TailOverTeaKettle.com

It makes for a very interesting read when you see the results of actual enforcement of the immigration laws. Still rare, it can be very stunning.

About a week and a half ago, the Asssociated Press published a story about an illegal immigration roundup in Stillmore, GA. Many newspapers around the country picked up the AP report, usually under the headlines of “Immigration raid cripples Ga. town”, “Messy aftermath of immigration raids outrages small Ga. town”, or “Immigration raid devastates Ga. town”.

Apparently it was meant to describe the anger and economic devistation that would occur when hard-working illegal immigrants were ’rounded up’

Trailer parks lie abandoned. The poultry plant is scrambling to replace more than half its workforce. Business has dried up at stores where Mexican laborers once lined up to buy food, beer and cigarettes just weeks ago. This Georgia community of about 1,000 people has become little more than a ghost town since Sept. 1, when federal agents began rounding up illegal immigrants. The sweep has had the unintended effect of underscoring just how vital the illegal immigrants were to the local economy.

You see, the illegal immigrants were working at the local Crider chicken plant. Eventually, 120 workers were arrested in the Labor Day raids.

“This reminds me of what I read about Nazi Germany, the Gestapo coming in and yanking people up,” [Stillmore Mayor Marilyn] Slater said.

With that story we were even treated to photos of a trailer-park owner who was displaying an American flag inverted as a show of protest.

At the time, Jim Wooten correctly asked: “what’s the story here?”. With the illegal workforce removed, the plant actually had to raise wages to attract workers. As he noted:

The Associated Press story is presented because I think it will illustrate how differently we see the illegal immigration issue. I read it and am appalled that 700 of 900 workers may have been illegal and that, even with substanial prior warning, feds were still able to round up 120 illegals in a community of less than 1,000 — clear evidence that immigrations laws have no meaning. But I’m curious from others: What is the message you draw from the Stillmore story? And, if you’re empowered to fix what you see, how do you do it? My prediction is that liberals and conservatives see at least two distinctly different stories here.

Well now the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has sent their reporters to the scene to get a first-hand story which appeared today, Raid of illegals hits home in Georgia town: Immigration issue ripples both ways.

First, we hear that the town is “heartbroken” and there’s going to be a march to the state Capitol on September 30th, presumably in support of illegal immigration. Can’t wait!

Interestingly, this article also included another quote from Mayor Slater (of the Nazi/Gestapo quote above):

Many others in Emanuel County agreed [to the need for enforcing immigration laws], including Stillmore Mayor Marilyn Slater, who said the immigrants should be legal and pay taxes. Slater noted that some illegal immigrants rented housing that was an eyesore and that with so many immigrants living together, it may have added a burden to the town’s already taxed water and sewer system.

You see, the Crider plant employed around 1000 people. As many as 700 were suspected of being illegal.

The Crider poultry plant was at the center of the raid. Last spring, ICE agents arrested a local man for making fake green cards. The man had worked at Crider, company president David Purtle said.

After a review of employee documents in May, ICE estimated 700 of the plant’s 1,000 workers were using fake IDs. The government gave Crider 10 weeks to set the matter straight. Crider began checking documents and confronting employees. Many were fired and hundreds of illegal immigrants left town on their own throughout the summer.

Where these people went is unclear (may not be back to Mexico, but somewhere else in the US). But here is a situation that was months coming. People knew if they were working using false papers. They knew that ICE was cracking down on their employer. Over many months (and with written warning) they knew that everyone’s immigration status was being checked.

So forgive me if I don’t find it as easy to apply the “Nazi” analogy to the situation when they are (months later) arrested.

As I’ve said before, I do feel sorry for families that are torn apart because some of their members are here in the USA, trying to make a better life. I feel sorry for families that may also be torn apart because one of the members is deported back to their homeland because they are caught as “undocumented” workers. I feel sorry for the many immigrants who having spending years going through the legal process who have to see others demand their “rights” when they have not followed the correct process. I feel sorry for all of the people who are trapped in jobs with below-market compensation because they can not produce a valid I-9 form.

I can feel sorry for them and their personal situations… but it was their choice to break the laws in the first place that put them into this situation.

If one wants to move away from being part of this exploited “underclass”, you have to do so legally. The previous amnesty programs have done nothing but encourage more massive violations of our borders by more people who expect eventual citizenship by virture of their sheer numbers.

This is why we need to get serious about enforcing the laws we have, working to improve the system and suppliment our control of the borders.