<p>I’m confused; aren’t these people running a huge risk exposing themselves like this? By revealing they are illegal immigrants, won’t they immediately get deported? </p>
<p>My take is that people shouldn’t enter this country (or any country) illegally. If they do they may well suffer some consequences and have ongoing ramifications they never even thought of when they initially made the decision to break the law. These ramifications include potential impacts to their kids even when some of the kids may be born here and thus be legal USA citizens, other family members, committing additional crimes such as identity theft, non-payment of income taxes, driving without a DL or car insurance, and a number of other illegal activities, etc.</p>
<p>I think Arizona and some other border states are forced to take this very seriously due to real financial impacts on their social services including schools. Some people in other states might not have an appreciation for just how significant the impact is (yet).</p>
<p>“By revealing they are illegal immigrants, won’t they immediately get deported?”</p>
<p>Not necessarily. DHS doesn’t have a fraction of the resources it would need to deport everyone. Like most law enforcement agencies, it has substantial discretion – some exercised in Washington, some at the local level – to decide where to apply its limited resources. If the local office has its hands full deporting convicted drug runners, no, it may not get around to the protestors any time soon. But yes, they are taking a risk by acknowledging their status publicly.</p>