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.”
If this doesn’t prove the wisdom of enforcing our
nation’s illegal immigration laws, I don’t know what will. If we
stop rolling out the red carpet for illegals, they will leave on their own.
The problem will become more manageable. It’s clearly working in Arizona. And
it will work on a national basis if we finally address the problem in a common
sense manner – by enforcing the law.
Click here
to read about Judicial Watch’s nationwide campaign to enforce our
nation’s immigration laws.