H/t AllahP. Captain’s Quarters points to a piece in the Arizona Republic, which reports that illegal aliens are selling off their stuff and leaving the state. Why? Because of the new immigration laws.
Undocumented immigrants are starting to leave Arizona because of the new employer-sanctions law.
The state’s strong economy has been a magnet for illegal immigrants for years. But a growing number are pulling up stakes out of fear they will be jobless come Jan. 1, when the law takes effect. The departures are drawing cheers from immigration hard-liners and alarm from business owners already seeing a drop in sales.
It’s impossible to count how many undocumented immigrants have fled because of the new law. But based on interviews with undocumented immigrants, immigrant advocates, community leaders and real-estate agents, at least several hundred have left since Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano signed the bill on July 2. There are an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona.
Some are moving to other states, where they think they will have an easier time getting jobs. Others are returning to Mexico, selling their effects and putting their houses on the market.
The number departing is expected to mushroom as the Jan. 1 deadline draws closer. After that, the law will require employers to verify the employment eligibility of their workers through a federal database.
Emphasis mine. Imagine that. If you actually enforce our laws, and really get serious about illegal immigration, they leave on their own. Who’da thunk it? If this was Bush’s attempt to show enforcement as evil, it’s failing miserably. Ed writes:
The immigration hard-liners appear to have proven one of their main arguments. Illegal immigrants who face a loss of employment due to strict employer sanctions will move elsewhere, and rather quickly.
Golly gee. Someone should’ve told the open-borders lobby that earlier. Oh, wait. We did.
by Stephan Tawney on Mon, Aug 27, 2007