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PHOENIX — A federal judge on Tuesday refused to block prosecutors from enforcing Arizona's employer sanctions law while foes ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn it.

Judge Neil Wake, who earlier this month ruled the statute is valid, said the potential hardships on employers and others forced to follow the law is "minimal," with only a small cost for the equipment required to run computer checks on the legal status of new workers.

Conversely, Wake said, putting the law on "hold" could financially damage the state.

The judge cited a study commissioned by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office by George Borjas, a professor of economic and social policy at Harvard University, which showed legal Arizona workers lose $1.4 billion a year because companies hire undocumented employees at lower costs.

Wake rejected studies proffered by employers challenging the law, including one by Judith Gans, immigration policy program manager at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona, which said the costs of illegal immigration are offset by the benefits.

Wake said such comparisons are inappropriate, adding that both Congress and the Legislature have specifically said the interests of those who are entitled to work here legally trump any benefits to those whose finances are improved by illegal immigration.

County attorneys had agreed not to prosecute any firm for violating the law until March 1 to give Wake a chance to rule on the lawsuit.