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5/12 – Huffington Post (VIDEO) – Ofelia Yanez: Georgia: Buying Immigrants and Selling Peaches

Ofelia Yanez: Georgia: Buying Immigrants and Selling Peaches.

Posted: 05/12/11 03:28 PM ET

It’s the cynicism and ignorance in politician’s statements when it becomes apparent that the motivation behind their actions is not out of concern for the people they represent, but rather out of a personal bias they hold within themselves. Such is the case with Sen. Bill Cowsert who recently stated the following to members of the Walton County Chamber of Commerce in response to the possible impact of a boycott against the state of Georgia.

“Who’s going to boycott us, illegal aliens? Are they going to turn themselves in and raise their hand that they’re opposed to it? I don’t see that hurting our business here.”

-Sen. Bill Cowsert

Obviously someone wasn’t paying attention when the boycott in Arizona happened after Gov. Jan Brewer signed the controversial and discriminatory SB1070. Arizona lost over $250 million dollars within 7 months of the passage of the law, and was predicted to reach $388 million according to a study for the Center for American Progress. The situation gets trickier for Georgia however since it’s largest industry, agriculture, is estimated to include 40-50% undocumented workers.

So to answer the senator’s question, um, yeah, the undocumented community, or as you like to call them, “illegal aliens” will boycott you and so will everyone else who supports our hard working people.

Let’s stop playing dumb and pretend like this has to do with national security or jobs. It just so happens that Georgia has other motivations in passing this law since private prison corporations have high stakes in the state, just like they did in Arizona, and are desperately waiting to cash in on their profits once undocumented people start filling up their cells.

Posted on May 30, 2011 at 2:54 pm in Editorials & Opinions, Legislative, News   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL

One Comment to “5/12 – Huffington Post (VIDEO) – Ofelia Yanez: Georgia: Buying Immigrants and Selling Peaches”

    
  1. Elizabeth Martin
    May 30, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    Right on! There are our “noble” elected officials for you! Undocumented migrants and immigrants cannot and DO NOT vote (despite many unproven claims to the contrary during passage of the recent Voter ID law). Farmers DO vote, but their efforts and those of Georgia’s Agricultural Industry officials failed to stop enactment of the biased and economically-damaging HB-87. Our elected officials misled and sold out their constituents, caving in to the demands of the lucrative lobbyists from the private prison industry. The private prison corporations violate fundamental human rights. They treat human beings like chattel, packing many more prisoners into cells than the cells are designed to hold, providing inadequate food and medical care, brutalizing prisoners, and warehousing for indefinite lengths of time people (accused, but not convicted, of non-violent crimes) that ICE will not and cannot afford to deport. Their objective seems to be to extract the maximum profit from their contracts with the state while providing minimal services in operating their prisons. I want to see a federal investigation of conditions in these private prisons, with the possibility of criminal charges filed against those responsible for these CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY! I personally would consider myself “partner to the crime” if I ever again vote for a legislator or governor who helped make HB-87 a Georgia Law.

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