Colorado lawmakers are now considering plans that could require employers to verify whether their workers are in the country legally or else lose the right to deduct their salaries on their taxes.

Enacting such a requirement without providing a way to immediately check applicants?EUR??,,????'??? status is causing concern for some businesses. Other critics worry about ethnic discrimination and a loss of workers to states without the same requirements.

?EUR??,,????'??You can?EUR??,,????'???t just put it on the back of employers when the government doesn?EUR??,,????'???t have a system in place to verify whether documents are fraudulent,?EUR??,,????'?? said Chuck Berry, president of the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry.

Berry said many business owners agree sanctions are in order for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Yet verifying citizenship status isn?EUR??,,????'???t easy.

Employers are advised not to dismiss someone based on an incorrect Social Security number ?EUR??,,????'??? leaving firms in a bind for keeping that worker on the payroll, said Sharon Harris, executive director of the Colorado Nursery and Greenhouse Association.

?EUR??,,????'??We want secure borders. We also want to have a documented work force that is sustainable,?EUR??,,????'?? Harris said. ?EUR??,,????'??This is a federal issue. We really don?EUR??,,????'???t believe this is something the states need to be spending time and taxpayer money on.?EUR??,,????'??

The Association of Landscape Contractors of Colorado also believes the issue is best left to the federal government.