As sanctions law looms, county checks its workers

SHERYL KORNMAN

Published: 12.29.2007

Pima County has begun a review of its own I-9 forms in the days before the state's new employer sanctions law takes effect Tuesday.

The county, which has 7,000 employees, is one of the biggest employers in the state, Pima County Chief Deputy County Attorney Amelia Craig Cramer said.

The I-9 form, required since the mid-1980s, requires a Social Security card and other documents to verify that an employee is eligible to work in the United States, regardless of nationality or citizenship.

The new Arizona law provides civil penalties for employers who "knowingly and willingly" hire "illegal aliens," noncitizens who don't have valid work documents.