owners have responsibility to make reasonable checks. However, I am concerned that E-Verify is not good tool because the administration does not want to fix it. Will employers be held responsible for the failures of E-Verify? Can an employer who uses E-Verify be sued by legal residents who do not pass E-Verify? You can be sure that the illegal alien has these tactics ready to undermine Arizona’s law. You can also bet that the administration will ignore easily correctable flaws in E-Verify to undermine Arizona’s law.
I like the score so far:
Arizona 1, Dear Leader 0
Thank you, President George W. Bush, the man too many cranks on both the Right and Left mindlessly hate to this day. I keep seeing self-styled “real” conservatives say he was a liberal. Nonsense! In some respects he was more authentically conservative than Ronald Reagan.
They’re just as complicit in it as the illegals are. They’ve tacitly approved of using illegals as a cheap source of labor for years, and its high time they face the music, too.
Nail ‘em both.
Sorry for the double post. Am posting from work on my cell phone. Difficult.
California, here they come...
She’s a worthless, illegal-cockroach-defending POS.
It’s too bad that “take away the jobs and they’ll leave” doesn’t apply. The gubmint gives them so much free stuff they won’t leave.
It’s about time. I can not tell you how many good, honest businessmen have been run out of business by the cheating scum who hire illegals.
When this recession is over, and employment is back to 4% if they want to bring in workers on a temporary visa (with no path to citizenship) I’m all for it. If they want to increase LEGAL immigration from Mexico and make sure that whoever is coming here has a responsible sponsor, then fine. But this waltz across the border, breaking all laws, has led to the near distruction of California, Arizona is on the brink, the plague has gone as far north as Maine.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!
Sure, when they hire hundreds of illegals, none of whom speak English, the employer doesn’t have a clue, he is really just another victum.
My point is that employers are not law enforcement folks. We have entire government agencies that are supposed rid us of these pests. How about the cop that drives past those daily shape ups of the obviously illegal day workers? Oh. It's not his job. Well, make it his f*****g job and leave businessmen alone.
What do you think about landlords who rent to these folks? Lets nail them too. Or grocery stores that sell to them?
And politicians who pander to them!
ML/NJ
Yep, nail all of them including the sanctuary cities. There are many guilty parties here, but companies with dozens or hundreds of employees know when they have illegals working for them. Until they are forced to make an effort, they will continue. Unless you personally employ illegals, I don’t understand you objection. Care to elaborate?
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