The evidence is mounting: An Arizona law requiring employers to verify legal residency of job applicants is deterring illegal aliens from coming and staying in the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe find that an Arizona law reducing employment opportunities for unauthorized migrants decreased emigration from and increased return migration to Mexican source regions with strong initial ties to Arizona,\u201d concluded researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Colorado-Boulder<\/a>.<\/p>\n The study examined the impact of the Legal Arizona Workers Act<\/a>, which took effect January 2008. It requires employers in Arizona to use E-Verify<\/a>, the federal online system that verifies a worker\u2019s identity and authorization to work in the U.S.<\/p>\n Analyzing Mexican ID card (<\/em>matricula consulare<\/a><\/em>)<\/em> data, researchers found the rate of illegal immigrants returning to Mexico from Arizona nearly quadrupled from 2005 to 2010.<\/p>\n The increases were especially large for Mexican states closest to Arizona. Sonora, for example, saw a 30 percent increase \u00a0in the number of migrants returning compared to more distant locales.<\/p>\n The study dovetails with other research showing the influx of illegal aliens fell by almost 50 percent<\/a> in the seven U.S. states with universal E-Verify laws.<\/p>\n Brian Cadena, associate professor of economics at the University of Colorado and co-author of the Arizona study, noted a\u00a0Congressional Budget Office<\/a>\u00a0estimate that E-Verify could be implemented nationwide for $1.3 billion over 10 years. That would be a drop in the bucket compared to the\u00a0$135 billion<\/a>\u00a0that illegal immigration costs the U.S. annually.