Feds, States Move Farther Apart On Immigration Enforcement
peachpundit.com
August 30, 2011 14:00 pm
by Charlie · 11 comments

Today’s Courier Herald Column:

Roughly two months after part of Georgia’s new immigration reform laws have officially taken effect, the divide among Georgians over the issue is as deep as ever. Farmer’s in South Georgia who have previously complained about not having sufficient labor to pick their crops are now saying they are cutting back on planting for the fall harvest, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting.

GPB cites anecdotal evidence from a vendor of irrigation equipment that most of his customers have cut back fall plantings from 20 to 50 percent. He claims his sales, despite persistent drought conditions, are off by roughly one third overall.

Earlier in the season, the Governor and Agriculture Commissioner attempted to match unemployed Georgians, including probationers, with open farm jobs. Farmers found the substitutes for experienced pickers who were used to field conditions under a hot Georgia sun to be less than ideal, with many of the newer laborers unwilling to last their first week. Migrant workers, both legal and illegal, are believed to have begun avoiding Georgia for neighboring states well in advance of the official July 1st effective date for the new law.

The new regulations target Georgia employers who hire illegal workers and Georgians who knowingly transport and/or harbor them. It was patterned after laws passed earlier in Arizona, with Georgia and other states passing or considering similar legislation. Alabama’s law was blocked by a federal judge on Monday, joining Georgia and Arizona’s laws working their ways to through the federal courts.

The legal battle pits the states squarely against the Federal Government, with the states claiming the feds are deliberately shirking their responsibilities with respect to immigration and border control, while the feds claim the states are preempted by the U.S. Constitution from attempting to set immigration policy on a state by state basis.

When ruling in June to block part of Georgia’s law from taking effect, Federal Judge Thomas Thrash stated “The widespread belief that the federal government is doing nothing about illegal immigration is the belief in a myth. Although the Defendants characterize federal enforcement as ‘passive,’ that assertion has no basis in fact.â€