From the Los Angeles Times:

Stung by foreclosures and joblessness, politicians in Temecula, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore, Menifee and Norco have been railing against illegal immigrants for taking jobs away from desperate citizens. In December, unemployment ranged from 9.7% in Murietta to 14.2% in Lake Elsinore.

Using a strategy first adopted in Arizona, the cities in January began requiring all businesses to check the legal status of new workers through E-Verify, a free online database run by the federal government that allows employers to determine the immigration status of their workers. Employers that refuse risk having their business licenses revoked.

In Lancaster, which last year became the first city in California to require all businesses to screen workers through E-Verify, Mayor R. Rex Parris says the program already has had a deterrent effect.

Conservative Inland Empire cities crack down on illegal workers