Jason Grant, PWC’s communications director, said it’s hard to quantify the real impact because of the economic climate at the time. The construction industry, a major employment sector, lost nearly 4,000 jobs from June 2006 to January 2008. The housing market took a dive, and the foreclosure crisis was spreading.

“The timing makes it almost impossible to say what was the economic impact,” said Grant, who worked in the county’s economic development office at the time. “The economy obviously had an effect on those businesses.”

The Law Comes at a High Cost

Eric Byler’s documentary 9500 Liberty premiered at the Harkins Valley Art Theatre in Tempe, Arizona, on April 26—three days after Governor Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1070 into law. The film highlights the cost of implementing PWC’s immigration law.

Estimates peg the damage at more than $25 million, and while that was the primary reason, the “probable cause” mandate was repealed shortly after its passage.

The revised law, enacted in April 2008, requires law enforcement to ask all suspects their immigration status, not just suspected undocumented residents.

The movie, shot from August 2007 to September 2009, depicts the contention among social activists, politicos, angry residents, business owners, and law enforcement in PWC. Byler said the county’s original law led to threats of lawsuits, foreclosure spikes, image problems, and business closures, while deterring business and resident relocations there.

“For all these reasons, the policies were repealed,” Byler said after arriving at Tucson International Airport on May 25, three days before his movie was to debut—with Spanish subtitles—in the highly Latino-populated city.

“There are a lot of interesting comparisons of what happened in our community and what’s happening in yours,” said the Asian American filmmaker, who has lived in the District of Columbia area since the early 1990s.

Meanwhile, in Phoenix, Arizona, some 1,950 miles from PWC, immigration attorney Joe Penalosa is sifting through immigration cases. Many of his clients are trying to gain citizenship, but these cases are backlogged two to five years.

Some said they are leaving the state and relocating their businesses, while others intend to stay here and take their chances.

Penalosa, who just dropped out of the Scottsdale City Council race to run against Congressman Ed Pastor in November, said the effects of Arizona’s law will be felt in the fall when schools reopen and the agriculture season begins.

“We don’t know what the price tag associated with (this law) will be,” said Penalosa, a Republican. “We won’t know until the end of the year.”