Actually a lot of us Arizonans, including a lot of conservative Republican businessmen, would regret it if that happened "for reals". The local economy would take a huge hit. Like most border states, Arizona has always benefited from a limited number of illegals, in agricultural work, hard manual labor and the service industries, especially hotels and restaurants. That's why for decades folks here in the Sunbelt border states treated illegal immigration as no big deal ...until things started to get out of control in the '90s. Too many illegals came in, wages fell, resources got stretched thin, then the politicians started pumping the issue for their own benefit. You know... posturing, finger pointing, scape-goating, playing on peoples fears, trying to ride the wave of hysteria to certain re-election, without ever solving the problem.
Personally, I'd like to see some real, long-term immigration reform that both controls the borders and gives illegals a realistic path to earn legal status. That's why I support the "Dream Act" in principle. As a high school teacher in a school with a large number of Latinos, I see these kids every day. I never know exactly who is legal and who isn't, and I don't ask. But often even the legal kids, mostly citizens born here have a sibling, parent, or close relative who is not legal. And there is no way these folks can legalize their status.
Rather than see families ripped apart or hiding in fear, I'd like to see a real path by which illegals could do "what's right" and earn a legal status. Everybody keeps saying that they have "no objection to people coming here legally." So why are they against any reform that might make it possible for folks to legalize their status? After all, that's what the "Dream Act" is an attempt to do.
