12/27/2007: Security News Brief: Arizona's Crackdown on ILLEGALS
working: All Eyes Watching:

Arizona's get-tough approach on illegal immigration is being watched
closely around the nation, and here in Washington, by federal
immigration enforcement officials, policymakers, lawmakers immigration
advocates and opponents, just about anyone with any interest in the
issue.

What they're seeing so far is that in advance of a new Arizona law
cracking down on the hiring of illegal immigrants that is set to take
effect Jan. 1, employers are firing undocumented workers and illegal
residents are also leaving the state, some saying they're departing
for good.

The Arizona Republic, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press
and others, have all produced stories recently looking at what's
occuring in Arizona.

The Republic Story by reporter Daniel González, which ran earlier this
week, starts this way:

NOGALES, Sonora - It's a common scene this time of year: streams
of overloaded cars, pickups and vans with U.S. license plates crossing
into Mexico for the holidays.

Most are filled with Hispanic families from Arizona and other
states on their way to visit relatives south of the border for a few
weeks before heading back to the U.S. But this year, the holiday
travelers are being joined by scores of families such as Jorge and
Liliana Franco, who are driving to Mexico not to visit but to stay -
permanently.

Congress' failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform,
immigration crackdowns, Arizona's new employer-sanctions law and a
sluggish economy have combined to create a climate that undocumented
families such as the Francos no longer find hospitable.

The number returning to Mexico is difficult to calculate, but
there is no question that many families are leaving, according to
Mexican government officials, local community leaders and immigrants
themselves.

"The situation in Arizona has become very tough," Jorge said
minutes after driving into a Mexican immigration and customs
checkpoint south of the border on Mexico 15.

Dozens of immigrants are leaving the U.S. daily, and even more are
expected to leave once the sanctions law takes effect in January,
provided the law survives a last-minute legal challenge, said Rosendo
Hernandez, president of the advocacy group Immigrants Without Borders.

"If people can't find work, they won't be able to pay their bills,
so they will leave," Hernandez said.

The Associated Press had its own version of this story today.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal had a story last week by Miriam
Jordan about business response to the new law.

PHOENIX - Arizona businesses are firing Hispanic immigrants,
moving operations to Mexico and freezing expansion plans ahead of a
new law that cracks down on employers who hire undocumented workers.

The law, set to take effect on Jan. 1, thrusts Arizona into the
heart of the national debate on illegal immigration, which has become
a hot topic on the presidential campaign trail. Republican candidates,
in particular, have been battling to show how tough they are on the
issue.

Arizona's law, believed to be the strictest in the nation, is
shaping up as a test of how employers will react when faced with real
sanctions for hiring undocumented labor. It is being closely watched
by businesses across the country. While proponents say the crackdown
will save the state money on services for illegal immigrants, some
businesspeople fear Arizona's economic growth may be at risk.

As the AP story indicates, some of the departing illegal residents
could be "trying their luck in other states" which is likely.

There are plenty of other states for them to try since no other state
has yet gone as far as Arizona, essentially making it a state crime
for any employer to knowingly keep an illegal immigrant on the
payroll. According to this Stateline.org article, a few states --
Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Tennessee, Texas and West
Virginia--have laws on the books that prevent state contractors from
employing undocumented workers.

The manner in which many states have decided to crack down on illegal
immigration is currently one of the most fascinating trends and
exercises in public policy in the U.S.

States have long been called the laboratories of democracy because of
their cutting-edge role in trying out new policy initiatives that,
when found effective, are expanded to other states and sometimes
nationally as the federal government adopts them.

(The Stateline.org article does an exhaustive job of describing who's
doing what on the state level.)

Of course, some states, like Illinois, New York and California haven't
been inclined to crack down, just the opposite. Illinois lawmakers,
for instance, passed a law banning in-state employers from checking
their employees' legal work status against a federal database. The
state and the federal government recently agreed the state wouldn't
enforce the law immediately, letting a Homeland Security Department
lawsuit against Illinois work its way through the federal courts.

But the states that are enacting the anti-immigration legislation
appear to have the momentum on their side.

And that momentum may become so forceful that we eventually see a
defacto national program of immigration enforcement that will force
the federal government to eventually act to acknowledge that new
reality.
Source: Morning Security News Brief via Security News Wire-The Swamp