Alabama lawmakers getting pressured from business group to change immigration law [View All]

[trof]

Source: The Birmingham News



Potato farmer Kim Haynes discusses Alabama's immigration law near his farm in Cullman, Ala. None of potato farmer Kim Haynes workers showed up for work in Cullman the day that Alabama's stringent immigration law took effect. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Alabama lawmakers are facing pressure from agriculture and business groups to change the state's tough new immigration law that a judge allowed to take effect last week. Crops are rotting in the fields because farmers can't find enough workers to harvest them. Even legal immigrants are not showing up for jobs at construction sites and poultry plants because, agriculture and industry officials say, they fear a hostile state climate.

"The two issues are the labor shortage and the burdensome red tape," said Jay Reed of Associated Builders & Contractors. Reed also co-chairs a group called Alabama Employers for Immigration Reform. "There was a big misconception that there were long lines formed by Alabamians who wanted these labor-intensive jobs," Reed said.

For farmer Keith Smith, who has 200 acres of ripening sweet potatoes in his Cullman fields and no one to pick them, the new law boils down to a matter of finding anyone to do the work.
Smith normally hires about 20 pickers -- mostly Hispanic immigrants -- for the October harvest. On Thursday he could find only five workers.
"They are all leaving up here. They are just scared," Smith said. "They are taking kids out of school."

Smith said he has four to six weeks to get his crops in before they rot. He said he has found a few American workers for his fields, but he complained they can't keep up with his Hispanic crews.
"If you want to solve the immigration problem, quit eating," Smith said.

Read more: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/10/alabama_lawmakers_getting_pres.html

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"If you want to solve the immigration problem, quit eating,"
That about says it all.