Self deportation at work in Arizona

Kris Kobach:

ON Jan. 1, Arizona became the first state to require all employers to confirm workers' legal status via the federal "E-Verify" system. Having survived a federal court challenge last Thursday, the law promises to transform the immigration crisis in America.

After just six weeks, Arizona's system is already working: Newspapers in the state report that illegals are self-deporting by the thousands. Apartment complexes in Phoenix and Tucson confirm that thousands of tenants have skipped town. Many are returning across the border to Mexico.

This success is proof that attrition through enforcement works. The premise is straightforward: The way to solve our illegal-immigration problem is to ratchet up enforcement while making it more difficult for employers to hire illegals.

Illegal aliens are rational people. If their chance of being able to work illegally goes down, while the chance of getting detained goes up, at some point the only sensible thing to do is go home.

E-Verify is free and easy to use. The employer simply types in the employee's name, date of birth and Social Security number (or other work-authorization number). He gets an answer back from the government in seconds.

More than 20,000 businesses nationwide were using E-Verify voluntarily before Jan. 1. Now Arizona's 145,000 businesses are obliged to join their ranks.

Illegals know that E-Verify makes it impossible for them to fabricate Social Security numbers and use fade IDs to obtain jobs. And when the jobs dry up, they leave.

But Arizona isn't the only compelling proof that attrition through enforcement works. We have another case study: the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System.

The US Justice Department implemented the program back in 2002-03, in the wake of 9/11. It required all aliens from al Qaeda-associated countries to report to INS offices to provide fingerprints and register. The non-compliant faced stiff penalties.

Of the nations concerned, Pakistan had the largest number of nationals in the US. NSEERS led directly to the deportation of some 1,500 illegal-alien Pakistanis - and also prompted about 15,000 illegals to self-deport.

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Attrition by enforcement has never been tried at the national level. Instead, the strategy for the last decade has been "triage": Deport or incarcerate alien criminals, and shut down smugglers - but rarely enforce the law against garden-variety illegals.

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This is the broken window theory at work again. It is also the most logical answer to the failure of the immigration enforcement system. The people are coming here for work. If they cannot get it they will go home. An extension of the E-verify program should also be in place for those seeking government services. Once we get control of the the migration we can open opportunities for work permits on a temporary basis for those willing to abide by the law.