Economic Crisis Solves Illegal Immigrant Problem (They don't want to live here any more)

[mwb970]

Bad economy forcing immigrants to reconsider U.S.
(cnn.com, February 10, 2009)

Pedro Pablo slowly folds up his American flag blanket and stuffs it in his duffel bag. With it goes his American dream. "I left my family and lost four years with them. I will ask them to forgive me," he said.

Pablo is an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who came to the United States to support his wife and five sons back home. When he arrived, construction jobs were plentiful. Over the last year, he says, he's worked three days. He recently boarded a bus with a one-way ticket home, paid for by the Guatemalan consulate in Los Angeles. "I thought I could get ahead here. I regret coming."

Across the United States, tens of thousands of immigrants -- those here legally and illegally -- are facing a similar dilemma: Do they continue to search for jobs in a struggling U.S. economy or return home to an even bleaker economic situation?

"Things are very dire, and I think it's impacting those at the very bottom even more so," said Abel Valenzuela, a professor at the University of California-Los Angeles who has spent years studying day laborers.

Why didn't we think of this before? If people want to leave America rather than coming here, we will have no illegal immigrant problem, right? Mission accomplished!

[Phoenix-Risen]

1. It also goes to disprove the stereotype

of the illegal immigrants being a drain on society.

Just here in Arizona,

Business in Guadalupe, a heavily Hispanic area of Phoenix, are suffering at an even more alarming rate than the surrounding communities. Bashas grocery, our largest local grocery chain, is closing 2 of its Food City outlets, stores that cater to a mostly Hispanic clientèle. My son in laws family, people who have been here for generations, have closed their jewelry store in Chandler that relied on so-called illegals.

These are honest, hardworking people looking for a better life, and they are being impacted to a greater degree than most.