An almost 6-month-old state law that calls for fining businesses employing illegal immigrants can’t be enforced, an official said Friday.

The reason: The state attorney general’s office says immigration is an issue for the federal government, not states. The law, AB 383, mostly focuses on combatting the trafficking of immigrants, but includes a provision for the Taxation Department to fine employers whom the federal government has proved were knowingly hiring undocumented workers.

The law took effect Oct. 1. Dino DiCianno, executive director of the Taxation Department, wrote the state attorney general Sept. 6, asking whether federal law preempted the provision. On March 3, Senior Deputy Attorney General Karen Dickerson replied that federal immigration law “expressly preempts state and local laws which impose criminal or civil sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants, except through licensing and similar laws.”

The result: “The letter of the law (AB 383) as written cannot be carried out,” DiCianno said.

“I don’t know where this leaves us now,” he added.

Peter Ashman, a local immigration attorney and former chairman of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Nevada chapter, called the attorney general’s opinion “the right decision.”

Enforcing immigration laws should be left to federal immigration officials, he said, adding that the measure, a first for Nevada, “reflects the frustration of state and local governments nationwide … as they’re trying to fill a gap.”

The provision’s story mirrors those of thousands of ordinances and laws on immigration nationwide: Constituents voice concerns about immigration and lawmakers move legislation forward with relatively little opposition, only to have an attorney general or outside lawsuits strike down the laws.

 

Full Story: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/mar/22/state-illegal-immigrant-hiring-law-wont-work/