Should employers get ready for a thicket of state immigration laws that don’t offer comprehensive solutions, but instead burden and punish employers? Maybe, according to an analysis by the respected public affairs, communications and research firm Conkling, Fiskum & McCormick:

A federal court rebuffed a legal challenge of Arizona’s controversial immigration law, which employers and migrant worker advocates fear could serve as an invitation to other states to enact similar legislation.

Plaintiffs claimed the Arizona statute, which permits state courts to suspend or revoke business licenses of employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers, violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The federal court disagreed, saying the act involves licensing businesses, which is in the purview of states.

Any person in Arizona can file a complaint about an employer, which district attorneys are obliged to pursue. Employers can gain some protection if they use the E-Verify system operated jointly by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to vet new hires. However, employers say results from the E-Verify system are not always reliable and the system cannot be used until someone is actually employed.

Read the entire entry on CFM’s Web site. You can read more on the court decision and its implications here (AP), here (Reuters) and here (Arizona Republic).