WHILE THERE IS STRONG ANTEDOTAL SUPPORT TO SUGGEST ATTRITION WORKS, IN CALIFORNIA THE POLITICIANS ONLY KEEP ADDING MORE WELFARE INCENTIVES FOR EVEN MORE ILLEGALS TO CROSS THE BORDER AND DEPRESS WAGES EVEN MORE TO THE BENEFIT OF THE POLITICIANS' PAYMASTERS.
THERE IS A REASON WHY LA RAZA, THE VIRULENTLY RACIST MEXICAN SUPREMACIST FASCIST PARTY IS FINANCED NOT ONLY BY YOUR TAX DOLLARS, BUT BY THE FORTUNE 500!
Mexicans are headed home to march on their own government and demand their own government benefits!
PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) Illegal immigrants in Arizona, frustrated with a flagging economy and tough new legislation cracking down on their employers, are returning to their home countries or trying their luck in other states.
For months, immigrants have taken a wait and see attitude toward the state's new employer sanctions law, which takes effect January 1. The voter approved legislation is an attempt to lessen the economic incentive for illegal immigrants in Arizona, the busiest crossing point along the U.S. Mexico border.
And by all appearances, it's starting to work.
"People are calling me telling me about their friend, their cousin, their neighbors they're moving back to Mexico," said Magdalena Schwartz, an immigrant rights activist and pastor at a Mesa church. "They don't want to live in fear, in terror."
Martin Herrera, a 40 year old illegal immigrant and masonry worker who lives in Camp Verde, 70 miles north of Phoenix, said he is planning to return to Mexico as soon as he ties up loose ends after living here for four years.
"I don't want to live here because of the new law and the oppressive environment," he said. "I'll be better in my country."
He called the employer sanctions law "absurd."
"Everybody here, legally or illegally, we are part of a motor that makes this country run," Herrera said. "Once we leave, the motor is going to start to slow down."
There's no way to know how many illegal immigrants are leaving Arizona, especially now with many returning home for normal holiday visits. But economists, immigration lawyers and people who work in the immigrant community agree it's happening.
State Rep. Russell Pearce of Mesa, the author of the employer sanctions law, said his intent was to drive illegal immigrants out of Arizona.
"I'm hoping they will self deport," Pearce said. "They broke the law. They're criminals."
Under the employer sanctions law, businesses found to have knowingly hired illegal workers will be subject to sanctions from probation to a 10 day suspension of their business licenses. A second violation would bring permanent revocation of the license.
Nancy Jo Merritt, an immigration lawyer who primarily represents employers, said her clients already have started to fire workers who can't prove they are in the country legally.
"Workers are being fired, of course," she said. "Nobody wants to find out later on that they've got somebody working for them who's not here legally."
When immigrants don't have jobs, they don't stick around, said Dawn McLaren, a research economist at Arizona State University who specializes in illegal immigration.
She said the flagging economy, particularly in the construction industry, also is contributing to an immigrant exodus.
"As the jobs dwindle and the environment becomes more unpleasant in more ways than one, you then decide what to do, and perhaps leaving looks like a good idea," she said. "And certainly that creates a problem, because as people leave, they take the jobs they created with them."
Pearce disagreed that the Arizona economy will suffer after illegal immigrants leave, saying there will be less crime, lower taxes, less congestion, smaller classroom sizes and shorter lines in emergency rooms.
"We have a free market. It'll adjust," he said. "Americans will be much better off."
He said he's not surprised illegal immigrants are leaving the state and predicts that more will go once the employer sanctions law takes effect next month.
"It's attrition by enforcement," he said. "As you make this an unfriendly state for lawbreakers, I'm hoping they will pick up and leave."
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July 3, 2007
Arizona Governor Signs Tough Bill on Hiring Illegal Immigrants
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Expressing frustration with the lack of a federal immigration law overhaul, Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona signed a bill yesterday providing what are thought to be the toughest state sanctions in the country against employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
Ms. Napolitano, a Democrat, called the bill flawed and suggested that the Arizona Legislature reconvene to repair problems with it, but she nevertheless moved forward “because Congress has failed miserably,” she wrote in a statement.
The bill requires employers to verify the legal status of their employees. If they fail to do so, they risk having their business licenses suspended. A second offense could result in the “business death penalty,” a permanent revocation of the state business license, effectively preventing a business from operating in the state.
Ms. Napolitano said she was concerned, among other problems, that under the law hospitals and nursing homes could end up shuttered because of hiring one illegal immigrant. She also said the bill did not provide enough money for the state attorney general to investigate complaints.
Although federal law already makes it a crime to hire illegal workers, supporters of the Arizona bill have said enforcement is lax.
Since 2005 there have been 30 tunnels under the border between Mexico and California.
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