USA Today reports that weeks before Arizona's tough new immigration law goes into effect, requiring everyone to carry proof of citizenship, Latinos are leaving the state.
For example, in the Balsz Elementary School District, which is 75 percent Hispanic, 70 students recently left the school.
The New York Daily News reported that another school district, Alhambra, expected to lose as many as 300 students because of the new law.
Other school officials, business owners and residents are saying both legal and illegal Hispanics are leaving before the law goes into effect July 29.
A spokesperson for Governor Jan Brewer said it's hard to find precise numbers, but that he also has heard of more Hispanic leavings. "If that means that fewer people are breaking the law, that is absolutely an accomplishment," Paul Senseman said.
After a law was passed in 2007 punishing businesses for hiring illegal immigrants, about 100,000 immigrants left the state, the Daily News reported.
Most residents in Arizona support the law, the Examiner added in a story reporting the exodus. A June 9 Rasmussen survey reports that 56 percent of U.S. voters say their views on illegal immigration are closer to the thoughts of Brewer than to President Barack Obama.
Sources: USA Today, Daily News, Examiner
Photo: AFP, via Examiner
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