Alabama's failed anti-immigration deportation law

[Cthulhu 2020]

In 2011, Alabama Republicans passed a law known as HB 56. This immigration law, among other things, ramped up enforcement and policing of undocumented workers and illegal aliens. The reason for this law? Alamaba's high unemployment rates, and the desire to free up jobs for Americans.

The law is now quietly being dismantled by the very lawmakers who passed it. Not because it didn't work as intended. It worked TOO well. Undocumented hispanics left Alabama in droves. Some were deported, others imprisoned. Even many legally immigrated working hispanics left because of constant targeting by local police.

The expected outcome would be that the unemployed would now come in and fill these jobs that the hispanics, and the unemployment rate would drop. Hooray, right?

Wrong.

The almost entirely white unemployed who came to work at these jobs couldn't cut it. The jobs that these hispanics filled were ones that white Americans either refused to do, or were just simply bad at. Much of it field and farm work. Farmers who had a work force that would arrive at 7 AM and work til sundown suddenly had workers that would show up late and then want to go home at noon.

The farming industry all but crashed in Alabama due to the lack of workers capable and willing to do the hard labor required. Many other industries were hurt. Many of Alabama's hotels had to temporarily close due to inability to find maids to clean rooms. It got so bad, that they tried to bring in prisoners to do the farm work. The end result? The prisoners didn't work half as hard as the migrants, and mostly just sat around and took smoke breaks.

There were other unintended consequences as well.

It took just six weeks after HB 56 went into effect for state legislators to start having second thoughts about their actions.

On November 16, 2011, police in Tuscaloosa stopped a driver for not having the proper tag on his rental car. Normally, this would have been a minor citation. But the driver did not have a license on him, only a German ID card, and that triggered what was supposed to be HB 56’s most powerful weapon against illegal immigration. Under the law, police were now required to arrest the man, haul him to court, and detain him until federal immigration authorities determined his fate, no matter how long that took.

As it turned out, the driver was an executive at Mercedes-Benz. The European car giant was one of several foreign auto companies in the state whose plants provide thousands of much-needed jobs.

This is now causing the very lawmakers who passed this to quietly roll it back. Without much fuss, noise or even coverage from most media sources, the bill is no longer in effect. Some Hispanics are beginning to come back into Alabama, but the economic effects of this disaster may be long lasting. Many small farmers have been forced to permanently close down and sell their land as a result.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/undocumen...ration-alabama
http://latinalista.com/palabrafinal/...immigrant-bill
http://www.buzzfeed.com/davidnoriega...per#.eev9KKk6x



For those with HBOGO for Game of Thrones, there's an excellent segment on this entire ordeal in season 3 episode 7 of Vice.

[Crissi]

Does any of it say how much the farmers were offering to pay? May be missing it. Figured Id bring it up because at some point someone's gonna say "well obviously those white people were being under payed for the work"

[unfilteredJW]

Didn't Colbert cover this or am I thinking of someone else?

[Cthulhu 2020]

Does any of it say how much the farmers were offering to pay? May be missing it. Figured Id bring it up because at some point someone's gonna say "well obviously those white people were being under payed for the work"

Nothing is said directly about that, but for a legal white worker, minimum wage is obviously going to be the pay. Maybe a little bit higher. But either way, it was work for those who were unemployed, many of which living in homeless shelters and sitting on road sides asking for work. When they got it, they couldn't cut it.

[Rumfoord]

Didn't Colbert cover this or am I thinking of someone else?

Most recently it was covered by Vice, but I wouldn't doubt Colbert had a segment on it.
__________________

Does any of it say how much the farmers were offering to pay? May be missing it. Figured Id bring it up because at some point someone's gonna say "well obviously those white people were being under payed for the work"

As far as pay goes, I think they were making it per bag filled rather than hourly, but I'm not entirely sure. I think the kicker was that the white people used by the farmers didn't perform nearly as well as the immigrants as far as production goes. They even tried inmates, with even less success.

[dwightyo39]

Probably hired all the soft city kids. There are plenty of farm kids who are already doing this kind of labor as their parents slaves.

[xact4]

Are you trying to make a point, an argument? You could've just linked the news article, dropped the mic, and walked off stage and skipped the summary and had the same effect.

Illegal immigration is a problem that neither side has a viable solution for without utterly destroying the industry it's associated with. At least they tried something. I guess.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Probably hired all the soft city kids. There are plenty of farm kids who are already doing this kind of labor as their parents slaves.

The farmers tried to recruit widely, they very openly hired just about anyone who came and wanted to work for money. If there were farm boys, they were probably already working. The unemployed are clearly not farm workers. Hispanics do and fill the jobs most native born Americans would never do.

[dwightyo39]

The farmers tried to recruit widely, they very openly hired just about anyone who came and wanted to work for money. If there were farm boys, they were probably already working. The unemployed are clearly not farm workers. Hispanics do and fill the jobs most native born Americans would never do.

I'm not saying Alabama did a good job with their law. Just trying to curb this sjw "white people can't handle actual labor intensive jobs" bs.

[starlord]

heaven forbid farmers pay a decent wage for work.

[Cthulhu 2020]

I'm not saying Alabama did a good job with their law. Just trying to curb this sjw "white people can't handle actual labor intensive jobs" bs.

SJW has been bastardized so far from its original meaning, and bastardized even further from the meaning it was given by the anti-SJW's, as we see here in exhibit A. At this point, it's become like the term "troll", used against someone you don't like or disagree with, at least on social issues.

[dwightyo39]

SJW has been bastardized so far from its original meaning, and bastardized even further from the meaning it was given by the anti-SJW's, as we see here in exhibit A. At this point, it's become like the term "troll", used against someone you don't like or disagree with, at least on social issues.

In any case, I know there are plenty of of people of every race who could do that job. Is it a shitty labor to pay ratio? Absolutely.

There are a lot of unemployed people (and before you get your feelings hurt, I do not mean all of them) who have never developed a work ethic. I know some former/current convicts who have the same issue. Hell, it is one of the reason they stay in their current situation.

Also, the heaviest object the hipster reporter kid from vice has ever lifted is probably his $50 Starbucks coffee. No wonder he can't lift a watermelon. He is not an ambassador for white labor.

I will say, he does have balls for going to some of the places he has for stories. That and I do like Vice.

[unfilteredJW]

Thanks for the Vice link. Will check out tonight.

[Cthulhu 2020]

In any case, I know there are plenty of of people of every race who could do that job. Is it a shitty labor to pay ratio? Absolutely.

There are a lot of unemployed people (and before you get your feelings hurt, I do not mean all of them) who have never developed a work ethic. I know some former/current convicts who have the same issue. Hell, it is one of the reason they stay in their current situation.

Also, the heaviest object the hipster reporter kid from vice has ever lifted is probably his $50 Starbucks coffee. No wonder he can't lift a watermelon. He is not an ambassador for white labor.

I will say, he does have balls for going to some of the places he has for stories. That and I do like Vice.

Yeah, I think he has mega balls to go the places he does. But when I saw him lift that watermelon, which couldn't have been more than 30 pounds, I laughed.

[Revi]

So they rushed into this without a sufficient transition period, took inexperienced workers and expected them to work what I can only assume are illegally long hours, and then for some odd reason it failed correct itself in 6 weeks.

The only thing this seems to demonstrate is that really poorly thought out laws with no real strategy for implementation doesn't work.

[unfilteredJW]

Yeah, the guy in the video probably needs to unload a Cisco truck or two.

[Elegiac]

Does any of it say how much the farmers were offering to pay? May be missing it. Figured Id bring it up because at some point someone's gonna say "well obviously those white people were being under payed for the work"

There are some jobs which are so unpleasant by their nature that the wage level offered has to be disproportionate to the amount of work.

Why do you think garbage men are paid so well?

- - - Updated - - -

Illegal immigration is a problem that neither side has a viable solution for without utterly destroying the industry it's associated with. At least they tried something. I guess.

It has a viable solution.

Relax legal immigration costs and standards. It's ruinously expensive to immigrate legally.

[Starscream101]

I call BS. I'm White I pick Oranges and Olives and Lemons and Grapefruit here in California with OTHER WITHE PEOPLE ON THE CREWS in the winter. In the summer we go to Washington and pick Cherry's, Apples and Pears. There would be more White People on the crew's or would be all white if back in the 30s 40s and 50s if they would not of started trucking in Mexicans. Grapes of Wrath people I have family who lived it, hell my grandma helped build National Farm Workers Association so yes white people would and still do farm work its just Farmers do not want to pay the wadges they should. Farmers most of them don't do crap out in those type of field's they hire one or two guys to do the pruning the trees and water mostly and they call in Toppers and hedgers in to cut the trees. Hell they don't even hire pickers.

They call up the packing house they send out the pickers to pick the fruit transport the fruit package the fruit had the farmer a big ass check. Dairy farmers are the worse I worked for them you would not believe how much milk we pour on the ground to keep prices up and to get government subsidized. And how much money they make so a mother has to pay 4 bucks a gallon for milk then sell you the byproduct for cheese sour cream and such. That milk farmer I worked for every year the wife would buy a Mercedes-Benz says she cant stand to drive the same car more than a year. And most Farmers now inherent their farms so they do not know what it is like to go with out.

[Elegiac]

I call BS.

On your wall of anecdotal garbage? I agree.

It's a well known fact that migrant workers take the jobs that white people won't do even if they are available. This is a good thing, as it provides (theoretically) a path of mobility for immigrants.

[Hooked]

I don't know why we even need any immigration anymore, with all the robot technology being developed whats the purpose of letting more unskilled people into the country for any reason?. Gallup poll said 60% of democrats want to give illegals the right to vote in our elections, that is the worst idea I have ever heard of.