The impact of the new law is being felt on many levels. Hispanic employees are leaving the state in droves to return to their country of origin or to other states without such draconian laws. The exodus has been dubbed “Hispanic Panic.” Companies are being forced to raise wages to try to attract a small and shrinking pool of talented and prized workers. Hispanic workers who are in the United States legally, but who may have spouses or other relatives without legal status are leaving the state because of the fear of direct or indirect deportation consequences.
According to an immigration rights activist in Phoenix: "The fear is not only at the worker level, it's at the employer level. I've never seen that before in my life." He also predicted that the skilled Hispanic workers who stay will be laid off and paid in cash in a growing black market or underground economy. the fear factor can be seen in the example of the crew chief for a landscape firm who has legal status, but whose wife does not. He is packing up his family and leaving, including three children who were born in the US and have legal status.
The president of a construction company expressed regret at laying off ten Hispanic employees, some of whom were his best employees. But he said he could not risk losing his license. Even a suspension during an investigation during a competitive bidding process could cripple the company economically, regardless of the ultimate investigation results. Such companies report searching hard for replacement workers among American vets and ex-convicts seeking to re-enter the labor market. While hiring unskilled vets may have economic and political appeal and hiring ex-convicts more dubious merit, in either case the companies lose by having to replace skilled and reliable workers with less skilled and unproven workers. Businesses are also fearful of exposure to attacks from competitors who might seek economic advantage by reporting alleged violations of the law in order to disrupt their operations.
The effects of this environment of fear are widespread. Real estate agents report calls for advice from homeowners who want to know what to do with their homes as a result of lost jobs and income or simply because of the perceived need to flee a hostile state. These families are calculating the risks and the costs of simply abandoning their homes and departing, allowing the homes to fall into foreclosure and worsening that aspect of the state economy.
In some heavily Hispanic areas of Phoenix, three of four students have left the school and school attendance overall has dropped, despite assurances that officials will not be allowed into the schools to seize them. Thus it is clear that the atmosphere of fear has permeated all age groups from adults to school children.
In the wake of the George W. Bush administration’s cultivated climate of fear, based primarily upon falsehoods and appeals ethnically and religiously based prejudices, the question whether John McCain and the “Arizona model” is something that this country can afford or indeed can survive. Whatever his current rhetoric may be out on the presidential campaign trail, it should be noted that he does not seem to be aggressively and publicly attacking this unfortunate and misguided legislation. Even those in Arizona who affirm that some change was needed to address the illegal immigration issue reject this law that seems only designed to damage the business and economic interests of the state. Aside from the economic impact from the exodus of skilled workers to Nevada and other nearby states, the law squarely places Arizona in the limelight as a bastion of racial purity protectors or malicious bigots.
Quite obviously, if the purported reason for the measure, to protect “American” jobs were valid, there would be a wave of qualified candidates in Arizona or from other states lining up to take the place of the Hispanic workers fleeing Arizona's hostile ethnic environment. But the business owners report that this clearly is not the case, as they cry out for skilled workers to do the available work. This seems yet another example of unfounded fears and racial prejudices being inflamed by politicians. As we look forward then, inquiring minds should be asking what type of leadership can be expected from Arizona Senator John McCain, should his quest for the White House be successful. Does America really want or need a continuation of a policy and mindset that, unlike Philadelphia's motto (The City of “Brotherly Love”) will brand the United States as the land of “brotherly jealousy, suspicion and hatred?”
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