Arizona was one of the first states to pass a major employer sanctions immigration bill and nearly two dozen other states have followed suit. As workers have fled the state and employers are starting to re-evaluate whether it is worth doing business there, some are giving serious thought to trying to reverse course. And apparently a lot of Arizonans are concerned as well that they may have overreached. The pro-business group Stop Illegal Hiring has gathered enough signatures to get a measure on the ballot in November that will soften some of the harshest parts of the Arizona law including adding a provision requiring employers to actually know that workers are illegal before they can be sanctioned.
In the mean time, the anti-immigrant backers of the original bill have failed to gather enough signatures to get a measure on the ballot that would make the existing law even tougher.
And this is how it should be. It is the responsibility of the US Congress and the President to deal with immigration and they should not be permitted to shirk that responsibility and have states deal with this. Almost everyone agrees the system stinks. Most agree that we need foreign workers and most agree we need to enforce our immigration laws and secure our border. A vocal minority in each House of Congress have blocked progress and it will be the job of a President Obama or McCain and the leaders in Congress to finally make some headway on an issue that is not going to go away.