Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Solution to Georgia's Migrant Farming Issue

OK I could not resist so I sent the following email to Governor Deal in Georgia.

I was reading an article about the millions of crops that are going to die due to lack of migrant labor as a result of the recent legislation in Georgia and I had a solution. One of the biggest reasons people support the legislation is because the belief that the undocumented immigrant population is taking the jobs. Well, your first step was to eliminate that competition, so now there are many jobs open to the people in Georgia in agriculture. That said, if I were in Georgia, I would say, there are jobs to be had, so if you are currently on unemployment, your unemployment will stop and you can work on a farm picking onions, peaches, etc. When the season is over, if there are no more jobs, then the people can go back to collecting unemployment. They should be required to fill the positions, unless they can get documentation from an approved doctor that they have some disability which would preclude them from doing farm work. Why should the working Georgia taxpayers support people just hanging out on unemployment when there are jobs to be had. I would consider any able bodied unemployed person in Georgia who refuses to step up and take an open farming job to be committing fraud against the unemployment system. Just wondered if you had considered this. Would help your state budget, your farmers, and would prove once and for all you did what was best for the state by approving this bill and saving all those jobs for your voting constituency. Hope you have a great day.