Summary:
A look at Arizona´s new law that requires employers to police immigration from the small-town perspective of Sedona businesses. This article appears in the February issue of The Noise, a Northern AZ alternative newspaper. Available for reprint. All other rights reserved.

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They fought the law, but the LAWA won
by Cyndy Hardy

SEDONA, Jan. 19 – On Jan. 1, a new sheriff rode a pale horse into town; and his name is Legal Arizona Workers Act. LAWA aims to take up where the federal government left off, ridding the state of unauthorized workers. It’s no secret in these parts that the law targets illegal Mexican immigrants.

It has been a federal crime since 1986 to “knowingly” and “intentionally” employ an unauthorized worker. Fed up with the federal government’s ineffectiveness at enforcing its own laws, Arizona’s legislature invoked LAWA. Now county attorneys can bring civil action against employers who knowingly or intentionally hire non-citizens that cannot legally work in the United States. An employer can lose his business license for 10 days on a first offense; permanently for another violation within three years.

LAWA sat high in the saddle that morning as the cold sun broke over Munds Mountain; a writ authorizing his mission, signed last July by Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, clutched in his dusty glove. His weary steed clip-clopped slowly along the dotted white line of Hwy. 89A between the Uptown shops and restaurants, a savory scent of smoked beef wafting from the all-night ovens at Sally’s Mesquite Grill.

Soon, LAWA knew as he surveyed the town through narrowed eyes, this quiet street would come to life with tourist ‘dudes’ seeking the magic of the Old West. He was also keenly aware of the eyes already at work behind still-darkened windows that loathed his presence and prayed he not darken their doorstep – not this morning.

LAWA’s arrival was about as pleasant as stepping in a pile of manure for many employers who already have a list of things to deal with this time of year. Labor costs just went up on Jan. 1 with an automatic increase in Arizona’s minimum wage from $6.75 to $6.90. Payrolls need to be adjusted and employee W-2 tax forms need to be delivered.

On top of everything, business is bad. “It’s the slowest January I’ve seen in years,” said Nancy Scagnelli, who owns two east-side retail shops and sits on the Sedona City Council.

Across town, behind a screened back door, a brown-skinned cook sang uninhibited along with a song on a Mexican radio station while he chopped yellow squash and tasted the soup of the day. Below the kitchen, in her basement office, restaurateur Lauren Levinson – tough as Gunsmoke’s Miss Kitty and beautiful as Brisco County’s Dixie Cousins – fumed.

“The economy is failing. The mortgage industry has crashed. The real estate market has crashed. Now the government will further kill us by taking away our opportunity to hire good employees,” Ms. Levinson said.

One problem is finding enough workers. Sedona can be a tough place to live if you don’t bring your own coin. The city has the highest median asking price for homes in the state; half of the city’s 6,291 homes cost more than $577,500, according to current Sedona Community Development reports.

Many government agencies and lending institutions define affordability as total housing costs no more than about 30 percent of one’s income. Half of Sedona homebuyers would need to earn at least $173,250. The average Sedona worker only earns about $31,350, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

It would take more than five average incomes for a household to afford a median-priced home. Caretakers at two of Sedona’s mobile villages have said they’ve seen dozens of Mexicans living in one trailer. With prices as they are, maybe they’re on to something.

Employers ought to pay high enough wages so workers can live in the community, according to some Sedona locals. Sedona employees would have to make $84.50 per hour to buy a home without significant financial burden, according to a report distributed at the Governor’s Housing Forum in September 2007.

Rumor has it some folks would rather the working class live somewhere else anyway, and there is evidence they are getting what they want.

About 64 percent of Sedona’s hired hands commute from neighboring communities like Cottonwood where, according to Cottonwood’s economic development staff Casey Rooney, the median house price is $188,000. The median is $216,750 in the Greater Cottonwood area, he said.

Cottonwood’s 2000 data indicates that workers travel about 18.7 minutes to work. Camp Verde’s employees commute about 28 minutes and Cornville’s about 23.6 minutes. At Hwy 89A’s 65 mph speed limit, that’s about the distance to Sedona.

That’s dandy as long as the employees keep coming, but that is not what’s happening: Sedona may be pushing the workforce so far out for housing that they’re abandoning her for greener pastures.

From 2000 to 2006, Cottonwood added about 1,043 to its workforce and its population increased by 1,746, according to the Arizona Department of Commerce. Unemployment dropped from 4.3 percent to 4.0 percent. Flagstaff’s population grew by 8,291 between 2000 and 2005. Unemployment rose from 3.1 to 3.6 and 2,312 new workers joined the labor pool.

Sedona’s unemployment rate in 2000 was 1.4 percent. City officials have said the low rate meant some people held two or three jobs. By 2006, the Sedona labor force increased by 1,544 workers and unemployment reached 3.7 percent. The population only increased by 818 people.

Remember, local wages haven’t kept pace with the cost of housing so the unemployment rate probably can’t be attributed to fewer jobs held by individuals. A completely unofficial observation may shine some light: in 2000 one could order from a menu without pointing to the dish because of language barriers with the servers. By 2006 – not the case.

Lucian Daniels legally emigrated to the U.S. from Romania in 1998. He became a U.S. citizen in August 2007. Mr. Daniels owned the Olde Sedona Bar & Grill for about three years and sold it on Dec. 22. He estimated between 40 and 50 percent of Sedona’s restaurant industry employees may be illegal.

“There are not a lot of qualified Americans sitting around [in Sedona] without jobs. I can’t find them,” Mr. Daniels said.

Ms. Levinson said she can hire a chef right out of school, but “they have no work ethic. They want a lot of money but they have no passion; and they can’t cook as well as the Mexicans,” she said.

Juan Rodriguez legally came to the U.S. about 22 years ago because he had a dream to own his own business, he said. He is now a U.S. citizen and owns a Sedona Mexican restaurant.

Mr. Rodriguez said he tries to give unskilled employees a chance to move ahead, for example, training a dishwasher to be a prep cook and then a line cook. “It takes two years to train a good cook to where I can leave him alone in the kitchen,” he said.

“Bring in legal people and we’ll hire them,” Mr. Rodriguez said.

So, like many U.S. cities, Sedona has its share of illegal Mexican immigrants despite the fact employing them is a federal crime. Oh, no one hangs a shingle advertising the practice. But, illegal workers are here – evidenced by the number of workers these employers expect to lose.

While some Arizona employers seek anonymity while they battle LAWA in federal court, the Sedona business owners interviewed for this article seem to seek sanctuary beneath the tattered skirts of federal compliance.

“All I know is everyone who works for me is legal. They aren’t going to come out and say they’re illegal. They have proper papers and that’s all that matters to me,” Ms. Levinson said.

A couple days before LAWA took effect, a bartender at an Uptown restaurant that had cleaned house said, “It’s weird. Everyone on the floor is so white now.”

Between August and December, Sedona Center terminated about 40 percent of its approximately 220 employees, according to Vice President Ramon Gomez, who is also a Sedona city councilman. That is about 88 employees, although he declined to give an exact number. Internal Form I-9 audits uncovered “mistakes” and many employees could not reproduce legal documents, he said.

“Frankly, some said they don’t have them. A couple of guys just said ‘we’re done,’” Mr. Gomez said. The company owns Amara Creekside Resort, Canyon Portal, Sinagua Plaza,
Canyon Breeze, Vista Cantina, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Canyon Climb.

Chef Philippe Thelier of Shugrue’s Hillside Sedona said LAWA affects about 75 percent of the restaurant’s employees. Owner Mark Shugrue also owns the Javelina Cantina in Sedona; and several restaurants in Lake Havasu City.

If these employers’ estimates are accurate, Sedona’s restaurant and lodging industries are in serious trouble. The apparent “don’t ask, don’t tell” mentality in Sedona may come to an abrupt end. Like most Wild West lawmen in American lore, ‘Sheriff LAWA’ comes with a sidekick: E-Verify, a voluntary federal computer program. Arizona’s new law makes it mandatory.

Through E-Verify, employers must check documents employees provide with their Form I-9, including a photograph and Social Security number, against both Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration databases to verify whether newly hired employees are authorized to work in the United States.

E-Verify seems to be a bad shot, though. Ms. Levinson said it’s taking 10 days to get a confirmation.

Critics say the system itself is five to 15 percent inaccurate. Even when it’s on target, the system can’t catch human errors. About 4 percent of the Social Security Administration’s database contained errors – 17.8 million of its 435 million records, according to a 2006 report from the inspector general.

In 2006, E-Verify kicked back a non-confirmation for Rahi Golshan, a project engineer for Washington’s Fort Myer Construction Company because Mr. Golshan´s records had not been updated since he became a U.S. citizen, according to a Nov. 8 report by National Public Radio’s Jennifer Ludden.

In August, Illinois passed a law to prevent employers from using E-Verify until the system reaches a 99-percent accuracy rate. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security sued the state, claiming that immigration enforcement is a federal matter and that federal law trumps state laws. The case is still in court.

Federal law states that “knowing” can include actual knowledge and constructive knowledge, which through notice of certain facts and circumstances would reasonably lead a person to know about something, according to

Some Sedona businesses think their current staff is safe because E-Verify forbids employers from using the system to check the legal status of existing employees. That depends on how the courts interpret the law, according to Mr. Rozema.

“The law is ambiguous enough such that it may be interpreted to apply to ‘continuing to employ’ as well as new hires,” said Coconino County Deputy Attorney Dave Rozema. Yavapai County Deputy Attorney Dennis McGrane said the law does apply to any worker employed after Jan.1.

Sedona sits on the line between the two counties, so employers should be aware of how their respective county attorneys interpret the law.

Many Arizona county attorneys won’t initiate investigations, according to Mr. Rozema. They also will not accept vigilante-style anonymous complaints. Anyone who wants to posse-up must sign a sworn complaint.

Mr. McGrane said Yavapai County will accept anonymous complaints if accompanied by compelling evidence. “In an extreme example, if a video tape shows up at our office with evidence that someone is employing unauthorized workers I think we would be remiss if we didn’t look into it,” he said.

Like elsewhere in Arizona, some illegal workers did not wait around for Jan.1. “Some are going back to Mexico. Some are moving on to other states like California and Oklahoma; where they can continue to work,” said Alexandro Lopez, a line cook who admitted he works illegally in a Sedona restaurant.

Four years ago, Mr. Lopez walked across the desert for five days with his wife and 1-year old baby. They crossed the border near Tucson, he said. His first child is now 5; he also has a 3-year-old.

Pedro Nunez, 21, is an illegal immigrant whose parents brought him to Arizona when he was nine months old. Nunez works construction in Sedona and Flagstaff. “I am not a U.S. citizen,” he said.

Nunez was educated in public schools. “Everyone knew we were not legal,” he said. His parents divorced when Mr. Nunez was 15. They went back to Mexico. Mr. Nunez wanted to stay. He quit school because he had to work to support himself, he said.

Until recently, Mr. Nunez had a steady job. “The boss said he had to fire me on Jan. 1,” he said. Mr. Nunez quit and found a job that would pay him under the table.

When asked why he doesn’t go to the government to get legal status, Mr. Nunez said he doesn’t believe he’d find help. Four months ago, two of his friends tried to get help from the government to become legal. They were immediately deported, Mr. Nunez said.

“I don’t know what to do,” Mr. Nunez said.

Immigration has closed its doors, according to Mr. Rodriguez. He looked into sponsoring some of his employees, but his lawyers in Phoenix told him that he “can’t do anything,” he said. “They don’t want anyone here,” he said.

“There is a lot of fear in both the front and back of the house. People I thought were secure – some with 15 years – are getting the boot,” said Joy Keeber, a territory manager for a restaurant supply company.

Mr. Shugrue has employees who have worked for him for 15 to 20 years. “These are good solid people. They’ve raised their kids here. The kids don’t want to go to Mexico. They don’t even speak Mexican,” he said.

Others, like Elpidio Soto, don’t speak English. Soto walked across the Sonoran desert for two days and one night to cross the border. He came to the U.S. to pay rent for the home in Mexico where his wife and 6-year-old son live. Mr. Soto’s 18-year-old son works as a landscaper in Washington. Mr. Soto has been in the U.S. for two years and plans to stay for three more years.

Mr. Soto works as a dishwasher for $7 per hour – often seven days per week and sometimes double shifts. He has fake documents, Mr. Soto said in Spanish. Mr. Lopez interpreted.

“In Mexico he would make about $6 a day,” Mr. Lopez said.

Sedona Center management realized that it had focused on containing costs instead of trying to get the best employees, Mr. Gomez said. The company “bumped” wages by 20 to 30 percent and upped its employee-referral bonus to $250. “Now we’re going for the best,” Mr. Gomez said.

Other employers said they are waiting to see what happens. Winter is a slow season for Sedona; they don’t need as many workers right now. Some Mexicans leave to visit family for a few weeks and come back when tourism picks up again in March, according to Ms. Keeber.

This time they might not come back. Meanwhile, Sedona’s economy lies tied to the railroad track, waiting for a hero – or a cavalry of legal workers – to save her.

“This law is the kiss of death,” Mr. Daniels said.

So far, Coconino County has not received any complaints, Mr. Rozema said. Yavapai County has received four complaints, including one in the Verde Valley, according to Mr. McGrane.

Meanwhile, in the state’s capitol of Phoenix, lawmakers have already introduced new legislation to fix problems associated with LAWA. One bill might settle the dispute over ‘hired’ and ‘employed.’ Another might do away with the mandatory use of E-Verify.

It’s unlikely, though, that Sedona will soon bid adieu to LAWA – or the horse he rode in on.

© 2008 Cyndy Hardy. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

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