Local US immigration laws harm business

---

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters): A crackdown by scores of US states and municipalities on illegal immigration threatens the competitiveness of businesses across the country, a US Chamber of Commerce report said yesterday.
The report looked at more than 1,500 measures proposed throughout the United States. Of these, more than 240 have become law in 46 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
State lawmakers and some employers told a news conference that the laws-some of which target services sought by illegal immigrants and others the people hiring them-amount to a confusing patchwork that would prove unworkable for smaller businesses such as construction firms.
"What these state and local laws are requiring our builders to do, small business people, is to comply with the various immigration laws across all these counties," said Jerry Howard, executive vice president of the National Association of Home Builders. "It's very, very difficult. It literally can't be done."
The Chamber of Commerce report follows a study by the National Conference of State Legislatures last month that showed states came up with more than twice the number of immigration-related bills this year compared with last year.
Rep Sharon Tomiko Santos, a Democrat in the Washington State House of Representatives, argued that a lack of federal action on immigration had also affected large firms.
She said software giant Microsoft decided to move one of its units to British Columbia, Canada, after an effort to legalise an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants and create a temporary worker programme sought by business groups failed in the US Senate in June.