by David Safier
I've been reading lots of anecdotal reports about Hispanics fleeing Arizona because of SB1070. We won't know how significant the actual numbers are for awhile, or where the exodus may be headed (most people think they're moving to neighboring states, not going back to Mexico).
The best stat we're likely to get will be school enrollment numbers. If school numbers are down significantly in areas with lots of Hispanic families, that will tell the tale.
But here's a number we can go to the bank on, literally — the dropping number of legal Mexican visitors coming through the ports of entry.
Total cross-border visits into Arizona in the months after Gov. Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1070 fell 17 percent compared with the same period in 2009, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. Four days after Brewer signed SB 1070 on April 23, Mexico issued a warning to its citizens about travel in Arizona.
The drop-off amounts to about 12,500 fewer people entering Arizona daily.
I would think twice about coming here too, given the current anti-Hispanic climate in Arizona.
I was in the computer department at BestBuy on Broadway a few days ago. A Spanish-speaking saleswoman was helping a family there. The parking lot at the Broadway Target tends to have a large number of cars with Sonoran license plates, and the store also has bilingual salespeople to work with its Mexican customers.
I'm willing to bet those stores and others like them are taking a double hit — a combination of the state's economic downturn and the loss of revenue from Mexicans who are staying home.
Thank you Russell Pearce, Jan Brewer, Vic Williams, Al Melvin, Frank Antenori, Dave Gowan — just to name a few — for putting even more economic hurt on Southern Arizona when times are already hard enough without you making them worse.