Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

June 24, 2011

Earlier this year, the Georgia state legislature enacted House Bill 87, a measure intended to crack down on illegal immigrant labor. As one commentator chortled, the bill sent illegal immigrants ?scampering? from the state. Now the same people who enacted that measure are scampering to repair the damage done to the largest sector of Georgia?s economy.

Observes Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
?Thanks to the resulting labor shortage, Georgia farmers have been forced to leave millions of dollars? worth of blueberries, onions, melons, and other crops unharvested and rotting in the fields. It has also put state officials into something of a panic at the damage they?ve done to Georgia?s largest industry.?

As a result, Bookman continues, ?People are going to lose their crops, and in some cases their farms. The small-town businesses that supply those farms with goods and services are going to suffer as well.?

To compensate for the labor shortage, Governor Nathan Deal has proposed using prisoners as farm workers ? an approach that somewhat resembles Communist China?s prison labor system.

While there are costs associated with illegal immigration, it?s difficult to see how Georgia?s current situation is an improvement over the previous status quo.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.