CCP: Impacts of immigration policy already being felt

Will the newly approved immigration law have enough teeth to stop illegal workers from working? And, if it does, will it have negative effects by freeing up jobs no one else wants?

Those are the questions Charleston City Paper set out to tackle. All-in-all the paper seems skeptical that the new law does much to fight the problem and seems to suggest that if we do lose our illegal workers, not only could we have jobs that no one wants but other jobs could disappear as there's no one working in the proverbial kitchen.

The article is certainly a fragment in the ongoing debate, but it does point out how the new laws will likely target the illegal employees more than those who choose to employ them (though, this article at The Post and Courier would seem to say otherwise).

"A Day Without a Mexican" took a tongue-in-cheek approach to what life would be like without illegal immigrants. The reality is, of course, much more complicated.

Irregardless, they go on to say how illegal immigrants are already leaving Beaufort County, which has already implemented its own set of tougher laws, as has Arizona.
Last month, Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner, who has four deputies trained by federal immigration agents, warned business owners that they should be careful what they wish for, according to The Beaufort Gazette. Recent news reports in the area have highlighted a downturn in the immigrant population.

So the question becomes: If the laws do work, what will things be like with no illegal workers?

At first glance, the conclusion is that a plethora of jobs would open up for those South Carolinians in desperate need of work. But the real question is, would anyone do those jobs for the rate that is available? And if no one does them wold wages need to be inflated so that it would be harder for South Carolina businesses to compete? The Charleston City Paper does its best to look at what the local barometers are saying.

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