(Via the Drudge Report)
Arizona, one of the first states to take concrete measures against businesses employing illegal aliens, may have to implement some concrete measures to control whiners who are complaining about the law. (The Freeholder suggests that favorite redneck repair product, duct tape. Applied generously to the mouth, it has been shown to be both cheap and effective.)
As could have been predicted, business owners who have been taking advantage of that particular cheap labor pool are predicting doom and threatening to move business elsewhere, including…wait for it…Mexico.
Now, the funny thing is that the law only targets business that knowingly hire illegals. It requires the use of the Federal “E-Verify” database (which has shown some flaws in testing). As a savvy business owner, it shouldn’t be hard to prove you took every reasonable precaution to avoid knowingly hiring an illegal alien. Have them fill out an I-9, get copies of their drivers license, Social Security card, green card and a screen print from your database lookup. Put them in the personnel jacket. You have now covered that important part of your anatomy.
However, that’s apparently too difficult, so we have people like Jason LeVecke, who owns a number of burger joint franchises in the state, saying he’s going to expand in Texas, rather than Arizona, because “It is too much of a risk for us.” With that level of business acumen, you have to wonder if there are any MacDonalds or Burger Kings in the state. If there aren’t, a smart move for them would be to expand in Arizona now. You don’t have any competition to worry about.
A completely different whine comes from the politicians, who must “tread a fine line between appeasing anti-immigration sentiment and trying not to anger Hispanics, who make up the fastest-growing voter bloc in the nation.” Excuse me? The last time I checked, illegal immigrants are not eligible to vote. Many legal Hispanic immigrants, along with Americans of Hispanic ancestry, oppose illegal immigration. (Notice how I found a story on this from Arizona? Nice touch, huh?) So what’s the real problem?
Hm-m-m-m. I think I know how to handle most of the complaints from business. If all of the states followed Arizona’s lead, then no US businesses could take advantage of illegal aliens to gain a completive advantage. They could still move operations out of the country, but that’s always been possible.
Addressing the politicians’ complaints will be more difficult. Medical science hasn’t perfected a spine transplant yet.