The Department of Justice has set its sights on the Grand Canyon state once again. Several lawsuits have already been filed against Arizona by the Department of Justice – one regarding Senate Bill 1070 and another against Sheriff Joe Arpaio. A new lawsuit, following a year of investigation, was filed Aug. 30 against the Maricopa County Community College District for alleged discriminatory hiring practices that allegedly violated the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The alleged discriminatory practices came to light after Zainul Singaporewalla, a lawful permanent resident, was required to produce extra paperwork upon his job offer to be a part-time math teacher at Glendale Community College.
“For a period of time we gathered information from tax withholdings as well as [non-citizen’s] ability to work. It was the additional information on that form that is the subject of the investigation,” Tom Gariepy, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Community College District, said in an interview.
These alleged practices went beyond Singaporewalla. Approximately 247 non-citizens were hired and allegedly required to fill out the extra paperwork.
According to the lawsuit, Singaporewalla was required to fill out the Non-U.S. Citizen Employee Tax Data Form. Though that sounds innocent, the lawsuit states, “[the U.S. Citizen Employee Tax Data Form] document requirement was not intended for a tax-related purpose.”
After Singaporewalla produced a California driver’s license, Social Security card and a Department of Homeland Security form that proved he was here lawfully, he was required to fill out even more paperwork.
“He refused to fill out the paperwork,” Gariepy said. As a result the job offer was withdrawn.
The MCCCD could now face a penalty of a $1,100 fine for each of the 247 people that filled out this “necessary” paperwork.
“We did not intend to discriminate against foreign nationals, and we did not. All the people who filled out this form were hired,” Gariepy said.
Hired or not, accusations that MCCCD has violated the Immigration and Nationality Act deserve to be investigated. A section of the INA makes it illegal to treat authorized non-citizen workers differently than citizens in the hiring process. State law is no different. Rob Price, also a spokesman for MCCCD, said he was not aware of any difference between federal and state hiring laws.
While this press and the potential fines are a public nightmare for our community college system, an investigation is warranted even if college officials do not believe so.
“We think [the lawsuit] is ill-founded. We are very disappointed that the department has decided to sue. It all involves an error in paperwork that was ended right after it was discovered,” Gariepy said.
While the community college took immediate steps to correct the problem, the public should take civil rights violation claims more seriously. If the community colleges have to pay the full fine allotted under current law, it would be a pretty hefty price tag — $271,700 to be exact.
Civil rights are among the most important issues in this country, and this country has made large strides in ensuring that all citizens have an equal opportunity. We must take every measure we can to keep it that way.
Andrew can be reached at andrew.hedlund@asu.edu
