For illegals, a spreading backlash

Lori Morrison, who manages a night shift at Jack-in-the-Box to help support her family, shares the worry about wages. And she adds another concern: the social-service burden on government. "Taxes have gone up," she says. "They're killing us."

But others see the dollars and cents differently. They say immigrants have traditionally filled the lowest rung, those often unwanted jobs, as they climb toward better lives.

"We understand that there's a problem with illegal immigration," says Keith Esplin, executive director of Potato Growers of Idaho. But he says there's a shortage of workers willing to do strenuous jobs in agriculture, construction, and landscaping.

He calls for expanded guest-worker program, a move supported by Sen. Larry Craig (R) of Idaho among others. And Mr. Esplin says it's unfair to place the onus on employers as gatekeepers: "An employer has no way of knowing when he gets a document from a worker whether it's false or real."

In the long run, some say the Real ID Act, passed by Congress this spring to ensure authenticity of driver's licenses, could help employers hire only legal residents.

In the short run, the fact is that relatively few employers are prosecuted for hiring illegal workers.

To some experts, current policies are simply out of step with labor-market reality.

"There is no legal channel for [millions of undocumented workers] to be here, yet they need to be here," says Christina DeConcini, director of policy at the National Immigration Forum in Washington. "We need their labor to do these jobs."

Citing the positions of key leaders in both parties, she says the political climate is shifting, nationally, toward this recognition.

But there's still plenty of fuel for local backlashes like the one Vasquez leads.

A new CBS poll finds that two-thirds of Americans oppose guest-worker permits for those who are now here illegally. And in a June Gallup survey, 70 percent said the US shouldn't make it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens.

Those opinions have hardened into action in some states and localities:

• In New Hampshire, police arrested alleged illegal immigrants using a state law on "criminal trespass." A judge is expected to rule soon on a bid to dismiss the charges.

• In Arizona, voters approved a November ballot measure denying some public benefits to illegal immigrants. This week a federal appeals court upheld the law.

• In 18 states from California to Minnesota and Tennessee, groups have sprung up with affiliations to the Minuteman Project, which coordinated a highly publicized volunteer effort earlier this year to patrol Arizona's border with Mexico.

Illegal immigrants as a percentage of all foreign-born residents. Mountain states of the West rank among the hightest. [Editor's note: The original version mischaracterized the percentage of illegal immigrants.]

Very highest (48% to 54%)

Arizona
Colorado
Idaho
North Carolina
Utah

Source: Pew Hispanic Center

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