About The Coalition
About the Coalition
Wake Up Arizona! is a coalition of Arizonans concerned about the unintended consequences of the state’s new employer sanctions law.
We steadfastly oppose illegal immigration and we believe in workable employer sanctions. But we also believe in standing up against a bad law, even when it’s not popular to do so.
Employer Sanctions Law – Unintended Consequences
- Every person is at risk of losing his or her job
Despite what the supporters of this law say, this law does not only affect a business owner who breaks the law. If your boss breaks the law, you lose your job. If someone in the HR department of your company breaks the law, you lose your job. This law punishes the wrong people. We strongly believe employers who hire illegal workers should be punished. However, we do not believe that Arizona’s working families should pay the price for mistakes made by their employers. A more accurate title for this law would be the Arizona Job Destruction Act.
- Creates an environment of frivolous complaints that will damage legitimate business
This law is chock-full of unintended consequences, one of which is the potential for a slew of frivolous complaints to be filed. A business could file a complaint against a competitor in hopes of knocking the competitor out of business or, at the least, sullying their name with the specter of having hired illegal workers. Even if a complaint is found to be without merit, a business will have already been penalized by having to pay the legal costs associated with fending off a baseless complaint.
We are also concerned about the abuse of this law for political purposes. A county attorney could use this law to make a name for him or herself by flexing some muscle on one of the state’s top issues. One of the reasons workplace immigration enforcement is best handled by federal law enforcement is because issues as sensitive as this one should be taken out of the realm of politics.
- Flawed database promotes identity theft
The supporters of this law say that every employee in Arizona should be documented as being legally eligible to work in this state and country. On this we agree wholeheartedly. Supporters also say that the means to ensuring this legal workforce is through use of the Basic Pilot database. On this we disagree strongly.
Basic Pilot tells employers only whether a Social Security number presented by an employee is indeed a valid number. What the program does not do is confirm whether the person possessing that Social Security number is who he or she says they are. If a worker illegally possesses someone else’s Social Security number – maybe your number – they can get a job under false pretenses. So much for the legal workforce the supporters of this law say it will bring to Arizona.
In reality, of the worst unintended consequences of this new law is that it will actually encourage I.D. theft. There will be a huge incentive to steal a Social Security number of a real person.
- Jeopardizes Arizona’s public safety and critical infrastructure
An additional unintended consequence of this law is the public safety ramifications. The law doesn’t make special accommodations for hospitals, nursing homes or electric utilities.
Imagine your loved one is complaining of chest pains in the middle of the night. Now imagine if you drove to your nearest emergency room only to find out that the hospital had been shut down because it had been busted under this law.
Imagine if your power company had to shut down under this law. Or your local water company. Or your phone company. What if the trash pickup company that your city contracts with was shut down under this law?
- Promotes mass discrimination lawsuits
There is a potential chilling affect on hiring minority job applicants. The unfortunate guarantee that a business isn’t hiring an illegal worker could be simply not to hire applicants that would even be suspected of being from another country.
- Threatens entire Arizona economy
Arizona’s economy only grows if our state maintains a tax and regulatory environment conducive to keeping businesses here and attracting new ones. If businesses feel that they’re constantly on the verge of shutdown or fending off frivolous complaints, then the likelihood of continued investment in Arizona shrinks dramatically.
Keep in mind that one business often depends on another. Your business might be in total compliance with this law. But what about your supplier who is critical to your success? What about your best customer? If they go under, what happens to your business? This law does not affect individual lawbreakers. This law destroys Arizona’s economy.