Lawmakers should look to Arizona

For more than two years, the electorate has loudly and unequivocally demanded that action be taken to end illegal immigration, that the status quo of open borders, open schools, full employment and free welfare for unskilled noncitizens must stop at once.

Because of congressional impotence, enforcement of federal immigration laws has been left up to cities, states and businesses. So one by one, areas burdened by the fiscal and social costs of illegal immigration have taken steps to answer the outrage of the voting public.

Except Nevada.

Citizens learned this week that a law enacted last year to crack down on illegals and the companies that knowingly hire them has less bite than a pound puppy. An opinion from the state attorney general’s office declared the provisions of Assembly Bill 383 unenforceable, but that sentiment was overly generous. “Worthless” would have been a better word. The legislation was never intended to do anything more than score political points.

The law authorizes the state Tax Commission to impose fines against businesses that hire illegal immigrants. But before the commission can do so, the U.S. attorney general must determine that the company employed illegals.

You know, the federal government that won’t enforce its own immigration laws.

“I supported the final version because it is all we had,” said Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, who sought the law, only to see it watered down by her colleagues. “I felt at the time it was feel-good legislation that would not accomplish anything. It had no teeth.”

Compare this cosmetic exercise to the approach of our neighbor to the southeast. In Arizona, a huge budget deficit and citizen anger prompted a Democratic governor and Republican legislature to pass the country’s toughest illegal immigration law. Arizona companies that knowingly hire illegals can be stripped of their business licenses.

The law is working as intended. Faced with the prospect of losing their livelihoods, business owners are doing their due dillegence in verifying the immigration status of prospective hires. Scores of illegals are saving them the trouble and leaving the state.

Where can they turn for work, a taxpayer-funded education for their kids and a public hospital for health care? Nevada, of course. The country’s 38th most populous state has the nation’s 10th-highest population of illegal immigrants, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Ms. Koivisto plans to bring up the issue during the 2009 Legislature. “When our unemployment rate is up, it’s a problem and I think it has to be looked at.”

Supporters of illegal immigration, such as the group Hispanics in Politics, opposed Nevada’s weak legislation on the grounds that the state couldn’t fine businesses for violating federal law. The state attorney general’s opinion surmised as much.

Illegal immigration advocates elsewhere have claimed local and state laws targeting illegal immigration are unconstitutional because states lack the authority to regulate immigration. And they’ve won.

Arizona’s law, however, was upheld by U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake because federal law allows states to regulate business licenses. Had Nevada’s law allowed the revokation of business licenses instead of civil or criminal sanctions, the attorney general’s opinion stated, it might have passed muster.

We’ll make it easy for Nevada lawmakers. Look up Arizona Revised Statute 23-212 on the Internet. Copy it. Pass it. Enforce it.