Guest workers harvest an onion field in Lyons, Ga., in June. Two years after a handful of Southern states passed laws designed to drive away people living in the country illegally, the landscape looks much as it did before: still heavily populated with foreign workers, many of whom don’t have legal authorization to be here.VIDALIA, Ga. – Two years after Georgia and Alabama passed laws designed to drive away people living in the country illegally, the states’ agricultural areas are still heavily populated with foreign workers, many of whom don’t have legal authorization to be here.
There are still concerns over enforcement and lingering fears among immigrants, but in many ways it appears that people have gone on with life much as it was before the laws were enacted.
Farmers say many of the foreign workers have returned because the laws are not heavily enforced and it once again seems safe to be here.
But the story is more complicated than that: Some are still staying away or have gone underground, according to community activists, and some farmers say they are filling labor shortages not with returning immigrants but with workers hired through a program that grants temporary legal visas.
Meanwhile, employers and workers in both states are watching as Congress wrestles over plans that aim to prevent future illegal immigration and to offer a chance at citizenship for millions now living in the country illegally.