Self-deportation proponents Kris Kobach, Michael Hethmon facing time of trial Over the last six years the couple have become the most successful propagators of a powerful idea: that state and local governments can make life so miserable for illegal aliens that those people would choose to deport themselves. During the recent GOP primary, the idea of self-deportation began to take on a new legitimacy. Mitt Romney, the presumed GOP presidential nominee, praised the idea and has pledged that - as president - he would drop the Obama administration's challenges to state-level laws in places such as Arizona and Alabama. So far, Kobach and Hethmon have helped six states and at least seven cities and counties write tough new laws allowing local police or bureaucrats to crack down on illegal immigrants. Usually, that's a function reserved for the federal government, but these two said they knew the "magic words" of legalese to make local laws work. We are constantly told that the only two options are massive roundups [of illegal immigrants] or an amnesty. But attrition through enforcement is the third way," said Kobach, the better-known of the pair. Change the individual decisions of particular illegal aliens, and they will decide to leave the country. Hethmon worries about cultural changes that could result. Immigration is "on track to change the demographic makeup of the entire country. You know, what they call "minority-majority," " Hethmon said. How may countries have gone through a transition like that - peacefully, carefully? It's theoretically possible, but we don't have any examples. Now, however, is their time of trial. Judges have blocked some of their laws, resulting in a pile of legal bills for the governments they helped, and on Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments about the law in Arizona that has become the centerpiece achievement of the self-deportation movement. Supporters say the idea would never have got this far without Kobach and Hethmon, who have been editors, advisers, ghostwriters and legal defenders for politicians around the United States. "They're the wizards behind the curtain," said Randy Terrill (R), an Oklahoma state legislator, whose bill they rewrote. They were the face and the muscle behind the effort that really synthesized it into a movement. Do I think it would have happened without them? Most certainly it would not have. Their role behind the curtain really began in 2006, with a phone call from Hazleton, Pa. That old coal town had swelled with thousands of Latino immigrants. Mayor Lou Barletta blamed illegal residents for a surge in crime, saying he was paying for the failures of the federal immigration system. That year, there were an estimated 11.6 million "unauthorized immigrants" in the United States. The federal system deported only about 272,000 people.