Alabama Immigration Law Causes Labor Shortage, Forces Importation Of Immigrants

Alabama Immigration Law Causes Labor Shortage, Forces Importation Of Immigrants

Esene Manga, an Eritrean refugee living in Atlanta, hadn't heard of Albertville, Alabama until a recruiter offered him a job there. Now Manga, 22, earns $10.85 an hour cutting chicken breasts on a poultry-plant night shift, an unexpected beneficiary of a year-old law designed to drive out illegal Hispanic immigrants.

This isn't what the law's backers said would happen. Republican state Senator Scott Beason, a sponsor, said at a news conference last year that the restrictions on undocumented workers would "put thousands of native Alabamians back in the work force."

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot