For those proponents of the recently shelved Senate Immigration bill, who constantly presented the public with the false choice of either deporting 12 million illegals or accepting their comprehensive solution, here is a salient quote from the article concerning the impact Colorado’s recent legislation has had on the tide of illegal immigration to that state:

“The public perception, however, is that the legislation has changed the immigration climate in Colorado. Word circulated through Spanish-language radio that Colorado wasn’t the place for migrant workers to locate. With 49 states to choose from, why would an immigrant without proper papers want to come to the place with what sponsors were calling “the toughest piece of legislation in the country”? That sense was reinforced by a federal immigration raid of a Swift & Co. meat-packing plant in Greeley, Colorado, last December, in which more than 250 workers were arrested. The consensus among those who follow the subject is that there are fewer illegal immigrants coming to Colorado now than before the law was enacted.”

This phenomenon is called self-deportation, and if more states follow suit, watch for the number of those in “the shadows” to diminish considerably.