Arizona's and Idaho's immigration laws why they wont work

Key provisions of Arizona's immigration legislation, signed into law by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday:- Makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally by specifically requiring immigrants to have proof of their immigration status. Violations are a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. Repeat offenses would be a felony.

- Requires police officers to "make a reasonable attempt" to determine the immigration status of a person if there is a "reasonable suspicion" that he or she is an illegal immigrant. Race, color or national origin may not be the only things considered in implementation. Exceptions can be made if the attempt would hinder an investigation.- Allow lawsuits against local or state government agencies that have policies that hinder enforcement of immigration laws. Would impose daily civil fines of $1,000-$5,000. There is pending follow-up legislation to halve the minimum to $500.- Targets hiring of illegal immigrants as day laborers by prohibiting people from stopping a vehicle on a road to offer employment and by prohibiting a person from getting into a stopped vehicle on a street to be hired for work if it impedes traffic.

- The law will take effect by late July or early August.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Idaho House State Affairs Committee on Friday wisely rejected a bill that would put the onus on employers to stop illegal immigration.The measure would have required employers to verify workers' immigration status. Companies could have had their business licenses suspended or revoked for hiring people unauthorized to work in the United States. "You're asking employers to basically police federal immigration law," said Republican Rep. John Vander Woude, a Nampa dairyman.

This is the only way you will ever get a handle on the immigration problem. You have to put some responsibly on the employer.

He's right. Penalizing employers is a poor substitute for real immigration reform.

If employers are made to check then there would be no demand hence a lot smaller problem

It's the kind of piecemeal, Band-Aid approach that has actually made the illegal immigration problem worse.It's modeled on a three-month-old Arizona law, which has already proven to be an economic disaster. Scores of farm workers have gone to other states.

It is simple pay a living wage and people will work for you

The last thing Idaho agriculture, which already has too few farm and dairy workers, needs is to export labor to Texas and California.

We have one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation it is the employers are used to such cheap labor with little regard for the workers they hire.

The fact that extreme proposals like Hart's can even get a hearing reflects the damage that's being done by America's failure to implement a national immigration policy. Immigration reform should be Job One when a new president and Congress take office next January.America's Golden Door has fallen off its rusty hinges. It can't be fixed by turning Farmer Brown into Marshal Dillon.

Farmer brown would not have a problem doing this if there were hefety fines and jail time for breaking the law.