Illegals Leaving Arizona

Fox News reported Friday that illegal aliens are leaving Arizona all on their own.

For the first time, Mexican officials in Arizona admit there is hard evidence illegal immigrants are preparing to leave the state because a new employer sanctions law is making it difficult, if not impossible, for them to keep a job.

Illegal immigrants are flooding the Mexican consulate in Phoenix for documents that will allow them to return to Mexico to enroll their children in school, the consul to Arizona, Carlos Flores Vizcarra, told FOX News. They are also requesting a document called "menaje de casa," which allows illegal immigrant families living in the U.S. to cross into Mexico without paying a tax on their furniture and personal belongings.

Vizcarra said 94 families asked the embassy for students transfer documents last month, compared to only three last year. He said several thousand immigrants asked for the tax document.

In a separate interview, Edmundo Hidalgo of the non-profit immigrant support group Chicanos Por La Causa, said 30,000 illegal immigrants said in a survey last week that they planned to leave Arizona sometime before March 1, when the state’s tough new employer sanctions law goes into effect. Under the law, employers can lose their business licenses if they hire undocumented workers.

When Congress and President Bush tried so hard last year to shove their Shamnesty legislation down our throats, one of their arguments was the ubiquitous straw man, "We can't deport 12 million people."

Yes, we could if we really wanted to. But that was never what opponents of amnesty were calling for. We wanted sanctions on employers that would make it hard for illegals to find work here. And when the sanctions would take effect, we expected the illegal aliens would self-deport.

Looks like we were right.

In the last month, for every five immigrants trying to enter the U.S., four were crossing back in the other direction, said Rosa Soto Moreno, who runs a Catholic shelter that provides food and lodging for illegal immigrants.

Soto said illegal immigrants crossing back into Mexico is a new phenomenon, and she attributes it to the new law.

Now that we've got Arizona headed in the right direction, let's try for California, New Mexico, and Texas next...