This is no small matter in a state with a $3 billion deficit, where lawmakers recently took a cleaver to the budget and eliminated everything from parks funding to a health-care program for low-income kids. Last year, state lawmakers were hoping to hawk the Capitol building to generate some desperately needed cash.

The new law could add millions of dollars in costs to the state. The Immigration Policy Center, for instance, points to the estimated costs of a 2006 immigration bill that would have authorized police to arrest undocumented immigrants on trespassing charges (that measure ended up getting vetoed by then governor Janet Napolitano). The analysis, by the Yuma County sheriff, calculated that the measure would have cost, just in the first year, at least $21 million in jail expenses, at least $800,000 in attorney and staff fees, and at least $775,000 in processing expenses. And that was for just ONE of Arizona's 15 counties.

The measure is also likely to trigger a wave of lawsuits that could drain city and state coffers. According to a February 2008 report from the National Employment Law Project, many localities have faced steep legal costs after implementing harsh immigration ordinances. And beyond the potential pile-up of expenses, there's the lost revenue if immigrants decide to decamp the state. The IPC cites a study by the Perryman Group estimating that if all illegal immigrants were removed from Arizona, the state would lose more than $26 billion in economic activity. In such dire economic times, these numbers are downright scary.

Just glad I don't live in Arizona