I'm bewildered. Either russell pearce, an author of the new employer sanctions law, has lost his mind, he changed his mind and his story, or some journalists are confused. On november 21st, the arizona republic put out a story on the new employee sanctions law only applying to new hires. I posted a blog post about it since i found it interesting that no one seems to know how this is going to go down and it has already lead to people being fired.
However, today i see an associated press story in the same newspaper that totally contradicts that story and doesn't even make any reference to pearce's past statements.
The December 13 article, Pearce says sanctions law covers all workers says:
A new state law that penalizes business owners who employ illegal immigrants will apply to every worker in the state when it goes into effect on Jan. 1, not just people hired after the new year, the law's chief sponsor said Thursday.
State Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, told The Associated Press that people have misunderstood the employer sanctions law as applying only to new hires.
Gee, i wonder how there could be such confusion when we had a story like this on November 21st called Employer law applies only to new hiring, Pearce says:
The punishments laid out in Arizona's employer-sanctions law are meant to apply only to new hires, not to entire workforces, says the law's prime sponsor...
Attorney David Selden, who represents the business groups suing to block the state law, told U.S. District Judge Neil Wake in a court hearing last week that, as of Jan. 1, "an employer's entire workforce is covered by this statute."
That surprised Wake and most courtroom observers, who read the law as applying only to new hires.
And that's the intent of the law, says its sponsor, state Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa.
"We didn't go retroactive," Pearce said Friday, when asked about Selden's statement.
Further, a provision in the bill states that "the county attorney shall not bring an action against any employer for any violation of subsection A that occurs before January 1, 2008." Subsection A says an employer shall not intentionally or knowingly employ an unauthorized alien.
Pearce noted that federal law already makes it a crime to hire an illegal worker.
In crafting the state's sanctions law, he said, lawmakers decided to make the state's penalties effective with anyone hired as of Jan. 1, 2008.
Illegal workers hired before that date are subject to federal prosecution and, Pearce added, he hopes the feds come down hard on such violations.
The more recent article also referenced the surprised judge, but said the following,
Selden said the law's sponsors have done a poor job educating the public about the employer sanctions law.
"I think you have a law that's so poorly written that even the people who wrote it did not even think it through to figure out what it meant," added Selden, who is challenging the law's constitutionality in federal court.
Gov. Janet Napolitano told reporters Wednesday that she signed the law with the belief that it applied only to people hired after the new year. However, she said the law isn't clear on that issue.
It is possible that Russell Pearce intentionally confused things for political purposes. For one, him saying that the law only applies to new hires could've affected the judge's decision to dismiss the lawsuit. Two, confusion about who it applies to could cause more fear, firings, and cause people to leave the state (which is what he wants). I hope that someone will follow up on this story and get the the bottom of this.
See my post, OOPS! Racist AZ politician "accidentally" sent out article from National Alliance, from last year on Russell Pearce.
