Tag Archives: HB 87

The Atlantic dissects Georgia’s anti-immigrant law

The VDT’s pan of HB 87 gets national notice.
Why we don’t need a law that puts south Georgia farmers out of business
while profiting private prison company CCA at taxpayer expense.

Megan McArdle wrote in the Atlantic 21 June 2011,

Georgia’s Harsh Immigration Law Costs Millions in Unharvested Crops.
She started by quoting Jay Bookman,
who quoted the VDT.
She then goes into the economics:



The economics here aren’t particularly complicated, and I’m sure they
won’t be new to the sophisticated readers of the Atlantic, but they are
useful to look at and consider explicitly when thinking about issues
like this.

It goes like this. If you’re not going to let illegal immigrants do the
jobs they are currently being hired to do, then farmers will have to
raise wages to replace them. Since farmers are taking a risk in hiring
immigrant workers, you can bet they were getting a significant deal
on wage costs relative to “market wages”. I put market wages here in
quotations, because it’s quite possible that the wages required to get
workers to do the job are so high that it’s no longer profitable for
farmers to plant the crops in the first place.

Yes, that would be the problem.
A law that benefits private prison company CCA at the expense of
Georgia taxpayers while putting Georgia farmers out of business.

She concludes:

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GA HB 87 ridiculed in Atlanta; VDT cited

Who could have forseen this?
Well, other than anyone who actually knows Georgia farmers.
And the VDT becomes thought leader to the world:

“Maybe this should have been prepared for, with farmers’ input. Maybe
the state should have discussed the ramifications with those directly
affected. Maybe the immigration issue is not as easy as &lquo;send them
home,&rquo; but is a far more complex one in that maybe Georgia needs them,
relies on them, and cannot successfully support the state’s No. 1
economic engine without them.”

Except of course HB 87 doesn’t just send them home:
it also locks up as many as it can catch, to the profit
of private prison company CCA, at the expense of we the taxpayers.

That’s as quoted by
Jay Bookman in the AJC 17 June 2011,

Ga’s farm-labor crisis playing out as planned:



After enacting House Bill 87, a law designed to drive illegal immigrants
out of Georgia, state officials appear shocked to discover that HB 87 is,
well, driving a lot of illegal immigrants out of Georgia.

It might be funny if it wasn’t so sad.

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Many rural farmers are taking notice of HB 87 —Patrick Davis

Patrick Davis points out from Macon that HB 87 is producing
Lowndes County farm employment problems, and maybe local farmers
should take that into account when they vote.

Patrick Davis wrote,

Rural Republicans in Georgia can’t have it both ways on immigration reform



With the law passed and ready for implementation, many rural
farmers—especially in Central and South Georgia—are taking notice to
the exodus of migrant workers and immigrants which has left some farmers
without workers to pick crops.

Many of these same farmers that are hurting economically and losing
crops in these rural counties had voted Republican for years.



Valdosta’s Ellis Black who represents parts of Lowndes County as a
state representative helped to pass Gov. Nathan Deal’s conservative
and punitive agenda and consequently it has contributed to drive an
increasing number of migrant workers out of the Peach State.


Black has continued to justify his HB-87 vote and attempt to support
Gov. Deal’s ridiculous assertion in regard to the use of probationers
as a solution.

That last link is to

Parolees to replace migrants?
Gov. Deal says put probationers in fields
by David Rodock in the VDT 15 June 2011, which included:

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“It’s an anti-American law” —Carlos Santana in Georgia

Carroll Rogers wrote in the AJC 15 May 2011,

Santana blasts Georgia immigration bill before Braves game:



Legendary rock guitarist Carlos Santana, in town to be honored for a
“Beacon of Change” award at Sunday’s MLB Civil Rights Game at
Turner Field, called the state’s new immigration law “anti-American.”

Santana took his turn at the podium on the field in a pre-game ceremony
before the Braves-Phillies game to criticize the immigration bill just
signed into law by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal Friday.

“I represent the human race,” the Mexican-born Carlos Santana
said. “The people of Arizona, the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you
should be ashamed of yourselves.”

The Georgia immigration law, HB 87, cracks down on illegal immigration
by increasing enforcement powers and requiring many employers to check
the immigration status of new hires.

And this is just the start of

what’s going to happen to Georgia as long as that law is in effect.

But what do you really think, Carlos?

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How do anti-amnesty directives equate to available prison labor for private prisons?

Somebody recently asked:

I have seen no verification that the private prisons intend to make
money from inmate labor & the recent article claiming prison labor would
displace more citizen jobs if illegals were jailed as a positive for
amnesty was ridiculous. All anti-amnesty directives I have seen call for
the illegals being deported back to their country of origin ASAP. How
does this equate to available prison labor for private prisons?

OK, let’s go look at the anti-immigrant law passed by Arizona.


It’s littered with “federal custody” and
“imprisoned not more than thirty days” and
“imprisoned not more than six months” and
“A person who is sentenced pursuant to this section is not eligible
for suspension or commutation of sentence or release on any basis until
the sentence imposed is served.”
and
“class 1 misdemeanor”
and
“class 3 felony”
and
“class 4 felony”
and
“twenty days in jail” and
“thirty days in jail”.


Arizona Revised Statutes Section 11-1051

D. Notwithstanding any other law, a law enforcement agency may securely
transport an alien who the agency has received verification is unlawfully
present in the united states and who is in the agency’s custody to a
federal facility in this state or to any other point of transfer into
federal custody that is outside the jurisdiction of the law enforcement
agency. a law enforcement agency shall obtain judicial authorization
before securely transporting an alien who is unlawfully present in the
United States to a point of transfer that is outside of this state.


13-1509. Trespassing by illegal aliens; assessment; exception; classification

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Private prisons and AZ-style anti-immigrant bills in Georgia



While

a private prison is top of the news,
you’d probably never know what it has to do with this if you didn’t have the Internet,

8,000 Rally against Georgia Anti-Immigrant Bills,
by Gloria Tatum in Georgia Progressive News:

Over 8,000 activists rallied outside the State Capitol on Thursday, March
24, 2011, to show their outrage and disgust over Georgia’s Arizona-type
immigration bills.

As previously reported by Atlanta Progressive News, legislation, HB 87,
has already passed the State House. A similar bill, SB 40, has also
passed the State Senate.



While the vast majority of protesters at the Capitol were Hispanic,
opposition to the bills came from a wide spectrum of constituents
including immigrants, students, religious groups, peace groups, veterans
of the Civil Rights Movement, Asian groups, GLBTQI activists, labor,
artists, musicians, business owners, elected officials, and others.

What’s this got to do with private prisons?

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