A new Arizona state law has been debated in media all over the U.S. and parts of the world since the bill was signed by Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer in April. According to the new law it’s a state crime in Arizona to be in the U.S. illegally, and it requires immigrants and visitors to the U.S. to carry papers issued by the U.S. government unless they want to risk being arrested. The new law also allows law enforcement officers to stop and question anyone they suspect to be an illegal immigrant.

The law that is scheduled to take effect in July or August of 2010 has been called the toughest anti-immigration law in the United States. It has been criticized by President Obama as misguided. Obama has said that it could cause Hispanics in Arizona to be harassed, and he has again called for support from both parties in improving the immigrations system. Senior members of the Obama administration have said that the new Arizona law might be challenged by federal authorities.

The Arizona law as even been criticized by prominent republicans, including former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and Marco Rubio, a Florida candidate to the U.S. Senate. Both the Florida politicians suggest that the new Arizona law will be very hard to enforce, and that there might be civil liberty issues involved as well.

Meanwhile many illegal immigrants have moved, or plan to move away from Arizona. The new law will enable police to arrest illegal immigrants who look for work on the streets, and even those who try to hire an illegal immigrant. Even though the law has not yet taken effect many illegal immigrants are not taking the risk of being harassed or even arrested. Although there are still day laborers trying to find jobs in the street, jobs are harder to find after the new law was signed. Those who support the new law hope that it will cause many of the illegal immigrants to leave Arizona, leaving more jobs for Americans. Arizona currently has nearly 10 percent unemployment rates.

Proponents also believe the new law will work against the underground economy, and hope that this would bring more tax money to Arizona’s treasury. A study from 2008 estimated that immigrants – most of them illegal immigrants – held 280,000 full-time jobs. According to the same estimates those eight percent of the state’s economic output, or $29 billion, came from those same immigrants. However, already before the new law it has been estimated that 100,000 illegal immigrants have left Arizona in the past two years partly because of the recession that has hit Arizona hard, and because of the state cracking down on illegal immigrants.

John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona speaks for the law, saying that it is necessary because President Obama and his administration have not been able secure U.S. borders and that large amounts of drugs are smuggled into the southwestern United States because of this. More than 65,000 Mexicans come to Arizona every day to work, or to visit friends or relatives. In addition, the University of Arizona has estimated that visitors from Mexico spend more than $3.35 million in Arizona each day in stores, restaurants and other business.

Now the Mexican government has warned Mexicans to be careful when they visit Arizona. A travel Alert issued by the Mexican foreign Ministry warned that the passing of the new law shows that there is “an adverse political atmosphere for migrant communities and for all Mexican visitors.” According to the alert foreigners can be questioned at any time and those who don’t carry immigration papers could be arrested. It also warned that it will be illegal for anyone to hire or be hired from a vehicle in the street.

President Obama said that that the new law and other “poorly conceived” actions could be stopped if Congress was able to improve the immigration system once and for all. The president has pledged to bring the majority of Democrats in congress along with an immigration reform and asks Republicans to join and help solve an infected political issue.