Arizona Maybe?

Unemployed, like the dry heat? Heard of the movie Starman?  Maybe you want to get John McCain out of the Senate? Pay attention.  Arizona just passed anti illegal immigration legislation so things could get interesting.  The bill allows the police to arrest illegals, eliminates sanctuary cities, and allows citizens who believe the law is being ignored to sue their municipalities.  It's the toughest law of its kind in the country.  It enforces the immigration law by putting the ill back in illegal.  So what are the ramifications? (No not the whiny liberal, Boo-hoo Hampshire "you can't do that you racist" ramifications, the actual socio-economic shifts.)

 

We can't get into all of them, like changes in crime or the burdens on public services, but I happen to have a friend who lives in Arizona and I asked him about the law.  He said that if passed it could damage the state economy.  Why?  To keep it simple, according to him, there are plenty of workers and consumers in Arizona who would be encouraged to leave, or based on the new law be removed from the US employment/consumer relationship, and eventually escorted out of the country.  And while the illegals do send a good deal of money back over the border, they spend a lot of that money on the local economy.  Depending on how quickly the enforcement is carried out, he believes it could have an impact on much of the legitimate business that takes place.  Oh yeah, and I guess there are loads of jobs Americans really won't do in Arizona.

 

It sounded a bit dramatic but the source is reliable.  If he thinks it can pose a problem I believe him.  But I still think that Arizona should proceed.  Illegal is illegal.  And if this discourages more illegal entrants or encourages people to get legal, that's a good thing.  

Given the brashness of the illegal community I have to wonder if we can even expect an exodus in the wake of the signing.   Law enforcement, for their part,  will have to work their way systematically through the process, starting with the most obvious and least socially beneficial border thieves they encounter  Then there will be lawsuits, challenges, and the obstructionist anti-states rights Obama administration.  Rumor has it congress is ready to drop everything to push through amnesty legislation, so there is that to contend with.  And the liberals will be squawking so Arizona will have to fight off the noise from the declining career of George Lopez (among others) who used to be funny but has converted a successful career into a bad late night show and a declining path to obscurity with no Air America to fall back on.

So while the illegal population moves over to New Mexico, California, and Texas, let's get back to my opening question.  Unemployed?  Need a job?  Looking for a change?  Arizona Maybe?

 

I think they'll be hiring?