July 25 - PHOENIX, AZ: Oliver El Payaso (The Clown) makes balloons animals for kids in El Gran Mercado. Oliver said he's been a clown in the market for more than 16 years and that, "this used to be a good business. Now, nothing. Everyone is gone." El Gran Mercado (The Big Market) in Phoenix is the largest flea market in the Phoenix area and has served the area's immigrant community for more than 20 years. With more than 150 small independent stalls selling Mexican clothes, cowboy hats, Mariachi music and food stalls selling Mexican favorites like birria chivo (goat stew) and menudo (tripe) it was more like a Mexican market than an American mall. Business in the mercado is down more than half this year because many immigrant families, legal and illegal, are leaving Arizona before the state's tough new anti-immigrant law, SB 1070 goes into effect on July 29. SB 1070 allows local police officers to check the immigration status of people they have probable cause to believe may be in the US illegally and requires immigrants to carry their immigration papers with them at all times. Photo by Jack Kurtz