Arizona law forcing illegal immigrants to hit road

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PHOENIX (AP) - Parents are pulling students out of school. Construction workers are abandoning their jobs. Families are hastily moving out of apartments.

Two months after Arizona enacted a law punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants, the law is already achieving one of its goals: Scores of immigrants are fleeing to other states or back to their Latin American homelands.

Gaby Espinoza, who has been unemployed since November, is among those affected. She gave up looking for a job because of the law and may have to return to Mexico.

Mrs. Espinoza's husband works here legally, but the law means that employers must ask her for papers, and she faces the daily fear of being deported.

"There's no work over there in Mexico," said Mrs. Espinoza, who has three U.S.-born children. "People there live so poorly. Here, my kids have health insurance and Medicare. Over there, there's nothing."

Jose Perez Leon, a laborer in Phoenix who wants to return to his home in Mexico City, said jobs were plentiful when he came to Arizona about 18 months ago, but it began to dry up in the last three months.

"I don't like it here anymore because of everything that's happening," he said. "There's no work."

The Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature and Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, approved the law last summer out of frustration with federal efforts to curb illegal immigration. It took effect Jan. 1.

The law suspends or revokes the business licenses of violators and was intended to reduce the economic incentive for immigrants to sneak across the border. Illegal immigrants account for an estimated one in 10 workers in Arizona, which is the nation's busiest gateway for illegal immigration.

Business groups have challenged the law. While awaiting a ruling, prosecutors agreed to hold off bringing cases to court until at least March 1.

Republican state Rep. Russell Pearce designed the law to reduce spending on education and health care for illegal immigrants and their families, and to encourage them to leave Arizona.

"Why in the world do [illegal immigrants] think they have a right to break the law? And we are the bad guys for insisting that the law be enforced? The public doesn't agree with that," Mr. Pearce said.

Many school officials believe the law has played a role in falling enrollment numbers. The state's struggling economy and slumping housing market are other factors. Several districts reported losing more than 100 students at least in part because of the law.

• Associated Press writer Terry Tang contributed to this report.