Business groups have gone to court and lobbied state legislatures, the newspaper said. They have even adopted the tactic of ballot initiatives.

In Arizona, the state legislature this year amended a law passed last year that would revoke the licenses of businesses caught twice with illegal immigrants on the payroll. Legislators agreed to revise the law to ensure it only applies to recent hires.

Business groups have gathered thousands of signatures for a ballot initiative for further easing of the law.

A new national organization unites state and local groups friendly to immigrants, or at least to hiring them.

"These employers are now starting to realize that nobody is in a better position than they are to make the case that they do need the workers and they do want to be on the right side of the law," said Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, which bills itself as a federation of pro-immigration business coalitions.