by D.A. King
Columnist The Marietta Daily Journal
The sense of glee, great satisfaction and genuine entertainment resulting from watching the comical temper tantrums spewing from the anti-enforcement media over Georgia’s HB 87 just can’t be ignored.
Led by the near daily fuming rants from the sore losers at the Atlanta newspapers, the chorus of “Georgia is doomed” reports aimed at nullifying the will of the majority and the recently enacted immigration and employment law are quite frankly … a hoot.
Georgia’s Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act moves on to its next step Monday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. The goal of the lawsuits from the open borders mob is to stop implementation of as much of the law as possible so as to protect their precious but now dwindling commodity: Georgia’s population of fugitive illegal aliens, many of whom are already migrating out of the Peach State simply because of the possibility of enforcement.
No matter the decision of the court on the now numerous lawsuits on various sections of the landmark Georgia law, the pro-American majority has already won.
The victory came last month when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Arizona E-verify law challenged by a coalition of the chamber of commerce and the radical ethnic lobbies. To the unending consternation of the profiteers who have perpetuated illegal immigration for decades, Georgia’s law contains an E-Verify component that the “supremes” have already ruled completely legal and constitutional.
E-Verify greatly reduces and deters illegal hiring. Not many Americans fail to understand that illegal aliens come here for the money. For now, even low-wage American jobs pay more than Third World wages. Stop illegal employment, and we stop most illegal immigration.
As a way of irritating many reporters and some very frustrated far-left editors, some obvious facts: Illegal immigration and illegal employment were already illegal when Gov. Deal signed HB 87 into law on May 13.
The agriculture industry has been allowed to depend on illegal workers for years because they will work for less than the lawful temporary foreign workers available through the existing federal guest worker program known as H2A. Let’s be clear here: If no American – on probation or not – ever applies to harvest another onion or pick a pepper, farmers will always have access to as many legal imported workers as they need.
A recent survey of Georgia farmers requested by the governor revealed that only 5 percent had used the legal method to obtain farm help. They have been using the illegals because they could.
The agriculture industry receives billions of tax dollars in subsidies – and then howls that obeying American immigration law is “too costly.” If we enforce the law we will end up with that famous $10 head of lettuce? Guess what? According to many economists and studies, including one from the respected Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, labor costs comprise only 6 percent of the price consumers pay for fresh produce. If farm wages were allowed to rise 40 percent, and if all the costs were passed on to consumers, the cost to the average household would be only about $8 a year. Much cheaper than the $2.4 billion annual expense Deal cites as Georgia’s cost of subsidizing the illegals.
Along with the fact that Mexico has now joined in lawsuits to stop immigration enforcement in Georgia, one of my favorite sources of amusement are smug, leftist columnists who wail in anguish that we must continue to employ illegal aliens because Americans and legal immigrants won’t accept the farm jobs that currently offer low pay and few benefits, like health care and workmen’s compensation. But they then go on to tell us how “extreme” it is to oppose making American citizens out of the resentful lawbreakers with another amnesty. See what I mean about entertaining?
Raise your hand if you think that these same “intellectuals” would be pecking out the same drivel if the hordes of invading illegals were English-speaking, potential conservative voters coming from Manitoba.
It gets worse for the left: A bill recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith that would make use of E-Verify a national mandate has a real chance of becoming law.
No matter the decision on Monday, at present, in the battle for America on illegal immigration, the Americans seem to be turnin the tide.
Listen to the far-left moan because enforcement works. It is no-cost, family fun.
King is president of the Cobb-based Dustin Inman Society and worked closely with legislators on Georgia’s recent immigration law. On the Web: www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org
Copyright 2011 The Marietta Daily Journal. All rights reserved.
