GOOD HOPE — Farmers walking out of the forum on immigration law Monday weren’t convinced that an hour of their state representatives’ time was sufficient to ensure that lawmakers would take swift action that would let farms keep their migrant workers. Some were downright angry.

Marc Thrailkill of Crane Hill was animated in his frustration with what he considered the hurried, politically-motivated passing of a flawed immigration law that local representatives are only now beginning to regret.

“I listened to all this crap down in the legislature [in the 2011 session], and I came here today thinking that they had come up with a plan; with some kind of realization,” said Thrailkill. “But apparently, from coming here today, they don’t have a plan. They’ve been doing this for months now, and by God, they ought to have a plan.

“These guys are all brand new, and they just ponied up to the trough,” Thrailkill continued. “Paul [Bussman] got chopped up pretty good by the other senators [for attempting to put a stop to the rapid flurry of bill-passing in the 2011 session], but you know what? This is a bad bill, and he voted for it, just like the other two [local legislators] did. I don’t want to say it was partisan politics, but that’s exactly what it was.”

Other farmers were similarly frustrated with having to clean up what they said was a legal mess that could have been avoided in the first place, with a little more circumspection and a little less haste on the part of legislators. But, they said, meetings like the one at Jack’s restaurant Monday at least give them hope that lawmakers are finally starting to see the predicament the strict immigration law may create for Alabama farmers.

“When you’re dealing with a politician, you see them nod their head, ‘yeah’ — but how do you read a politician? They have a poker face. Are we really sure we’re getting through? I don’t know,” said local farmer Brian Kress after the meeting. “But truthfully — yes, I think they’re really listening. I think we did some good today.”

Sorting out the migrant labor issue with only weeks left before many local crops are ready to harvest puts farmers in a position of urgency to ensure that the help they’ll have on hand is legal. But, he stressed, if there’s a way for this growing season to pass without a disruption to the local pool of farm workers — most of them undocumented Hispanics — the state legislature can take some time to consider fixes to a law that, if upheld by a federal judge before the end of September, could leave farmers stranded

“It’s like Paul [Bussman] said — they rushed through some of this legislation, and now he’s learning a little more about it, and he’s going back and seeing how big a thing this is,” said Kress. “If we can get through the next month or six weeks, then we’ll have six or eight months before we have to worry about it like we are now. It’s seasonal. If they’d just put it off until the February session, that will help a lot.”

Most farmers in attendance agreed that the labor problem — the problem of recruiting undocumented workers from Latin American countries to do tough farm jobs on a day-labor basis — is one that will take a long time to fix. After all, said Colony council member Donnis Leeth to much agreement from farmers, it took a long time for the problem to develop. In so many words, Leeth said the problem is a cultural one.

“Y’all are talking all this about [not having Americans who want to do] the labor,” said an impassioned Leeth. “Who did that to the children? We did. Because we didn’t want our kids to work like we did. Don’t be putting this on [saying] ‘they won’t work‘ — no. We did it: You did it, I did it, they did it; we all did it.”

Kress agreed, saying he and other farmers who’ve seen some success over the years haven’t put the burden of backbreaking farm work on their own children — primarily because so many farmers who established themselves by working hard were hoping for a better life for their families; a life that didn’t demand of their own children the sacrifices — sacrifices of sweat, of small rewards for much effort, of getting by on less — that their parents had made.

“People are talking about how the work force ain’t there no more — well, I’m part of the problem,” he said. “I sent my son to Auburn and my daughter to UAB. Alabamians have done that to ourselves, and now we don’t have that kind of work force there any more. I’m 48, and when I got out of high school, I was working out in the field every day after school. That’s was just the way I did it. But we’ve all done this as Alabamians, where we don’t want to put our own kids through that; we’ve all done it.

“Well, is that their [undocumented workers’] fault? Who’s standing there wanting to do this work now? And we’re going to make that their fault? I’m not saying make them legal, but I’m saying these illegal aliens would pay for a temporary work permit. They’d pay for a driver’s license; all the taxes they don’t already pay — they’re willing. They will pay for their own right to work, and they will do what’s right; they’ll do their part — if the law will make it easier. It’s not that complicated. I think some these legislators are just now having that dawn on them, for the first time.”

Story from the Cullman Times; Written by Ben Bullard.

SOURCE: http://www.cullmantimes.com/local/x2137251951/Farmers-temper-anger-with-optimism