Posted on 07/23/2010 7:20:59 AM PDT by BradtotheBone
Reporting from Phoenix — Every time a customer buys some of the large fabric tote bags from the Dollar Store at 43rd Avenue and Thomas Road, Najmuddin Katchi sees another piece of his business vanish.
The purchase of the briefcase-sized shoulder bags means that another one of Katchi's customers, mostly Latino immigrants, is packing to leave the state before what is touted as the nation's toughest law against illegal immigrants takes effect July 29.
Katchi's store isn't the only business suffering. The vast shopping center that holds his small shop is almost empty. The Food City supermarket closed this spring. Then the furniture shop. Then the pizzeria.
The giant apartment complex across the street, once brimming with tenants, is two-thirds vacant. Katchi is behind on his rent.
"The business is broken," said Katchi, who has operated his shop at this intersection for 14 years. "After the 29th of July, what happens? Maybe I have to close the store."
For the last 20 years, Arizona has been one of the fastest-growing states in the nation. It depends on an expanding population to power its economy, which relies heavily on the construction of new houses.
At the corner of 43rd and Thomas, it's hard to determine how much of the neighborhood's woes stem from Arizona's immigration laws and how much from the state's economy, battered by a once red-hot housing marked that cooled.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
The purchase of the briefcase-sized shoulder bags means that another one of Katchi’s customers, mostly Latino immigrants, is packing to leave the state before what is touted as the nation’s toughest law against illegal immigrants takes effect July 29.
So...it’s working is the bottom line here.
I really hope the author didn’t intend for me to wring my hands over this article.
Because it isn’t working.
The law is working as it should and it hasn’t even taken effect!
Have a ni-i-i-i-ice trip....
And don't let the screen door....
So. You make a large part of your living catering to the needs of criminals, and then when the law decides it is going to enforce the law, and the criminals disappear, law-abiding citizens are supposed to feel...what?
Guilty?
How is this different than someone who runs a head shop selling pipes next to a crack dealer’s house?
I am sure there are people who would try to convince me illegal aliens aren’t criminals, but that is going to be a tough sell to me.
Oh, sure I’m going to belive this b.s. from a liberal, biased, bleeding heart piece of crap comming from the L.A. times.
California is broke and is welcoming illegals. Guess all of those wealthy grape vine owners (Pelosi) need pickers, and to hell with the state’s economy.
Over 22 hospitals have gone bankrupt in N.J. due to “too much charity work”, and N.J. isn’t even a border state.
Illegals do not help our economy, they bleed it to death.
If your entire business model is based on selling goods and services to criminals, there is going to be risk involved. Head shops know this. Escort agencies know this. Those Italian restaurants with the smoky back rooms and guns in bathrooms and great cannoli know this. When the local supply of criminals moves, you simply follow them and set up a business where you can continue to serve them. Or find a new line of work. It is difficult for me to summon any sympathy for someone who staked their future on the ready availability and assumed impunity of lawbreakers.
Aren’t these business owners who cater to illegals aiding and abetting in a crime also? I do not feel sorry for them.
Has anyone seen any estimates on the numbers of illegals who have departed the state?
Concur. Less gunfire, less graffiti, few-to-no crazy drivers.
Last trip to PHX was pleasant. Neighborhood was quiet at night.
This exodus is fueled by ignorance and media driven hysteria.
My heart bleeds.
Exactly. AZ’s economy was already suffering just like every other state.
I liked this part:
“He recalled one recent evening when two families were eating dinner. Their cellphones rang. Friends were alerting them that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — strongly disliked in the area for his targeting of illegal immigrants — had sent deputies to raid a nearby car wash. The families quickly asked for their checks, paid and ran from the restaurant.”
Awesome!
Heh, okay, I had to laugh there...:)
I just watched the remastered version of “The Godfather” a few weeks ago...that cannoli in those places with the gun in the bathroom is a real killer!
On a serious note, we do agree. I am sure people would find me heartless here. Probably the same people who find me heartless for suggesting that 2, 3 or 4 years on unemployment is no longer unemployment, but welfare.
I do admit my opinion is that under this administration, people are being forced there deliberately. But let’s call it what it is.
“But calling illegal immigrants criminals! How could you?”
Sounds like a real natural born, U.S. patriotic citizen. And, already, he is behind on his rent? What kind of businessman could he be if he only lost sales because some illegals have been leaving? Mind you, he said that whenever someone purchases a tote bag it means they are illegals preparing to leave. Sounds more like his store, and the others around there have been suffering loss of sales because no real Arizona legal resident has been shopping there for fear of the criminal activity in the area by the illegals. Now, poor Najmuddin, who has made his living on taking their money, happily, is complaining?
I’ll bet this real patriotic American citizen student of George Washington has a SBA loan that needs to be paid back. That is till some ethnic supremicist lobbying group can bribe enough politicians into a special loan forgiveness deal.
“But calling illegal immigrants criminals! How could you?”
How about blood sucking, baby making, welfare receiving, drug dealing, car thieving, lazy invaders? Is that better?
Najmuddin Katchi has a profile on Mylife.com, but you have to be a member to read it.
Arizona has INDEED been growing. Growing in crime, imported diseases, food stamps, and all of those nice little benefits brought when thugs, illiterates and welfare pimps invade one’s home.
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