>I don't think the purpose of that law was to turn them into INS officers though was it? Anyway the only one I really know doing that is that bonehead sheriff Joe in Phoenix who simply uses it to further his racist activites...which is shame because if it was used properly it might be helpful.
Then I guess the purpose of the law was to give such guys some tools, to create some havoc here and there, and to get some of the immigrants move to Oregon or some such. So everybody's happy: some cops had their day when they could rough some immigrants; other cops had another chance to give a single finger salute to something they don't think is their job; politicians can say they have done something that some of their louder voters have demanded for years...
Well, not everybody. Few businesses would have to close, because off-the-books hiring was the only way they could compete with offshore competition; few workers would lose their jobs because their employers had to close; few more shops would have to close because their customers (i.e. the immigrants) would have to close; few houses would be foreclosed because it's the illegal tenants who were paying off the owner's mortgage; few more would run out of customers when all of these close.
It already happened in some places.