PHOENIX — A new plan to address undocumented immigrants finding work or receiving public benefits in Arizona has been introduced in the state's legislature.
House Concurrent Resolution 2060, sponsored by House Speaker Ben Toma, R-Peoria, would make it a felony for an employer to not verify if their employee is in the country legally.
Following a press conference on the plan Monday morning, state Rep. David Cook, R-Globe, said Republicans in the state were feeling pressure to address some of the issues they say come with illegal immigration, especially as they said federal efforts had been ineffective.
"At our level at the state, what else can we do besides flush it out through the system and find those cracks?" said Cook.
Now, Toma and fellow House Republicans want to take the issue directly to voters, proposing a resolution that could end up on the November 2024 ballot.
"If this ballot initiative passes, illegal aliens will have every reason to leave the state of Arizona," said Toma.
Toma, who is also running for Congress, said his proposal would save Arizona billions every year by closing loopholes used by undocumented immigrants and their employers.
Under the plan, business owners who do not run E-Verify checks on their employees would be slapped with a felony charge. E-Verify allows employers to input on employee's name and Social Security number to verify their citizenship status.
"We may not be able to do the federal government's job, but we can definitely stop Arizona from becoming like California," Toma said.
E-Verify checks are already required of employers in Arizona, but this would increase enforcement and punishment. Lawmakers from both parties also said they understood the plan could potentially create worker shortages in industries that rely on migrant labor.
State Rep. Marcelino Quiñonez, a Democrat whose district includes South Phoenix, said he was against Toma's resolution.
"It does nothing to actually solve the issue," he said. "What it does is it creates a path for creating a problem that we actually have no say in addressing."
It would also require that E-Verify be used to determine if a person can get public benefits.
Cook admitted the current vision for HCR 2060 may change.
"We don't know what that piece of paper will say by the time it gets through the system to go to the voters," he said, but that Republicans felt it was important to have a starting point on the issue.
Some Democrats, however, say it's a non-starter and they don't think the resolution will ever make it to the voters.
"I think what we are in danger of doing is creating voter fatigue," Quiñonez said.
Quiñonez added that the plan already has a challenge in trying to make the ballot in a major election year when so many other issues and candidates are also expected to be left up to voters.
"At last count, it's going to be a two or three-page ballot," he added.
Toma's resolution passed the House Appropriations Committee Monday afternoon, by a 10-7 vote.
