From the LA Times:

Passage this week of a stringent Arizona bill that would require people to carry proof of legal status and mandate that police check for it is a replay of California's own turbulent history with illegal immigration. Gov. Jan Brewer must still sign the bill before it becomes law and is widely expected to do so. As in California a generation ago, the number of illegal immigrants in Arizona in the last decade has soared. The twin forces of immigration surges and economic distress have prompted Arizonans to push several strict measures to crack down on illegal migrants.... In a key development, the crackdowns also shifted more migratory traffic from California and Texas to the sparsely populated, once-sleepy Arizona desert and then into local communities that had no history of significant migration. "Arizona has a new experience with immigration it hasn't felt so viscerally before," said Louis DeSipio, UC Irvine professor of political science and Chicano/Latino studies. The various forces sent Arizona's illegal immigrant population surging by 70 percent from 2000 to 2008, compared to 13.5 percent in California.

For the full story, please visit http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-arizona17-2010apr17,0,4957706.story.