Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Arizona as a Lab For Immigration Policy

NYT reports precipitous drops in the Latino population in Arizona. Immigrants are being driven out by a softening economy and a new set of draconian laws against employing illegal workers:
“It is very difficult to separate the economic reality in Arizona from the effects of the laws because the economy is tanking and construction is drying up,” said Frank Pierson, lead organizer of the Arizona Interfaith Network, which advocates for immigrants’ rights and other causes. But the combination of factors creates “ a disincentive to stay in the state.”
I'm not a huge fan of "solving" the illegal immigration problem but it sure helps to have a state that's implemented policies that will actually cause migration pattern changes. We'll get to see what's likely to happen before these policies spread nationally. This is a nice, conservative approach to examining the problem.

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