Attrition through enforcement at work:

It’s a common scene this time of year: streams of overloaded cars, pickups and vans with U.S. license plates crossing into Mexico for the holidays.

Most are filled with Hispanic families from Arizona and other states on their way to visit relatives south of the border for a few weeks before heading back to the U.S. But this year, the holiday travelers are being joined by scores of families such as Jorge and Liliana Franco, who are driving to Mexico not to visit but to stay – permanently. Congress’ failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform, immigration crackdowns, Arizona’s new employer-sanctions law and a sluggish economy have combined to create a climate families such as the Francos no longer find hospitable.

The number returning to Mexico is difficult to calculate, but there is no question that many families are leaving, according to Mexican government officials, local community leaders and immigrants themselves.

The open-borders propaganda line that “you can’t deport them all” has always been a red herring. If you enforce the law, many will leave on their own. It happened with Pakistani illegal aliens after 9/11. It’s happening now in Arizona.

No need for a “pathway to citizenship.” Turn off the magnets and incentives and sanctuary protections, and law-breakers will pave their own pathways…back home.