An Illegal Exodus...Back to Mexico?

By Tom Fitton
FrontPageMagazine.com | 2/20/2008

Previously I reported to you that a federal court in Missouri upheld a law penalizing businesses that hire illegals. Last week, more good news to report from Arizona:

A federal judge on Thursday upheld an Arizona law that prohibits businesses from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and yanks the business licenses of those that do. U.S. District Judge Neil Wake dismissed a lawsuit filed by business groups that argued that federal immigration law severely restricts Arizona's ability to punish people who knowingly employ illegal immigrants.

Under the law, a business would be placed on probation after one violation and would lose its business license permanently following a second violation.

You will recall that Judicial Watch has been extremely active in the state of Arizona, especially in Phoenix, where we have been working very closely with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on behalf of Phoenix businesses to enforce illegal immigration laws.

So, what impact is this work having on the illegal immigration population in Arizona? Check this out from The New York Times, reporting from Phoenix:

The signs of flight among Latino immigrants here are multiple: Families moving out of apartment complexes, schools reporting enrollment drops, business owners complaining about fewer clients.…a consensus is developing among economists, business people and immigration groups that the weakening economy coupled with recent curbs on illegal immigration are steering Hispanic immigrants out of the state.

The Times makes note of one illegal alien who is pressing her husband “to return to Mexico because of the difficulty in finding a job and what the family considers a growing anti-immigrant climate.”