The law is bound to have a profound impact on communities like El Mirage, Ariz., a Latino-heavy “Immigration Nation” Patchwork Nation community in Maricopa County. Even before the law was signed, the people we talk to there have told of us a community where Latinos – legal immigrants and native-born Hispanics – fear being pulled over by
the county sheriff. “I have heard nothing good about it,” Sylvia Rivera, a local business owner and seamstress, wrote in an e-mail. “Now I feel we live in a racist state as well.
My Hispanic friends and family are not happy at all.” That kind of reaction is hardly surprising in a place where
residents have told us there are informal phone trees that go into effect when a sheriff’s cruiser is spotted in the area. But in an election year, there may well be broader impacts in Arizona and throughout the Southwest in counties we call “Immigration Nation." READ FULL STORY
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