When it comes to the immigration reaction by all these state laws I wonder if the cure is worse than the disease. Georgia farmers are more than a little worried about their immigration law. Agriculture is the state's biggest industry and they employ 13% of that state's workforce. Migrant workers are leaving the state in droves. The Vidalia onion crop is grown in South Georgia and must be harvested by hand. Workers such as Edilberto, who came north from Mexico to work in the fields has been picking onions and other crops in South Georgia for 16 years. This year he will move on to North Carolina.
The Director of Georgia's Fruit and Vegetable Growers' Association harvest most of their crops in May and June. This year they say they had half or two-thirds of the workers they had last year. The migrant workers follow the harvest north from Florida. Many are skipping Georgia. The Director estimates that the state's $1.1billion fruit-and-vegetable industry could suffer a $300million loss. Wonder what this means for Alabama?(The Economist, June 18, 2011, p. 37)
I started to print out David Gespass's splendid Letter to the Editor in The Birmingham News, July 6, 2011. He points out the injustice of the new Alabama law which goes into effect in September. It's great. Read for yourself.
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