Alabama farmers frantically looking for workers to replace those that have fled the state in the wake of its tough new immigration law should just stop by their local prison, according to the head of Alabama’s agriculture department. John McMillan, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, told the Montgomery Advertiser on Thursday that inmate labor through the state’s work-release program offers a short-term solution to the sudden labor shortage that has hit Alabama since enforcement of its illegal immigration law kicked in.
Some farmers have said the state’s new law has driven away Hispanic migrant farm workers — and without another potential labor source, they say produce may have to be left to rot in the fields.
“We are optimistic that by Monday, we will have some help for farmers,” McMillan said.
Under the law, employers must use the E-Verify system to check workers’ legality and police can ask for documentation of anyone they stop, detain or arrest.
Farm laborers aren’t the only ones not showing up in the days since the law was upheld by a federal judge: Hispanic students are also missing class at an alarming rate, POLITICO reported.
The work-release program using inmates isn’t new for Alabama — and another state tried a similar tactic in the wake of its own new law cracking down on illegal immigration.
This summer in Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal’s program to replace farm workers with probationers backfired when some of the convicted criminals started walking off their jobs because field work was too hard, POLITICO reported.
And McMillan said he is well aware of Georgia’s failed efforts.
“That is why I’m emphasizing that this is a short-term solution to get the cur¬rent crops up,” McMillan said. “Then, we’ll look at the long term.”
