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States will continue to enact their own immigration and border security measures unless and until Congress steps in, Gov. Janet Napolitano warned Wednesday.

Napolitano, in Washington to speak at the National Press Club, said any national immigration reform measure likely will have provisions pre-empting states from enacting their own laws on the same subject. And that, she said, could make different state laws superfluous, including one she is weighing that would sanction companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers.

But the governor noted in an interview that the draft immigration bill being debated in the U.S. Senate is "a moving target." And even if it gains approval there, its future in the House is questionable.

"In the absence of strong federal legislation, every state is going to go its own direction on a whole host of elements involved with comprehensive immigration," Napolitano said.

That frustration, she said, is what is leading to bills on employer sanctions.

Most recently, Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry signed a new law last month that, among other things, fines companies that hire people who entered the country illegally.

The measure on Napolitano's desk could suspend the state business license for up to 10 days for any company that knowingly hires an undocumented worker. A second violation in three years would put the firm out of business entirely in Arizona.

The governor would not say Wednesday what she will do with that legislation, which she must sign or veto by the end of the day Monday or it becomes law automatically. But she said what is happening in Washington won't be a factor in her decision.

"My evaluation of the bill on my desk is independent of what Congress does because, timing-wise, they will not have acted or completed acting before I must act," Napolitano said.

Napolitano also said she is aware a more severe version of the legislation is being circulated as an initiative.

That measure, which would go on the 2008 ballot, takes the business license of companies for even once knowingly hiring undocumented workers. She said that's "relevant" to whether she will sign or veto the measure.

"But it's not a dominant relevant," she said. "It's just another factor I need to take into account."

Napolitano said the other way some states are trying to address the problem is by making state law violations out of being in this country illegally.

Arizona lawmakers approved such a measure last year, allowing police to arrest illegal immigrants on charges of trespass.

Napolitano vetoed the idea, saying police departments did not want that authority — or that responsibility.