Alabama Looks To Replace Immigrant Workers With Prison Labor

By on December 15, 2011 in News 20

JO3ND00ZA draconian law passed earlier this year has resulted in an exodus of illegal (and legal) immigrants from Alabama, and as a result, crops are rotting in fields on farms across the state. The solution? A return to chain gang days, reports AFP:

Alabama farmers have proposed using prisoners to work their fields to replace migrants who fled the state after it passed the country’s harshest anti-immigration law, officials said Tuesday.

The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industry officials met Tuesday in Mobile with farmers to discuss their proposal. A statement by the department said the meeting with the farmers was convened “to help solve the chronic labor shortages created by Alabama’s new immigration law.”

Known as HB56, the new law requires local police to verify the immigration status of anyone they have a “reasonable suspicion” of being in the country illegally.

The law touched off an exodus of mainly Hispanic workers who moved to other states because of fears of being deported, prompting complaints by farm and construction industry groups of a shortage of workers in one of the poorest US states.

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  • Anonymous

    Bama’s tried and true solution to all its labor woes
    http://www.slaverybyanothername.com/
    the mines around Birmingham had higher per capita death rates than the gulags

  • E.B. Wolf

    Anything to avoid paying their workers a little more. I guess the holy free market doesn’t know what the fuck it’s talking about when it says your not offering a high enough wage for the task you need done.

  • Tuna Ghost

    So does this put the final nail in the coffin of the “They’re taking our jobs” groups?  Because this isn’t the first time a state has kicked out all of its migrant workers to discover that no one else wants to toil in a field for next to nothing

  • DeepCough

    Hey, in the South, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

  • Anonymous

    This is scary, because this means they are going to incarcerate most of their population to do slave labor.  Our Justice system is way out of Control.

  • anonymouse

    Swish.

  • Windmillchaserposts

    If, and I say if you have a middle aged convict working in the fields. This person has shown no outward medical problems. He is put to work in the fields. Suddenly this convict shows signs of medical distress. Paramedics are called. Because the paramedics determine that an ambulance ride is too far a ‘Life Flight’ Medical Helicopter is called in. Because he is a prisoner, one guard is sent along with him. (In Calf., if a convict is sent to the hospital, two guards are assigned to him regardless if he is comatose or awake). The convict is rushed to surgery. Then to ICU for three week recovery.

    Now lets see what we have here. We took convicts put them working on crops. Now if you have just one of these, you will have a family what will want compensation for their dad, uncle, brother (choose family) and will sue the state, the county, the prison, the warden, the guard who was overseeing the detail and will also probably sue the farmer.

    Uh huh. How much money did you save just now?

  • Vic

    Modern day slavery. sounds about right…

  • Nunzio X

    FIELD BOSS: Yew bettuh work harder, nigra!
    ME: But I’m white…
    FIELD BOSS: All yew con-victs look the same to me, boy. Shouldn’ta got yerself arrested.
    ME: But I was at a peaceful demonstration…OWS…the Constitution guarantees the right to free assembly.
    FIELD BOSS: An’ we assembled yo’ ass here in this field, nigra! [STRIKES CONVICT WITH BUTT OF GUN] Git to work, boy!
    FARMER: Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet, this is costin’ me LOTS less than them webacks used to!
    FIELD BOSS: Ain’t America the greatest place on the face of the earth?

  • Nunzio X

    FIELD BOSS: Yew bettuh work harder, nigra!
    ME: But I’m white…
    FIELD BOSS: All yew con-victs look the same to me, boy. Shouldn’ta got yerself arrested.
    ME: But I was at a peaceful demonstration…OWS…the Constitution guarantees the right to free assembly.
    FIELD BOSS: An’ we assembled yo’ ass here in this field, nigra! [STRIKES CONVICT WITH BUTT OF GUN] Git to work, boy!
    FARMER: Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet, this is costin’ me LOTS less than them webacks used to!
    FIELD BOSS: Ain’t America the greatest place on the face of the earth?

  • 6Blackie6

    Finally! Now if we can crackdown on those “weed smokers” and anti-corporatist hippies, if we can fill up  our corporate prisons and subject the poor (I mean convicts)  to slave labor, this will get the economy moving again! Add the benefit of less welfare to pay and VIVA LE RICH!

  • Guest

    How is it Draconian to say that you want the citizens of your state to be documented so you know that someone isn’t a convicted rapist? How is it wrong to demand that people pay their fair share of taxes? Don’t blame alabama for wanting to curtail the spending of the public sector caused by people benefiting from the system without paying taxes. Blame congress for not making it easier to become a citizen.

  • Guest

    How is it Draconian to say that you want the citizens of your state to be documented so you know that someone isn’t a convicted rapist? How is it wrong to demand that people pay their fair share of taxes? Don’t blame alabama for wanting to curtail the spending of the public sector caused by people benefiting from the system without paying taxes. Blame congress for not making it easier to become a citizen.

  • Hadrian999

    the problem is that immigrant farm workers are very skilled jobs, you cant really replace them with prisoners

  • Anonymous

    “A statement by the department said the meeting with the farmers was convened “to help solve the chronic labor shortages created by Alabama’s new immigration law.””

    So instead of creating new paying jobs for the locals they decided to bring in convicts to work for free?
    Yeah, that’s a really effective way to solve the chronic labour shortages.

  • Hadrian999

    not only do people not want those jobs but often they don’t have the skills. picking fruit isn’t simple or easy. even if Americans would do it for current wages they would be much less productive

  • Anarchy Pony

    ALL HAIL THE GLORIOUS EMPIRE!

  • Anarchy Pony

    Free marketeers ignore the lengths that corporations and owners go to in order to cut costs.

  • jayjay4142

    Al. already uses prisoners to work in poultry plants here.  They also do road clean up and various other jobs.     Why would any corporation agree to take over a prison unless they knew there was a way to profit from it.   It is just another way to get cheaper labor because I hear the Chinese are demanding higher wages.   So much for the safety of the people especially women and children.

  • jayjay4142

    How is it right to put people already convicted of crimes and serving time out in the fields , in the plants, on the clean-up crews  on the roads?    Just because they are serving time for writing a bad check does not mean that they are not a child molestor who never got caught or etc. etc.? What the farmer needs to do is pay a decent wage so that the worker makes enough money to actually owe taxes.