More than 1,100 Arizona employers have enrolled in a federal program to screen out undocumented workers, with 700 enrolling since July, officials said.

Thousands more are waiting to see if a state employer-sanctions law Gov. Janet Napolitano signed July 2 will survive a legal challenge.

The law requires every Arizona employer to enroll in the federal E-Verify program, formerly called the Basic Pilot Program, by Jan. 1 or risk losing its business license if caught employing an undocumented worker, The Arizona Republic reported.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said 1,117 Arizona employers were registered for the program as of Friday.

This is more than double the 433 participants when the law was signed, but a fraction of the more than Arizona's 150,000 employers, the newspaper said.

Immigration lawyers are asking employers not to enroll until December, when a federal judge may rule on the law's legality.

If the judge does not rule by then, the lawyers will encourage employers to sign up en masse to test the program, the newspaper said.

E-Verify has been stymied by errors and is not designed to screen out undocumented workers using stolen identities.

But it should be able to handle the rush, CIS spokeswoman Marie Sebrechts told the newspaper.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International


Publication date: 19 September 2007   

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