New Fear Leads Both Legal, Illegal Latinos To Leave Pr. William

Most departing immigrants, however, appear to be moving closer afield, choosing states such as North Carolina or neighboring counties such as Prince George's or Arlington that they perceive as less hostile.

In August, Walter Ramirez settled on Alexandria.

A 29-year-old construction worker, Ramirez was not personally at risk from Prince William's crackdown because he has a temporary permit granted to many Salvadorans when an earthquake devastated their country in 2001.

But his roommates were a different story. And after the July resolution was adopted, they were overcome with stifling paranoia.

"I used to walk over to the supermarket every day to pick up food or a phone card or just to hang out," recalled one roommate, a 22-year-old from Honduras who sneaked into the United States three years ago. "But suddenly it seemed like there were so many police officers there, so I limited myself to once a week. It was so stressful, because you feel totally locked up, like you're a prisoner in your own home," he added, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Ramirez nodded his head sympathetically. The two were sitting on a large tan couch that took up almost the entire living room of their new home, a walled-off section of a ramshackle colonial house on a leafy cul-de-sac.

The cramped quarters are a step down from the well-kept apartment they rented in Woodbridge, where each man paid $275 a month for his own room and had access to the nicely landscaped complex's swimming pool. In Alexandria, they pay $400 each for shared rooms, make do with a hot plate in place of a stove and are no longer walking distance from friends and shops.

"It's a more isolated life here, and that's a sacrifice. But I had no choice," Ramirez said. "My buddies are like my family. I can't live in a place where they are going to be persecuted."

Several real estate agents who serve Latino immigrants predicted that more people will reach the same conclusion as Ramirez now that the Prince William Board of County Supervisors has given final approval to the anti-illegal immigration measure.

"This is not something that only affects the undocumented," agent Rosie Vilchez said. "Because in the same family, it's so common to have some people who are citizens, some people who are residents and some who are undocumented. And those with papers are going to do whatever is necessary to protect those without."

Within hours of the board's vote, Salvadoran-born Aracely Diaz instructed her real estate agent to put her townhouse on the market.

Diaz, a supermarket checkout clerk, was one of nearly 400 people who waited for hours to comment on the bill during the marathon pre-vote session that stretched into Wednesday's wee hours.