The U.S. Department of Justice has sued the Maricopa County Community College District following a yearlong investigation into whether the Arizona district discriminated against new employees who were not U.S.citizens but were eligible to work at the colleges, The Arizona Republic reported. According to the lawsuit, during a two-year period ending in January, the district required at least 247 applicants to produce work-authorization documents that were not mandated by law, but it made no such requirement of U.S. citizens. A college spokesman said the district would have no comment on the suit, which seeks $1,100 per violation in penalties.
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13 Responses to Maricopa Community Colleges Face U.S. Lawsuit Over Hiring of Noncitizens
gharbisonne - August 31, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Any legal immigrant (I was one) has to carry his/her green card with him at all times. So why is asking them to produce it some sort of imposition?This is an administration whose top priority seems to be going to war with the states to prevent them from enforcing the law.
crunchycon - August 31, 2010 at 4:05 pm
I second your assertion about this administration, gharbisonne.Further, U.S. citizens don’t HAVE “work-authorization documents”, so how are we supposed to produce them? And is it so wrong for Maricopa CCC to cover its collective butt?
physicsprof - August 31, 2010 at 4:23 pm
“why is asking them to produce it some sort of imposition?”beats me too…
margray - August 31, 2010 at 4:43 pm
I don’t understand this at all. Don’t citizens have to produce a social security number and non-citizens a green card in addition to the number? Isn’t it illegal to hire someone without it? We need more information here.
doclopez99 - August 31, 2010 at 4:45 pm
The article doesn’t say they asked them to produce their green card, it says they were asked to produce documents that were NOT mandated by law, so I read it as they were asked to provide more documentation than was actually required, so this would be a violation of the law. It would be no different than one of you providing your driver’s license and social security card as legal proof of your ability to work in this country and then the employer saying he wanted your birth certificate or some other form of identification in addition to your other credentials. In either case, it’s a violoation of the law if you have already produced the requisite number of legally accepted documents.
7738373863 - August 31, 2010 at 5:16 pm
The work authorization documents in question are most likely those required as proof of residence/citizenship for doing the I-9 paperwork. U.S. citizens have to produce state or federally issued picture IDs, Social Security cards, and the like. Failing to require documentation for an I-9, even if the job applicant is American born, is a violation of of ICE policy and subject to a fine of $1,000 or so per offense.
physicsprof - August 31, 2010 at 5:53 pm
In fact if you follow the link to Arizona Republic article you will find out that the ID in question, which was asked of an immigrant and not presented, was a green card.
cwinton - September 1, 2010 at 10:52 am
A green card is not required for employment (there are H class visas for example). The college evidently erred in requiring a green card from applicants otherwise eligible for employment. What is more mysterious is that this has ended up in court, unless the college upon being apprised of the law failed to take corrective action or this particular jurisdiction has an overzealous prosecutor.
walkerst - September 1, 2010 at 1:56 pm
As cwinton posts, a green card most definitely is NOT the only way for non-citizens to be employed in the US. For example, there are TN visas – Temporary NAFTA Professionals. Canadians and Mexicans can work in the US under one of these visas, for a specific list of occupations, some of which include librarians, college faculty, and people at health care institutions including those affiliated with universities. You don’t get any kind of card with those visas – you get a piece of paper stapled into your passport and stamped. There are H-class visas – a different piece of paper, also stapled into your passport. There are visas for outstanding/exceptional scholars and leaders in various fields – I think those are the O class, but my memory may be failing me there. There are visas that allow one to work while taking a college program; last year, we hired a particularly talented faculty member who was actually also on an F-class student visa while she finished yet another degree, and we sponsored her for what she has now, which is an H1-B. We’ve sponsored her green card application – but while it is being reviewed, she is able to work here quite legally, though of course she would not be able to produce a ‘green card’. There are many more as well. There are a lot of ways to legally work in the US temporarily, either before seeking a green card, or simply for a period of time, so there are different kinds of work authorization documents. You don’t need to be an “immigrant” to work here – perhaps you have a 2 year project-based contract at a college, and don’t need to immigrate permanently, so you are only a ‘temporary alien.’ Indeed, it’s a lot harder to immigrate first, without a job, and get a green card, than it is to be hired on a temporary visa and then, once you’ve proved your value to an institution, be sponsored for a green card. If you’re a highly educated professional, like a college professor, you may be appealing to an institution – but they would still probably rather try you out on less expensive visas before they spring for sponsorship or permanency. And even immigrants are not required to carry their green cards at all times, at least not everywhere – though that’s probably not the case in Arizona given the new law – but only to be able to produce them, according to an immigration lawyer I know.
gplm2000 - September 2, 2010 at 1:38 pm
All new employees, even for the DOJ/US Civil Service, must show identification before employment starts. This is mandatory for an employer. We are fools to make this a point-of-contention over hiring illegal aliens.
chandrak - September 3, 2010 at 1:39 am
Maricopa County Community College District has the authority to verify whether a candidate is authorized to work in the United States. The Department of Justice is biased against Arizona.
margray - September 3, 2010 at 6:06 pm
It is beginning to seem to me that determining whether someone is authorized to work in the US can be very complicated. It also seems to me that if someone in the HR department is not completely up to date on the exact rules for hiring non-citizens, that it would be easy to make a mistake. I thank the number 9 poster for giving more information about this. I didn’t know any of that.OK, the next question is, isn’t a lawsuit by the Justice Department going overboard here? It seems like someone in HR just needed more help in determining what was necessary for hiring a non-citizen.
balough - September 7, 2010 at 9:43 am
This is not about illegal aliens. It is about nonimmigrant aliens who are allowed to work legally. The documentation required to work varies with the nonimmigrant class of admission. F-1 students are allowed to work on-campus without any documentation other than a Form I-20