Arizona has taken the lead in this country to come down on illegal immigration.
On Thursday it was announced that the Supreme Court’s decision on the power of states to enforce laws against illegal immigrants is currently in a stalemate.
This means Arizona’s controversial law is still intact, and can be enforced in other states if they choose to do so.
The vote seems to be split 4-4, with one justice, Elena Kagan, declining to participate. This marks the first time in 30 years that the Supreme Court ruled on an issue dividing state and federal power over immigration laws.
The liberal justices deem the Arizona sanctions unjust, while the conservative justices believe that the law is saving Arizona from financial troubles from unrestricted immigration. The high court’s debate comes on the heels of another tough Arizona law that took effect in July and makes it a crime to be in the state, which borders Mexico, without proper immigration papers.
The US Chamber of Commerce, backed by President Barack Obama’s administration, has sought, unsuccessfully so far, to invalidate the law in the courts.
The case pits Arizona against an unusual coalition of challengers that includes the US Chamber of Commerce, civil rights groups, labor unions and the Obama administration. But that high-powered group faced a barrage of skeptical questions from the court’s conservatives, which will help Arizona to enforce its law.
The Supreme Court’s decision in the illegal-worker case is expected to give some indication of how willing the justices are to allow states to come up with their own ways of trying to curb illegal immigration.
The law is being challenged by the Legal Arizona Workers Act, says a company could lose its business license for knowingly hiring illegal workers — a “death penalty,” in the words of Washington lawyer Carter G. Phillips, who represented the Chamber of Commerce.
It is different from a more recent Arizona law that the Obama administration is battling in lower courts.
That law contains a provision requiring local law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of people they stop and to detain those suspected of entering the country illegally.
Former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano — now the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security- also called the Arizona law the “business death penalty” because of the harsh penalties it imposes.
She said the law’s penalties are so severe that they encourage employers to avoid hiring anyone who even appears to be an immigrant, and that companies that don’t comply can be stripped of their business licenses.
Federal law makes using E-Verify voluntary for most employers, and the legal issue is whether a state should be able to make it mandatory.
The law, signed by Napolitano, mandates that employers confirm job applicants’ legality through E-Verify, a federal online service that checks workers against the Social Security database.
