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	Alabama Workers Leave State As Immigration Law Takes Effect


			
		



	

		
	
	

	

	

    
    
    
    

    
    

    

	    





	








 
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Alabama Workers Leave State As Immigration Law Takes Effect

Alabama Workers Immigration Law

By PHILLIP RAWLS   10/ 5/11 09:19 PM ET   AP

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Alabama's strict new immigration law may be backfiring. Intended to force illegal workers out of jobs, it is also driving away many construction workers, roofers and field hands in the country legally who do backbreaking jobs that Americans generally won't.

The vacancies have created a void that will surely deal a blow to the state's economy and could slow the rebuilding of Tuscaloosa and other tornado-damaged cities.

Employers believe they can carry on because of the dismal economy, but when things do turn around, they worry there won't be anyone around to hire. Many legal Hispanic workers are fleeing the state because their family and friends don't have the proper papers and they fear they will be jailed.

Rick Pate, the owner of a commercial landscaping company in Montgomery, lost two of his most experienced workers, who were in the country legally. He spent thousands of dollars training them to install irrigation systems at places like the Hyundai plant.

"They just feel like there is a negative atmosphere for them here. They don't feel welcome. I don't begrudge them. I'd feel nervous, too," Pate said.

While it's not clear how many of an estimated 185,000 Hispanic people in the state have fled, one estimate figured as much one-fourth of the commercial building work force had left since the law was upheld last week, said Bill Caton, president of Associated General Contractors of Alabama. Commercial construction is a more than $7 billion-a-year industry in Alabama.

Legislators said the law would help legal residents suffering from nearly 10 percent unemployment.

One of the bill's authors, Republican Sen. Scott Beason, said he expected short-term problems, but he has received "thank you" calls from two people who replaced illegal immigrants who fled their jobs. Beason predicts that trickle will become a rush.

"We have the best law in the country and I stand by what we've done," Beason said.

Some farmers disagreed.

On Chandler Mountain in north Alabama, tomato farmer Lana Boatwright said only eight of the 48 Hispanic workers she needed for harvest showed up after the law took effect. Those who did were frightened.

"My husband and I take them to the grocery store at night and shop for them because they are afraid they will be arrested," she said.

Farmer Chad Smith said his family farm stands to lose up to $150,000 because there are not enough workers to pick tomatoes spoiling in the fields.

"We will be lucky to be in business next year," he said.

The financial toll will vary by area, and experts said it's too early to make predictions.

The law allows police to detain people indefinitely if they are suspected of being in the country illegally and requires schools to check the status of new students when they enroll. Those elements make it perhaps the toughest law in nation.

The law targets employers by forbidding drivers from stopping along a road to hire temporary workers. It also bars businesses from taking tax deductions for wages paid to illegal workers and makes it a crime for an illegal immigrant to solicit work. A federal judge has temporarily blocked those sections of the law so she can study them more.

Cristian Gonzalez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, is a stay-at-home mother of four who lives in a mobile home in suburban Birmingham with her husband. They sneaked across the border in 2009 and planned to save money and eventually return to their home country.

"We're afraid to go to Walmart. I'm afraid to walk the kids up there to get the bus. I am afraid to drive," Gonzalez said.

Her husband worked as a brick mason and cook, but was recently unemployed. Now they have decided they probably will return to Mexico.

"We're just trying to be here one more year, but with this law ..." she said, her voice trailing off as she shook her head.

In Tuscaloosa, there is still a lot of rebuilding to be done after Alabama's killer tornadoes in April. Without the Hispanic workers to help out, it will take even longer for neighborhoods to be fixed up. Blake Corder, the president of the Home Builders Association of Tuscaloosa, noted that the workers had left the area and he even lost a few renters in the past week.

Likewise, schools are worried about their students who have suddenly stopped showing up for class. Out of 34,000 Hispanic students, 2,285 were absent Monday. That number increased from Friday by a few hundred.

The figures show seven out of every 100 Hispanic children were out of school, even though state school officials have tried to assure parents that they won't release their names to police and that no child will be denied an education due to legal status.

At Gonzalez' mobile home community, driveways were full of cars and trucks at midday Tuesday, a time when most residents used to be at work. A resident who didn't want to be identified out of fear of the law said people are afraid to venture out during daylight.

"People are just not going to work. They don't want to be arrested," the woman said.

Builders have complained they can't find replacement workers and delays in projects are expected. Once the economy picks up and construction returns to normal, the impact will increase, said Russell Davis, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Alabama.

"There is going to be a void. No question," Davis said.

___

Associated Press writers Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Ala., and Dave Martin in Steele, Ala., contributed to this report.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Alabama's strict new immigration law may be backfiring. Intended to force illegal workers out of jobs, it is also driving away many construction workers, roofers and field hands in...
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Alabama's strict new immigration law may be backfiring. Intended to force illegal workers out of jobs, it is also driving away many construction workers, roofers and field hands in...
 
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15 seconds ago (7:18 PM)
Ok, this is just too easy. Bus all the OWS protesters down there and put them to work!!
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
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JustaSlob
"Mom fed me with a slingshot" ..RD
23 seconds ago (7:18 PM)
I just paid $785.00 for passports for me, the wife and three kids to go on a cruise on Thanksgivi­ng.

I'm thinking we should have just went to Mexico instead. Heck who needs a passport to get back....

Thanks Homeland Security.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cliffhammond
Onward through the fog!
30 seconds ago (7:18 PM)
We should get a Republican presidenti­al debate scheduled in Mobile or Birmingham and use the rotten tomatoes to get our point across.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
treadway123
treadway123
39 seconds ago (7:18 PM)
Told ya! White people will NOT work the long hrs./less pay like these hispanics do in the field picking, Constructi­on an etc.......­. All this unfair bill did is destroy farmers who needed pickers,pu­t more bussines's out of business an slowed the recovery from the hard hit disastor state of Alabama. In short these LEGAL IMMIGRANTS will carry their anger to other states an vote AGAINST the Republican­/T.P candidates an this anger will carry accross America like a plegue. Than all of u can just keep on laughing thinking this is a real hoot/joke!
49 seconds ago (7:18 PM)
WHAT!

you mean tea_bag_re­d_necks aren't flocking to the fields to do some a them jobs that mericuns don't wanna dooo?
tbrnotb
...that is the question!
51 seconds ago (7:18 PM)
Congratula­tions Alabama! You asked for it....and NOW you got it! Try to find some of your goober citizens to take these jobs!

BTW, enjoy those $10 tomatoes!
60 seconds ago (7:18 PM)
When this law backfires, perhaps the farmers and companies that will be lacking worjers can call on the Republican­s to send their sons and daughters to work in all the places that don't have workers as a result of this law!
1 minute ago (7:17 PM)
If we stop unemployme­nt after 26 weeks, there would be people who would pick the stuff.
Duppy
I am smart so I must be a liberal
44 seconds ago (7:18 PM)
SPEAKING of illegals ? And here you are Canadian !
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BillLoney
Always drink upstream from the herd.
1 minute ago (7:17 PM)
Righties, you're ignoring the fact that your state's economy is crashing. Hello? Did you forget something?
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
FascistFlakes
They're Great
45 seconds ago (7:18 PM)
They don't forget; they simply ignore.
1 minute ago (7:17 PM)
good to get rid of them. now the "americans­" on unemployme­nt and food stamps can step up a nd get a job, weather they like it or not.. wages? they get what they get.
Duppy
I am smart so I must be a liberal
2 minutes ago (7:17 PM)
UpNorthGuy­WI
1204 Fans Become a fan
2 minutes ago (7:12 PM)
If illegal they shouldn't be here. Goodbye.
__________­__________­__________­__________­_____

YOU YOURSELF is NOT an American citizen. SO WHY ARE YOU HERE Canadian ?
2 minutes ago (7:17 PM)
Well if the Occupy Wall Street people have their demands met , these jobs will be filled....­......."An­other policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hr."
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36 seconds ago (7:18 PM)
Link?
2 minutes ago (7:17 PM)
Phil, are the "vital workers" legal citizens"? If not, what is your point? So you think to get the work done, we should keep allowing illegals to capitalize on our system? Are u that dumb or just so ideologica­lly blind?
2 minutes ago (7:17 PM)
When I was sixteen in the 1950's, I worked with a crew in tobacco fields cutting and splitting the stalks and warehousin­g them for drying. The pay was 50 cents an hour, about equivalent to the $7.00 dollar an hour minimum wage today adjusted for inflation. This gave me and other kids in the crew some pocket spending money, but certainly not real money to support a family (which none of us of course had to do). The all-knowin­g big-ego Tea Party people should try their hand at farm work at minimum wage for two years (as their only source of income) and see how much fun it is! Its easy to talk about "others" doing the work, but try it yourself and you may actually learn something about reality.
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williamg
We're talking bout practice...
57 seconds ago (7:18 PM)
The average field worker makes $10 an hour.
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Texanbybirth
Embarrassing Socialists from coast to coast
2 minutes ago (7:17 PM)
Everyone likes to compare to the Depression in the 30's; in that era people were ashamed to take money without working for it, now they are ashamed to take a job "below" them and would rather take the money without working.





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