Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday said he was not seeking changes to Georgia’s new anti-illegal immigration law despite its unintended consequences, including migrant farmworker shortages.
The Republican governor, who signed the law in May, pointed out that parts of the law have only been in effect for months. He indicated he wanted to spend more time assessing how it is working.
“I am just one of those who need to be cautious about going in and tinkering until you know the full effect of what you did the first time around,” Deal said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
At the same time, Deal said the federal government should reform its seasonal guest worker program. Some Georgia farmers have complained the H-2A program, which allows noncitizens to work here temporarily, is too costly and full of red tape.
Deal briefly spoke to the AJC about the immigration legislation -- also called House Bill 87 -- moments after speaking at a Georgia Farm Bureau luncheon in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday. At a similar luncheon the governor attended a year ago, the head of the Georgia Farm Bureau warned against passing legislation that would scare immigrant workers away from Georgia.
Despite that warning, the Legislature passed HB 87 in April. Georgia’s $68.8 billion farming industry -- the state’s largest -- has since complained the law is scaring away the migrant Hispanic farmworkers it depends on, resulting in crop losses of nearly $75 million.
At the Farm Bureau luncheon Tuesday, Deal spoke about schools, taxes and the state’s legal battle with Florida and Alabama over water rights, but he did not mention the immigration law. That surprised Gary Paulk, who grows blackberries and grapes in South Georgia. He said he normally expands his cropsevery year but will not do so this year because of labor shortage concerns.
“I don’t know if it is one of those issues that he thinks has gone away and is no longer important,” said Paulk, who served as Deal's Irwin County gubernatorial campaign chairman. “I know the issue has not gone away. ... It’s an issue for farmers -- they are not going to be able to have enough help.”
David Lee, who grows blueberries in Alma, said about 60 of his migrant Hispanic workers did not return to his farm last year after Georgia enacted its law, causing him about $10,000 to $20,000 in crop losses. He said the state “made a major mistake” by not studying what the law would do to Georgia’s economy before enacting it. He said he wasn’t surprised Deal didn’t mention the law during his speech to the farmers.
“I don’t think you can put the toothpaste back in the tube,” he said.
After he listened to Deal speak Tuesday, Zippy Duvall, president of the Georgia Farm Bureau, said in an interview that he regrets how the state went about enacting the law.
“I think that decision last year was made off of passion that was running rampant across our state,” he said. “For us to make a decision of that magnitude without an economic impact study just doesn’t really make any sense.”
Also Tuesday, Deal expressed optimism the state would prevail in a legal dispute over HB 87 after oral arguments are heard March 1 before a federal appeals court in Atlanta.
The state is appealing a lower court’s decision to put the two most controversial parts of the law on hold, including one that would authorize police to investigate the immigration status of certain suspects and detain those who are determined to be in the country illegally. Another provision that was put on hold would punish people who transport or harbor illegal immigrants in Georgia. Civil and immigrant rights groups argue those provisions interfere with the federal government’s authority to regulate immigration.
Deal said the law was “fairly carefully crafted” and Georgia has taken a more “moderate” approach compared with other states.
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