Naked Capitalism Link of the Day

Today's link: Georgia farmers attest to labor shortages ahead of new immigration law enforcement, at the American Independent:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on the ongoing exodus of undocumented immigrants from Georgia in anticipation of the new immigration enforcement law, which will take effect on July 1:

Businesses that cater to the region’s Hispanic residents say the new law has sown fear among immigrants, scaring away their customers and employees. A grocery store chain that serves Hispanic immigrants says the new law has led to sharp cuts in sales at some of its locations, forcing it to consider closing one of its spots. And the pastors of local Hispanic churches say some of their parishioners are leaving Georgia and taking the donations that support charitable causes with them.

Presumably, this phenomenon was the new law’s intended effect, but there are signs that some Georgians weren’t anticipating the central role that Hispanic immigrants play in the economy. The Georgia Agribusiness Council released a survey of Georgia farmers which said that 46 percent reported facing a labor shortage. As the Journal-Constitution’s Jim Galloway points out, comments on the survey repeatedly mentioned the law as the cause of the shrinking agricultural population. One of the comments summarized what is happening:

The labor pool has dried up because Hispanic are leaving Georgia as fast as they can. [sic] They are terrified about what will happen when this law goes into effect. Since we cannot find immigrant labor, we are trying to hire non-immigrant labor. Even with pay rates above $10 an hour, we cannot find people interested in working outdoors, in the heat. They will stay for one or two days and then leave. Our work is labor intensive, so we are losing money every day by not having dependable, hard-working laborers. This is just another blow to our business on top of what we have already lost due to the economy.

The politicians who initially pushed for the law are now reacting to complaints from farmers, and Gov. Nathan Deal has requested an expedited review of the law’s effects from the state’s agriculture commissioner.

Idiots.  Hispanic immigrants, legal or illegal, always end up contributing beneficially to local economies.  There are pressures on the system, especially in health care, as the illegal immigrants can't get insurance through their employers and don't want to go to the hospital until the situation is dire, because they are afraid of deportation.  These anti-immigration politicians are, in my opinion, just bigoted, and these Arizona-style laws are just tea parties in each state trying to prove their bonafides.  Let them cut their own economic throats.  Ohio shouldn't follow suit.  We don't have enough illegal immigrants, because our economy was too crappy to attract them last decade.