The real estate slowdown seems to be unique in several ways.
For one, the traditional slowdown had more to do with an economic cycle slowdown with increasing unemployment resulting in depressed home sales.
However this slowdown has more to do with a burst liquidity bubble coupled with imprudent lending practices.
Adding to this "uniquity", many of the construction workers have been illegally in this country and may be going home.
A recent newspaper article showed that as many as 3,000 in this area have ties to one city in Mexico, Casa Blanca.
Reverse immigration will not show up in tomorrow's employment report, will it?
Today, Oklahoma has enacted one of the toughest illegal immigrant laws in the nation: HB 1804
Oklahoma's new law is widely seen as the toughest in the nation, making it a felony to transport or harbor people without legal status, requires local law enforcement and businesses to enforce federal immigration restrictions, and reduces public benefits for illegal immigrants.
I've been watching a local condo rehab.
At noon, the workers used to gather for a soccer game, with all the young bucks from south of the border.
Now there's no one left to play the game.
A mobile taco stand used to be packed with customers.
It had "lingua tacos" made with... tongue. Mmmm
Now it's gone.
NEWS: States turn up heat on Illegals
Forty-three states enacted 182 immigration-related laws this year, "an unprecedented level of activity,"
Reverse Immigration:
If Oklahoma's House Bill 1804 is supposed to force people to leave the state and return to Mexico, it's working.
The Tulsa World revealed the Casa Blanca pipeline in a 2006
series of stories, which showed some 3,000 Tulsa workers, mostly illegal, had ties to the area.
Now, facing fears of lost jobs, homes and children in the United States, the tide is flowing back.
Some Hispanics leaving state
Cherokee Builders has been in Oklahoma for 12 years, but a recent "significant problem" is already hurting it and other Oklahoma companies: Work force shortages.
Edited by Rogerdodger, 01 November 2007 - 11:00 PM.
