ACTION NEEDED! Please contact Georgia Governor Nathan Deal!
Please make a quick call or send an e-mail or fax to Ga. Governor Nathan Deal!
Dear DIS friends of immigration enforcement: Today’s news [1] from the recent Farm Bureau convention on Jekyll Island regarding Governor Nathan Deal is somewhat distressing.
It seems that Governor Deal may have been convinced by the endless barrage of one-sided “news” reports and lobbying by the agriculture industry to either propose or support a state Ag guest worker plan here. The law we all worked so hard to see passed and signed, HB 87, has had the desired effect and is driving illegal aliens out of Georgia.
The real alternative to using the black-market labor that is leaving Georgia is to either:
A) Raise farm wages to a level that will draw in legal local labor or;
B) Begin to use the long-standing federal agricultural guest worker H2A program which allows farmers to obtain as many LEGAL foreign temporary workers as they need. With no limit or ceiling.
During the last legislative session, I watched as lobbyist after lobbyist paid by the Ag industry told lawmakers that the legal workers were more costly than the illegals they have been using for decades. And that it was much easier and cheaper to use the illegals who escaped capture by our Border Patrol Agents. They said the illegals were more…”flexible” than lawful workers.
It sounded much like 1859.
State guest worker plans are unconstitutional and duplicate the already in-place federal H2A Ag guest worker plan.
Utah, influenced by the Ag industry and the Utah Chamber of Commerce put in place a cockamamie state guest worker plan and is now admitting that it is unconstitutional and readying to repeal their law. We don’t want to waste time and tax dollars trying the same silly thing to please the wealthy Ag lobby. See HERE. [2]
No one expected to see a bump-free change to doing business lawfully after decades of ignoring the law. The answer is clear: More business owners in Georgia’s agriculture industry should follow the lead of the Georgia Peach Council in use of the H2A temporary guest worker visa. Mr. Frank Funderburk, director of the Georgia Peach Council, as quoted by the Associated Press earlier this year said, “Our growers can’t afford to not have a work crew. They bit the bullet several years ago (and joined H-2A) and they jumped from paying $7 an hour to $9.”
Mr. Funderburk’s remarks speak volumes on the solution to the loss of taxpayer-subsidized unlawful workers.
Please make a quick call 404 656 1776 – to Governor Deal’s office or contact him by FAX 404 657 7332 – or email (contact info HERE [3]) to let him know that aware Georgia voters depend on his office to hold firm on HB 87 in general and to just say “NO!” to the illegal labor lobby on a waste-of-time state guest worker plan.
“Please tell Governor Deal that I am paying attention on illegal immigration and that he should be promoting the existing federal guest worker H2A program for farmers to obtain legal temporary workers. Please convey my confidence that he will hold firm on House Bill 87 and that he will ignore the calls for an unconstitutional state guest worker scheme that will only waste tax dollars.”