Editorial: Impatience with immigration

Friday, July 6, 2007 | 6:56 a.m.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano says she isn't waiting any longer for Congress to overhaul the nation's immigration law. This week Napolitano signed legislation that lodges stiff penalties against businesses that knowingly hire undocumented immigrants.

The measure imposes what could be the nation's most aggressive state penalties against illegal immigration. The law requires employers to verify their workers' legal status, and those who fail to do so could, on a first offense, have their business licenses suspended. Employers who fail to obtain proper verification of employees' status a second time could permanently lose their licenses.

In a written statement accompanying the bill that she signed Monday, Napolitano called immigration control "a federal responsibility," but said she signed the measure "because it is now abundantly clear that Congress finds itself incapable of coping with the comprehensive reforms our country needs."

Arizona's new law contains several flaws that Napolitano's office even points out on its Web site. They include the measure's failure to protect crucial services, such as nursing homes, hospitals and power plants that could face shutdowns if employers are twice found to have hired even one undocumented worker. The bill also lacks funding to establish a database that the Arizona attorney general's office will need for tracking cases after the law goes into effect in January.

Federal law already prohibits the hiring of workers who are living in the United States illegally. But enforcement is lacking. Since Congress' latest attempt to overhaul the nation's immigration law crashed and burned last week, Arizona just may be the first in a string of states to enact immigration measures that fail to address all of the details.

We agree with Napolitano that immigration reform is a federal issue. But states shouldn't be enacting their own legislation. It only serves to further confuse an already confounding issue.