ImmigrationUndocumented immigrants flee Arizona ahead of harsh law going into effect

In transit outside Phoenix // Source: timessquaregossip.com

The controversial new immigration law in Arizona will not officially be implemented for a month, but droves of legal and illegal immigrants already are starting to leave the state, hurting local stores and companies.

“It’s basically running us out of business,” Rollie Rankin, an apartment building owner, told The Arizona Republic. Rankin, 62, said the majority of his renters are from Mexico, though he does not inquire about their immigration status. “People are scared,” he added. “They have had enough of the crackdown. Back in the old days, it was a wink and a nod; there was tacit approval they were here. Now it’s an open attack.”

He said seven families have moved from his apartments in Surprise, Arizona, a fast-growing city with a population of about 90,000, since Governor Jan Brewer signed the bill in late April.

New York Daily News’s Aliyah Shahid writes that the legislation makes it illegal to be in the state without documentation. It also requires police to question people about their immigration status if the cops have “reasonable suspicion.”

Some point to the recent departures as a sign that the new law is working and saving the state money because taxpayers will not have to pay for schools or social services.

Others say the exodus, in a state in which one in three people is Latino, will hurt schools, businesses, and neighborhoods. Experts worry there could be a loss of sales tax and business, particularly where immigrants shop.

Shahid notes that the policy has support in Arizona, where there is concern that the federal government is not doing enough to stop the surge of illegal Mexican migrants.

Critics say the law could lead to widespread discrimination and racial profiling. Kim Nuu, a manager of a 99-cent store in Surprise, said sales have been slow and he will have to close the business in December. Most of his customers are Latino immigrants. “We aren’t making enough money to pay rent,” he said.

Luis Sanchez and Marlen Ramirez, undocumented immigrants from Mexico living in Arizona, took their three American children and moved to Pennsylvania this month. Sanchez, a gardener and landscaper, said he got his job using fake identification but paid income and sales taxes. He thinks it will be difficult to find someone to do the work he previously did, making $9.80 an hour.

“This work doesn’t pay very well, and it’s very hard work. This is the kind of work that almost all the undocumented do because no one else wants to do it,” Sanchez said. “They say that we are taking away jobs, but it’s a lie. These jobs doing yard work - no one wants to do them.”