Worker status laws and a Republican rift

A description of how employers, some inside the tent of the GOP, are lobbying to resist new laws aimed at halting the hiring of illegal immigrants, appeared in the Times over the weekend. The story, linked here, refers to Oklahoma, where chambers of commerce won an order last month in federal court halting secions of a widely-publicized law requiring employer to use a federal database to check the immigrations status of new hires. Oklahoma was cited during debate this spring in Suffolk on the county's own efforts to mandate employer verification of worker status. As we saw in some election races last year, leading Republicans have been under fire from those reacting against illegal immigration.

Some of the coverage of Suffolks legislative tensions is here.