Farm leaders vow resistance to new immigration legislation
Ken Hood, an agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, says Magnolia State farmers would see some labor losses but nothing like Alabama and Georgia
by Ted Carter
Published: October 23,2011
Tags: agricultural leaders, immigrant workers, immigration, migrant workers
In a Monday, Oct. 3, 2011 photo, Juan Gonzalez sorts tomatoes in Steele, Ala.. Only a few of farm owner Leroy Smith's field workers showed up for work after Alabama's new immigration law took effect last week. Hispanic workers and their children are fleeing Alabama or going into hiding because of the state's strict new immigration law, which will surely deal a significant blow to the state's economy and may slow the rebuilding of Tuscaloosa and other tornado-damaged cities. The impact is being felt from construction sites to farms and schools, and it's driven by fears of being jailed and held without bond if police should catch them without the proper documentation. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
With Southern governors and legislatures in a hurry to enact strict immigration enforcement measures, worries have arisen across the region that farm crops will wither in the fields without enough migrant workers to harvest them.
That prospect has set up a potential fight in Mississippi between legislators who…
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