I hate to say “I told you so…”

Actually, that’s not true. I very much enjoy saing “I told you so,” and do not pass up any chance to do so. The latest opportunity has been presented by columnist Ruben Navarrette.

Earlier this year I wrote about Navarrette’s ignorant claim that illegal immigrants would not willingly leave Arizona because of the state’s new anti-illegal-immigrant laws that went into effect at the beginning of the year. As you might recall, Navarrette ignored the words of an Arizona state legislator, an immigration lawyer, and an economic analyst and based his assertion on “a couple of illegal immigrants” that he had spoken to.

Well, yesterday the Los Angeles Times showed just what Ruben Navarrette’s “paid opinion” is really worth. It can be described in 2 words—and the first one is “jack.”

(H/T: Michelle Malkin)

Arizona slams door on illegal immigrants

PHOENIX — As it has become the favorite entry point for undocumented migrants trying to sneak into the United States, Arizona has become a laboratory for whether a state can single-handedly combat illegal immigration.
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The campaign has had an effect: Illegal immigrants complain it’s impossible to find good work and are leaving the state.
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No one knows how many immigrants have left the state, and the most recent government figures show Arizona growing robustly — as of July, Maricopa was the fastest-growing county in the nation.
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The biggest effect has come from the new employer sanctions law, which took effect in January.
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Any business caught hiring illegal immigrants is put on probation. If it is caught doing the same thing again, the state revokes its business license.
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The law did what it was supposed to with Jorge Hernandez, a 32-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico. He had been working in a Phoenix tire shop for years when in December his bosses told him they’d have to let him go because of the new law. Now he struggles to support his family by working as a day laborer and is thinking of leaving.
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Hernandez dreams of moving to New Mexico, where friends have told him the economy is stronger and sentiment against illegal immigrants weaker. “They don’t have E-Verify there,” he said in Spanish.

As I said before, it’s a good thing Navarrette doesn’t mind being wrong, because it happens an awful lot. It’s just a shame the idiots who pay for his opinion don’t see that.