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Businesses fighting state’s employer sanctions statute
Companies who admit they’re breaking federal immigration laws should not be able to anonymously challenge a new Arizona statute, the state’s chief litigator is arguing.
Businesses fighting state's employer sanctions statute
Businesses upset over hiring law seek anonymity
State Solicitor General Mary O’Grady wants U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake to require that the identity of the business owners be publicly disclosed if they want to present evidence of the harm they believe they will incur under Arizona’s new employer sanctions law. That statute, which takes effect Tuesday, allows a judge to suspend or revoke any state licenses or permits of any company that knowingly hires undocumented workers.
And O’Grady said if the complainers are not legally unmasked, anything they claim should not be considered by the court.
“Lawsuits are public events, and a strong presumption exists against anonymity,” she wrote in her court filing. And O’Grady said this case in particular, with its great public interest, should not have that clouded by what amounts to testimony in secret.
But David Selden, lead attorney for the challengers, said he needs to keep the identities of the business owners secret, if for no other reason than their safety. He said people who are trying to have the law voided have been threatened.
O’Grady called that “unsubstantiated statements of subjective fears.”
The lawsuit contends the state law is unconstitutional because only the federal government is empowered to punish companies for employing illegal workers.
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