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Fabricio Balderrama Soto is scared. So is Consuelo Gutierrez Dominguez. Though they don't know each other, they share the same anxieties — and resolution — over the new state employer-sanctions law.

They are undocumented workers living in Tucson who are concerned about how the new law will affect them. They remain employed but worry that they will lose their jobs.

And that if they get fired, it'll be even tougher to find new jobs to feed their families.

In the weeks before and the days after Arizona's employer-sanctions law took hold on Jan. 1, the media reported undocumented immigrants were packing up and moving to a friendlier state or returning to their native countries.

The new law requires employers to verify a new employee's identity and legal work status. It also levies fines and allows the state to revoke the licenses of business that knowingly hire illegal workers.

Supporters of the law, which was passed by the Legislature in June and signed by Gov. Janet Napolitano, believe the law will force the state's employers to hire legal workers and push illegal workers out of the state.

No doubt, undocumented workers are leaving. They are, after all, migrants. They move, depending on the availability of jobs and the social climate of the town or state.

This newspaper reported two days before Christmas that Guillermo Santini was readying to move his family to Guaymas, Sonora, because he couldn't find a construction job in Tucson. Santini, who had overstayed his tourist visa to work, said he knew people who were doing the same.

But not Balderrama and Dominguez. They're staying put — at least for now.

"I cannot leave Tucson," said Balderrama, a 45-year-old construction worker. Although he is finding fewer jobs because the building industry is rapidly slowing down, Balderrama, a native of Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, said there is nothing in Mexico to return to.

Moreover, he and his wife, also living here without legal papers, have two U.S.-born children. One attends public school.

"There are no jobs in my hometown. I have no family there, and my family is here," he said.

Dominguez echoed his words.

"I have sacrificed a lot to come here and to work to feed my family," said Dominguez, 37, who cleans motel rooms and houses.

She has three children living with her mother in Rosario, Sinaloa. Most of her wages are sent back to feed and clothe her mother and children.

"If I leave, how can I feed my family? It was hard and expensive to get here. I cannot leave now," she said.

Dominguez and Balderrama said they'll continue to take their chances and eke out a living in Tucson.

I recently met them, separately. I talked to Balderrama outside his South Side home and Dominguez at a store on South 12th Avenue. Neither would tell me where they work.

Their reticence speaks loudly of their growing fears — the state law will keep them from working, and they will be deported.

"I do not even want to drive, because if the police stop me for any reason, they will call immigration," Balderrama said.

Their growing disquietude is shared by neighbors and co-workers who are here illegally, they said.

Many Arizonans are content that Dominguez and Balderrama are uneasy. They shouldn't be living and working here, anti-illegal-immigration activists contend.

True. It's also true that Balderrama and Dominguez cannot wait to get work visas. They need to eat. They intend to stay here, as invisible as possible.

Said Balderrama: "We have no other choice."

Opinion by