Gloria Anaya doesn’t know if the four Mexican men who work in her Payson restaurant are illegal immigrants.
But under a new ordinance recently passed by the town council, Anaya will have to sign an affidavit swearing they aren’t.
The ordinance is one of more than a half dozen measures nationwide that confront the illegal immigration issue, long considered the sole responsibility of the federal government. Among the municipalities that have approved such measures are Hazleton, Pa., Escondido, Calif. and Lake Havasu City.
Under the Payson ordinance, businesses in this town of 15,000 will face losing their licenses if they hire illegal immigrants.
“Everyone here is afraid,” Anaya, who owns La Sierra Mexican Restaurant, said in Spanish. “We ask them for their papers, and they give us papers. But we don’t know if they’re good or not. There’s no way to know for sure.”
Anaya said she has consulted a lawyer about the new ordinance and doesn’t know whether she is going to sign the affidavit when she renews her business license.
“I’m worried,’’ she said. “What they’re doing here is very harsh. They’re taking the law into their own hands.”
Payson Mayor Bob Edwards said the council is simply trying to stop rewarding businesses that hire illegal immigrants.
“It’s the law of the land,” Edwards said. “If we require in this country that you be legal, you should be legal. All businesses will be required to sign an affidavit that all their employees are legal. They should have that in their employee files now. If they don’t, they’d better quickly.”
He said if a business is found to employ illegal immigrants, its license will be taken away. The business owner could then come into compliance and pay a yet-to-be-decided fee of around $500 for another license. If they’re caught again, they would face license removal with a possible $1,000 cost to renew. If they do it a third time, Edwards said they would no longer be allowed to do business in Payson.
The ordinance goes into effect July 1, but Edwards said businesses will have to immediately start signing affidavits if they want to renew their licenses.
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