Self deportation working in DC suburb

Washington Times:

Months after Prince William County began one of the country's toughest crackdowns on illegal immigrants, officials and residents report signs that substantial numbers of people have left the county, particularly from Hispanic neighborhoods.

Dave Whitlow, town manager of Dumfries, said officials started noticing the change a few months ago when they canvassed communities popular among Hispanic families and found roughly 165 residences vacant among 1,600 houses and town houses. Shopkeepers and teachers of English as a second language also have noticed a drop-off.

"We are having many more leaving," said Mr. Whitlow, who could not estimate what percentage of those leaving were in the United States illegally. "It's been just in the past few months."

In July, the Board of County Supervisors unanimously agreed to have the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) train six police officers and one resident for a Criminal Alien Unit.

The detail began enforcement March 1 and is assisting officers who find probable cause that a suspect in a crime is in the country illegally. Before then, officers were not authorized to make arrests for illegal immigration.

Board Chairman Corey A. Stewart said this week he was not surprised about signs that illegal immigrants were leaving.

"There's no question the police have had the effect," said Mr. Stewart, a Republican who is planning to run for lieutenant governor.

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This is another demonstration of the effect of self deportation and the wrong headedness of people like Barack Obama who claim that people who support tough immigration enforcement want to round up everyone and deport them. If we enforce the laws they will do it themselves saving them and the government money. Obama is using a straw man argument to support a position that would encourage more illegal conduct. He would be offering incentives for people to come here while ignoring the path to citizenship that already exist in the law.