04/15/2008
Contact: Michelle Bolton, 602-263-7690, or Melissa Sharp, 202-314-2068
PHOENIX, Ariz.--The National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, the legal voice for America's leading small business group, filed a friend-of-the court brief with the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals urging the court to strike down Arizona's new immigration law as unconstitutional.
The case before the court is Arizona Contractors' Association Inc., et al v. Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona, and Terry Goddard, Attorney General of Arizona. Business owners are asking the court to overrule Arizona's immigration law that imposes a first-of-its-kind requirement on small business owners.
The new law, popularly known as the Legal Arizona Workers Act, is a result of legislative passage of House Bill 2779, which was signed by Gov. Napolitano last July. As of Jan. 1, 2008, the law requires all Arizona employers to verify new hires through the federal basic pilot program, now known as e-verify.
"Immigration is not an issue small business owners are fuzzy on. In a recent survey, more than 90 percent of small business owners ranked immigration as a problem, and within that number, more than half call it a very serious one," said Michelle Bolton, NFIB/Arizona state director. "While well intended, Arizona's new law is not straightforward and is causing confusion among Arizona's businesses. States should not be forcing businesses to utilize a voluntary federal program, especially when the program has a high error rate and was not intended to be used as a re-verification tool for employees who were working for a business prior to Jan. 1, 2008."
"The last thing America needs is a crazy quilt of 50 different immigration laws," said Karen Harned, executive director of the NFIB Small Business Legal Center. "Arizona's small business owners are no different from entrepreneurs in other states. First and foremost, they believe immigration is a national matter best handled at the federal level."
