Illegal Immigrants Leaving Arizona in Droves

Arizona will implement the one of the the toughest immigration laws in the country come October. That law would pull the business license of a business owner who employs illegals, ten days for the first offense and permanently for the second.

With that law on the horizon, illegals are packing up, selling their property and heading elsewhere. My guess is not back to Mexico but probably to Texas, California or New Mexico:

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.

It will be interesting to see how this effects the Arizona economy, unemployment rate and overall job market. I imagine the economy will take a short-term hit as employers are forced to pay legal immigrants and citizens more but the market tends to settle those things out. The true numbers to watch will be the ones that how much the state saves in health care costs and other costs associated. I would imagine schools will be less populated but the savings associated with that will tougher to calculate.

The success or failure of this bill is going to have a strong ripple effect as to where the nation as a whole goes. It's interesting to note that this is happening in John McCain's state, so evidently he was going against the wishes of his constituents by supporting the shamnesty bill.

Captain Ed has more.

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