ARIZONA'S SMALL BUSINESS OWNER SUPPORT ARIZONA'S NEW IMMIGRATION LAW

Plenty of small-business owners support Arizona’s tough new immigration law, despite concerns from the tourism sector and chambers of commerce over boycotts, lost conventions and a tarnished state image.

Recent public opinion polls show they are not alone, as the majority of Arizona voters back the new measure allowing police to question and arrest suspected illegal immigrants on broad trespassing charges.

Subjects: Illegal Immigration, Arizona immigration law, small-business owners support, E-Verify, illegal workers

May 8, 2010
Mike Sunnocks
Phoenix Business Journal
American City Business Journals, Inc.

“I kind of like the idea that this is going to enforce the law,” said Marc DeRosa, owner of Advance Paper & Maintenance Supply Inc. in Mesa.

DeRosa, whose company provides janitorial supplies to maintenance companies, is frustrated with the lack of federal border security over the years and is uneasy with changes to older neighborhoods and commercial corridors such as Broadway Road.

“Everything is mostly in Spanish, and I don’t like that,” DeRosa said of the business signs along Broadway in older areas of the East Valley.

DeRosa is not worried about boycotts or losing events such as the Super Bowl because of the new law and pressure from Hispanic activists. He said the law could reduce illegal immigration and improve the quality of life for winter visitors who visit the Valley each year.

“They are the biggest single source of outside income,” he said.

Randy Delbridge, owner of Superior Surveying Services Inc. in Phoenix, said the state measure is just a new plan to enforce existing immigration statutes.

“How ironic is that? A law to enforce a law,” said Delbridge, adding that illegal immigration hurts his company and the state. “We carry firearms at all times when surveying remotely, especially along the border.”

Delbridge said illegal immigrants account for much of the serious crime committed in Arizona, and they push up health care costs because they are uninsured and go to emergency rooms. He also faults federal prosecutors for not going after more drug cases tied to Mexican smugglers.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has said about 20 percent of those in county jails are illegal immigrants. Former County Attorney Andrew Thomas estimated that illegal immigrants committed 36 percent of the kidnappings, 34 percent of the drug-related crimes and 17 percent of the violent crimes in the Valley in 2007.

Nationally, illegal immigrants cost the U.S. health system $4 billion a year, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

Despite vociferous opposition to the law from Hispanic protesters — and concerns that it makes Arizona appear intolerant and racist — state and national polls show support for the measure. A Rasmussen Reports poll released May 4 shows 59 percent of the 500 people polled nationwide back the Arizona law, while 32 percent oppose it.

A Rocky Mountain Poll conducted by the Behavior Re­search Center and released May 5 found that 52 percent of Arizonans support the law, 39 percent oppose it and 9 percent are undecided.

Ginia Lucas, co-owner of Y-Knot Party Rentals in Mesa, said it is not easy for business owners to speak out in favor of the new law. She doesn’t want to alienate Hispanic customers, and she’s aware of distress over the law and Arizona’s image coming from the tourism sector.

“As a small-business owner, it is difficult for us to verbally support it,” Lucas said.

Still, she backs the law on the grounds that illegal immigration and fake work documents are a hassle when it comes to hiring workers.

Lucas has 18 workers and uses the federal E-Verify system to make sure potential employees are here legally. She said many small businesses are frustrated by the process, which prevents them from hiring illegal immigrants while at the same time prohibiting them from unfairly scrutinizing Latino workers’ papers.

“You’re at an impasse,” she said.

Jim Morlan, CEO of Electric Supply Inc. in Phoenix, said small-business owners are concerned about illegal immigration’s damage to the state, and they want something done about it. He agrees with Gov. Jan Brewer’s assessment that the state law mimics federal rules requiring immigrants to carry work permits and travel visas.

“The only serious analysis of the bill that I have heard says it very much mirrors federal regulations. Since federal regulations are not being enforced, the state of Arizona is going to enforce them,” Morlan said.

Electric Supply, an electrical material wholesaler, has been in business since 1952.

Morlan does not like media coverage of the issue.

“I do worry about the boycotts and other fallout because of the hysteria that is being caused and spread by the media,” he said. “I don’t think there is anything factual behind the hysteria. So it is damaging to Arizona, but it shouldn’t be.”