Illegal immigration crackdown impacts harvests [Georgia]

CBS News ^ | July 1, 2011 | Mark Strassman

[La Enchiladita]

WRAY, Ga., - One of the toughest laws yet to fight illegal immigration went into effect today in Georgia. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the most controversial provision - requiring police to check the immigration status of suspects who don't have proper identification.

But it is now a felony to use false documentation to apply for a job. CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann says Georgia farmers have been anticipating this day, and the law is already having a big effect.

In south Georgia, it's a banner year for blackberries - but a bad year for berry farmer Gary Paulk.

"There's a lot of what appear to be good berries," Paulk said. "If we had the workers."

On one corner of this family farm, twenty acres of blackberries rot away.

"This is a healthy field. And it should have been picked," Paulk said. "But there's nobody here."

[TheBattman]

Who said anything about doing it for patriotism? I have been in a position in my life that I went from makin pretty good money + benefits, to supporting my family by some of that “back-breaking” sweaty labor. Claiming unemployment when ther IS work is immoral. Foot, I wouldn’t even objec to some form of short-term assistance fir folks who temporarily are “underemployed” (hasn’t there been some sort of tax credit in days past for that classification?)

Oh- and even picking berries pays more than 1/3 of your unemployment benefits. In fact, farmers I know pay around $10 per hour to start, and often provide either housin or at least utilities paid.