AZ Immigration Compliance Blog

If apartments are starting to sit vacant, this must mean that the new Arizona Immigration Sanctions Law is starting to take its toll on the illegal immigrants here in Arizona. What will this mean for your company?

“The sanctions law is pushing immigrants to leave the state. The law is aimed at clamping down on illegal immigration in Arizona, which has the highest share of illegal immigrants of any state, by threatening to yank the business licenses of employers caught knowingly employing such workers.

The law also requires businesses to electronically verify the work eligibility of all new hires as of the first of this year.

To avoid sanctions, employers have been letting go workers who can’t prove they have permission to work in the U.S.

As a result, many immigrants are leaving, either to other states where they think it will be easier to get jobs, or back to Mexico, where the majority of illegal immigrants in Arizona are from.”

So far, the law has done what it was intended to do. How has this law affected your company? Businesses that catered to the illegal population have seen drastic sales hits, apartments have seen a large wave of vacancies, what will be next?

With the staggering number of employers still waiting out the decision on immigration, the mad rush to be in compliance is on hold for the majority of business owners. Where is your company at when it comes to the new immigration laws? Have you begun the process to be in compliance? Or, are you taking the “see what happens” approach?  According to the September 18, 2007 article in the Arizona Republic titled “Firms sign up for the employee verification ahead of law,” many employers are rushing to be in compliance. When and if this new law passes, it will require that ALL employers in Arizona enroll in the E-Verify program, or risk having their business license repealed if caught with undocumented workers.

Also stated in the article is a stat that caught my attention, “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said 1,117 Arizona employers were registered as of Friday.” That is more than double the 433 participants when the law was signed!  It’s still only a fraction of more than 150,000 employers in Arizona!  So, when are the other 145,000 employers going to register? What is holding YOU back from registering? Drop me a line and let me know (click on the Comment link).

With all the new rules and regulations recently released regarding “constructive knowledge” in the hiring of undocumented workers and verifying eligibility, there is a potential fear of “doing the right thing” right now. 

In Arizona, we know that the verification of all new hires will be a requirement beginning January 1, 2008.  We also know that social security numbers above 770 are just recently being issued. What should an employer do now, if a new employee presents a Social Security card that appears legitimate, but begins with a number in the upper 700s?  Should extra steps be taken now to verify the validity of the social security number for these few employees?  Or should the employer wait it out and see if a “no match” letter is sent? 

Many of our clients are asking how they will find workers in the future to grow their business.  Depending on your industry, this could be a big or small problem.  With the new requirements, some are nervous they will have to turn away too many applicants OR that they won’t apply for fear of being ‘in trouble’ even if they are documented to work. 

Do you think a lot of the labor force will migrate to adjacent states with less restrictions?  Some think so, but only time will tell.  I look forward to hearing from AZ businesses on their perspective.