Georgia Agricultural Commissioner Gary Black is preparing to release the results of a long-awaited report about whether the state can legally create its own guest worker-program.
Black is expected to release the report at a 2 p.m. news conference Tuesday at the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s headquarters office in downtown Atlanta. His report could help set the tone of the debate over illegal immigration in the upcoming state legislative session.
Last year, Black said his department would consult with officials in Utah, which has enacted a law to allow illegal immigrants to get permits to work there. There is sharp disagreement, however, over whether states can do that. Critics say only the federal government has that power.
Georgia’s new immigration enforcement law -- House Bill 87 -- called for Black to conduct his study. HB 87 also required Black's department to study immigration's impact on the state's agricultural industry and "the need for reform" of the federal H-2A guest-worker program.
After Gov. Nathan Deal signed HB 87 into law in May, the state’s $68.8 billion farming industry – Georgia’s largest industry – started complaining the law was scaring off the migrant Hispanic workers it depends on. In a report issued in October, the industry said labor shortages contributed to $74.9 million in estimated losses in seven fruit and vegetable crops last year.
Under HB 87, Black’s report was due to Deal and state lawmakers Sunday.
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