Can Sheriff's Mexican Ex-Lover Run a U.S. Business?

The latest Arizona kerfuffle over immigration and social politics has some serious implications in the business world.

Jose Orozco—the man who accused Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu of threatening to deport him if he went public about the two men’s love affair—has been running a business in the United States under a tourist visa instead of a business visa. Babeu has acknowledged that he is gay and had an affair with Orozco, but has denied any threats of deportation. Amid the furor, he lost his position as Arizona chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

To get to business, though, Orozco told CNN he’s in Arizona legally on a 10-year tourist visa and that he’s allowed under the terms of the visa to run a business, Website Results, LLC.

That explanation of his status and his business smells more than a little fishy, given the ease with which Orozco claims to be jumping back and forth over the border and running a business to boot. If such behavior is OK for Orozco, why wouldn’t it be for thousands of other foreign-born entrepreneurs?

The answer is: It very likely isn’t OK for Orozco or anybody else, unless he misstated his visa status in the CNN interview.

The Arizona Daily Star tracked down expert immigration attorney Mo Goldman of Tuscon, who had this explanation for the kind of visa Orozco claims to have:

A border-crossing card is valid for 10 years, but permits a holder to stay in the country only up to 30 days. The holder must remain in the border zone, which does not stretch as far north as Phoenix, Goldman said.

If the person fills out an I-94 form and is permitted into the country with a 10-year tourist visa, the holder can stay up to six months at a time, but then must return to their country of origin. Neither visa permits the holder to work while in the country.

Whether Orozco’s visa is valid is relevant in a big way to startups, because allowing foreign workers and entrepreneurs is one of the biggest issues for those born elsewhere who want to build companies in the United States—and for those who fund startups.

The startup community has made making it easier for foreign startup leaders to stay in the United States a major part of its legislative agenda.

Visas for startup founders and workers are such a hot-button issue that the Obama administration’s top immigration official, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Director Alejandro Mayorkas, was dispatched to Silicon Valley Wednesday to deliver the word that Obama, at least, wants to let more immigrant entrepreneurs into the country.

As CBS reports, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Michael Moritz, born in Wales, reeled off the names of important entrepreneurs who came to the United States from elsewhere. Among Moritz’s list: Yahoo founder Jerry Yang and Google cofounder Sergey Brin.

“Take immigrants out of Silicon Valley and you have no Silicon Valley," he said.

As for Orozco, he may be one immigrant entrepreneur who’s found a way to make the system work for him. That seems unlikely. But his situation does point to the need for a rational policy of letting foreign entrepreneurs create businesses and wealth here.

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Kent Bernhard Jr. is News Editor of Portfolio.com