Napolitano takes action on illegal immigration - tough employer sanctions.

[pampango]

Janet Napolitano blasted Congress' inability to enact immigration reform in letter to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and signed new legislation getting tough on illegal employers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR2007070601929.html

"Four days after the Senate killed the comprehensive immigration bill supported by President Bush, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, signed a bill that the state's Republican Legislature had passed imposing extremely tough sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants."

"I know Napolitano to be a conscientious and committed executive. As a former U.S. attorney for Arizona and state attorney general, she is serious about law enforcement. But she is also a compassionate person, and she has joined McCain in unsuccessfully opposing voter initiatives to deny public benefits to the children of illegal immigrants. And she vetoed other immigration bills."

"The state legislation requires every Arizona business to verify the legal status of each new employee. That's also a requirement of long-established federal law, but the feds rarely enforce it. Under the new Arizona statute, a first violation can result in a suspension of the business license. A second offense can mean permanent revocation -- in effect, an order to go out of business. Napolitano warned the Legislature that it may have gone too far. Without any exclusion for vital public services, she said, a hospital or power plant could be shut down for hiring undocumented workers."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/08/AR2007060802399.html

"Opponents of the Senate immigration bill -- those who really want to do nothing -- merely yelled "amnesty" in place of reasoned opposition. They were -- and are -- just plain wrong."

[havocmom]

1. Bust the chops of illegal EMPLOYERS is a good plan. She is a good governor.

:thumbsup: to the Gov who knows you go after the abusers and go lighter on the abused. There is NO excuse for employers not to have documentation of workers' legal status unless they know they are breaking laws re hiring illegal immigrants. And they would do that because they intend to exploit those workers via wage/protection/benefit violations.

[pampango]

2. It was suprising to me that the Repub legislature passed the law.

I guess the base must have overwhelmed the Chamber of Commerce on this one.