In an Associated Press story widely reported in newspapers and on Web sites, Stillmore Georgia is described as a near ghost town after the loss of much of its immigrant population.

The town of about 1,000 people was practically depopulated when federal agents swept up more than 120 illegal immigrants and sent them to immigration court in Atlanta. As the AP article stated, "The sweep has had the unintended effect of illustrating how vital the illegal immigrants were to the local economy." Here are other excerpts from the story:

Sonny Perdue last week promised a statewide crackdown on document fraud.By midday, Gonzalez had only six customers. Normally, he would see about 100.

The B&S convenience store, owned by Keith and Regan Slater, the mayor's son and grandson, lost about 80 percent of its business.

"These people come over here to make a better way of life, not to blow us up," complained Keith Slater, who keeps a portrait of Ronald Reagan on the wall. "I'm a die-hard Republican, but I think we missed the boat with this one."

Crider president David Purtle said federal agents began inspecting the company's employment records in May.Why Don't Hispanic Immigrants Learn The English Language?
The point of the article, as all of us who regularly deal with Hispanic clients understand, is that this failure to learn is not due to laziness or a conscious decision not to learn English. It's because English is not easy to learn -- especially by adults with full-time jobs and families to raise.

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But after six years in the U.S. living in one of the city's urban barrios, Spanish is the dominant language spoken inside and outside their home.

Stiff Colorado Illegal Alien Law Brings Unexpected Costs
As reported in a Rocky Mountain News article, Colorado's new tougher immigration enforcement law may have unexpected costs. Several state agencies have put in requests for a combined $2.5 million in budget increases in order to properly implement the new law. Supporters of the bill had said the agencies would be able to handle any increased workload within their original budgets. Excerpts from the article:

The Colorado legislature passed the measure during a special session in July, a law some say imposes the toughest immigration rules in the nation.

House Bill 1023 went into effect Aug. 1 and establishes strict identification rules that require tens of thousands of Coloradans to prove to local and state agencies they're in the country legally before they can obtain most government benefits.

Several agencies said Monday they are still working to identify the programs that fall under the law's umbrella as well as 15 other measures passed this summer and last spring that overlap and present their own set of challenges.

The Department of Revenue, for example, has fielded numerous complaints of longer wait times at DMV offices as clerks verify the legal immigration status of people applying for licenses and identification cards.

Also, more than 1,700 people have been caught attempting to use fake documents to get a driver's license or ID card in just the first month of the new law.

Meanwhile, Colorado's 64 counties are in charge of administering welfare benefits such as food stamps and Medicaid to more than 100,000 residents. And, many county human services departments have had to hire additional workers to verify the legal status of people applying for benefits, said Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Human Services.

"We're getting into the more difficult areas of the legislation to determine certain aspects of what services are in or out," she said. "You can predict some of the costs and certain things, but as more things and more situations come to light, we'll have to determine the needs accordingly."

State officials said it will likely take months before they clearly understand the costs and scope of the new immigration laws. "It's important to remember that we're two months out from the special session. It's relatively soon," Sobanet said. "If it turns out that people were getting benefits they shouldn't have been, then we may see a reduction in costs. But that remains to be seen."

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Talk about pure junk journalism.

This reads like an under bridge rebuttal