Some even call those who want stricter immigration enforcement "racist."

But with Arizona's Proposition 200, which would deny some government benefits to illegal aliens and require proof of citizenship to vote, none of those assumptions proved true.

Rather than alienating the state's Hispanic population, a full 47 percent of Arizona Latinos backed the measure, according to California's San Bernardino Sun, a number suggesting that almost as many border-state Hispanics want strict enforcement of the immigration laws as those who don't.

Proposition 200 passed with the overall population, 56 to 44 percent, over the opposition of Arizona's political establishment, including business groups, churches and Republican and Democrat lawmakers.

President Bush's re-election campaign strategy, based in part on Hispanic voter outreach that stressed support for a guest worker program and gradual amnesty for Mexican illegal aliens, is being credited with a 9-point jump in his Hispanic support.

But with tougher enforcement garnering support from even immigrant populations, it might be time for politicians who assumed border control was a political loser to head back to the drawing board.

Editor's note: