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Fifth Column

Undermining Anti-Illegal Alien Efforts From Within

2010-07-01

Interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said he will stop sharing state funds beginning today with Sheriff Joe Arpaio to enforce Arizona's employer-sanctions law. The funds should be used to go after employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, Romley said, rather than what Arpaio has largely used them for: worksite raids on the illegal workers.

Romley's office controls the state funding. Arpaio's office expected $700,000 this fiscal year.

Arpaio's raids have "created fear in the business community," Romley said, and "no one can question it has not been effective."

So if it's been effective, what's the problem?

The state has allocated nearly $6.8 million for employer-sanctions enforcement since the law took effect Jan. 1, 2008. Two Maricopa County businesses have faced sanctions; one of the cases came from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation.

None of the other 14 county attorneys in Arizona who received state employer-sanction funds in fiscal 2008 and 2009 shared money with law-enforcement agencies.

Ah. Now I understand.

Lawmakers stopped giving those counties money this past fiscal year after The Arizona Republic reported at least $1.44 million was sitting idle in nine counties because there were so few complaints about employers violating the law.

Romley, who was appointed to his post in April and is now seeking election this November, said his office will keep all $1.2 million in state money for fiscal 2011, which begins today. He said he will use the money to pay for attorneys, legal assistants and detectives to investigate employer-sanctions cases, and to work with and educate the business community. Arpaio said his raids have been successful in cracking down on illegal immigration.

He said 36 investigations have resulted in 415 arrests, with 277 people facing identity-theft charges. Arpaio said he is disappointed that he no longer will get state money but said the raids will continue. "It doesn't matter. We are still going to do our job," Arpaio said. "There will be no change."

The Sheriff's Office during the past three budget years received nearly $1.5 million of the roughly $3.6 million in state funds dedicated to Maricopa County. Then-County Attorney Andrew Thomas, who resigned in early April to run for attorney general, had shared the money with Arpaio and tasked his office to conduct employer-sanction investigations.

Romley's move is "akin to crippling enforcement" of the law, said House Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, who helped keep employer-sanction funds for Maricopa County.

Then rewrite the law to underline how the funds are to be allocated. Y'all are supposed to write laws that make very clear legislative intent to those tasked to execute it.

The Legislature in 2007 passed what has been called the toughest employer-sanctions law in the country. It punishes business operators who knowingly hire illegal immigrants by suspending or revoking their business licenses. The law also requires Arizona employers to use E-Verify, a federal electronic system, to verify if an employee is authorized to work.

The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week said that it will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the law. A decision is expected next year. Numerous business groups, including the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, have opposed the law, saying it puts an unfair burden on businesses.

The alternative is that one day soon Sheriff Joe will come through and takes away your best, most experienced employees. Operating without employees is a greater burden, I should think.

The Sheriff's Office has used employer-sanction funds to pay the salaries and overtime of six deputies and a sergeant. The money also has funded cellphones, gasoline and seven new leased vehicles for them to use on the job and to drive back and forth to work.

To drive back and forth to work? The rest of us use our personal vehicles for that as a matter of course.

Chief Deputy David Hendershott said the Sheriff's Office had planned to have $700,000 from employer-sanction funds in its 2011 budget. Without the money, he said, the Sheriff's Office will have to absorb the cost in its general fund. The total budget for this fiscal year is $260.3 million, Hendershott said.

"Romley is trying to do everything he can to destroy the enforcement of illegal immigration," Hendershott said. "He's trying to do everything he can to decapitate any efforts we make."

Romley, who as county attorney from 1989 to 2004 often feuded with Arpaio, said his education program will reach out to businesses and provide them with the tools, such as how to use E-Verify, to ensure that they are hiring legal workers. By centralizing enforcement in his office, Romley said his staff can work with all police agencies in Maricopa County and not rely entirely on the Sheriff's Office.

Posted by: Anonymoose

#1 Romley and his staff should be tarred and feathered and run out the state on railhead!!

Posted by: armyguy 2010-07-01 11:19

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