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JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

U.S. gov't asks court to halt Alabama's immigration law

World Oct. 08, 2011 - 05:39AM JST ( 7 )

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Magic8ballOct. 08, 2011 - 10:24AM JST

I definitely have mixed feelings about this. While practical measures to weed out illegals are necessary, we all know that racial profiling is going to be a big, big problem and that legal residents are going to get harrassed for it.

Are illegals that big a problem in Alabama, or is it mostly an imaginary problem? And what I mean by that is that just because some illegals are in town it does not make a big problem. A big problem is if they are actually causing trouble besides just being illegal. For example, marijuana is illegal, but those who think its a big problem are hyper-reactive.
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Taka313Oct. 08, 2011 - 10:39AM JST

Ruh roh, even the "base" is getting angry governor. They want their cheap labor back.

*ST. CLAIR COUNTY, AL (WBRC) - Lana Boatwright walks through a row--one of many--of ripening tomatoes. It's almost time to harvest them, but she says that likely won't get done.

She blames Alabama's tough new immigration law.

She and other farmers from St. Clair County's Chandler Mountain Community met Monday with State Sen. Scott Beason (R-Gardendale) to give him an angry earful of their woes brought on by the new law.

Farmers told Beason the law resulted in their migrant workers leaving the area and leaving them with a depleted workforce. That, they say, could cause economic disaster that could even shut down farmers on Chandler Mountain--farms that have been in the same families for as many as four generations.

Farmers say many of them left to find plentiful work in Florida, and took their workforce—not to mention state sales tax money—with them.*

Seems like everything's not so black and white in Alabama anymore. Things just got a whole lot greyer.

Taka
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AlphaapeOct. 08, 2011 - 12:29PM JST

Farmers told Beason the law resulted in their migrant workers leaving the area and leaving them with a depleted workforce. That, they say, could cause economic disaster that could even shut down farmers on Chandler Mountain--farms that have been in the same families for as many as four generations

When I was younger and growing up in the deep south, I lived in the city and had cousins who lived in what we called "the country." When we would go visist them in the summer, they wouldn't be at home during the early monring hours during the daytime because they had part-time jobs of going out and picking crops to make money. This was in the 70's. My mom explained to me that this is how she and her siblings and parents made money (40's & 50's) to get clothes for school and other expenses. I know it is not much money doing this kind of job, but I am sure that it will help out.

What is really missing from the conversation on this issue is a point that I was making in the paragraph above. My relatives who are Black did these types of jobs (picking crops) while growing up as teenagers and some adults. But in those cases, they only did the jobs part time, to suppliment their other incomes, or as a way for a young person to make money. They weren't their only means of income because if it were, they wouldn't be able to survive. That is the big problem with the illegal aliens. If this is their only job then the amount they make is not enough to live on, so they turn to public assistance (i.e. welfare) to supplemet their income, and that becomes a drain on the local state economy. Not so much like migratory pickers who come in seasonal wabes and pick crops and leave, but people who stay in an area and need county services to surviveand that drains the budgets more without their putting back into it by paying taxes.

There are plenty of people that can do the job of picking tomatoes. Young Amercians (both Black and White) have been brainwashed to thinking that these jobs are benath them and they aren't. Just take a look at the Alabama youth unemployment rate for blacks and see. Sure I understand that it is seasonal, and that you can't make a career out of it, but for most teenage jobs, that is the same too.
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LagunaOct. 08, 2011 - 01:27PM JST

I understand where you're coming from, Alphaape, but to get "welfare," one has to be a citizen. Undocumented aliens may benefit from private services such as food banks and medical care, but they get no money from the government.
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AlphaapeOct. 08, 2011 - 04:29PM JST

I understand where you're coming from, Alphaape, but to get "welfare," one has to be a citizen. Undocumented aliens may benefit from private services such as food banks and medical care, but they get no money from the government.

@Laguna: It may say so on the books, but that is not the case. That is the main reason why all of the fuss over illegal aliens. They can get assistance from the government without being citizens. If their children are in the schools, they qualify for the fee lunch program (a welfare cost). They are also eligible for food stamps and other assistance. If they they have a child born in the USA, the child is a citizen, and then they automatically get the WIC, and other benefits for the child to support the family. That is the major problem that communities face when you have massive amounts of poor people who are not citizens getting services.

I am for helping the poor, but only those who should be in America legally.
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SuperLibOct. 08, 2011 - 06:58PM JST

Might as well just let the law stand and see what happens. It seems that everyone is just speculating but we never really have any case studies to point to. If the new law is disastrous then people will see that an the next state won't have much ground to stand on. If it works then it can be a model for future states.
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kurisupisuOct. 09, 2011 - 10:31PM JST

Blacks vs Hispanics-divisive at best!