A special legislative committee in North Carolina tasked with considering whether to pass a get-tough state immigration bill has decided to defer the issue until 2013. The North Carolina Farm Bureau and North Carolina Green Industry Council have been very active in the debate, pointing to the economic dislocation in states like Georgia and Alabama as a reason not to follow suit but rather choose a more deliberative path. "The 'illegal' label doesn't hold up when (immigrants) are paying their taxes and witholdings, and doing the jobs that fail to attract Americans," Bert Lemkes, general manager of Van Wingerden Greenhouses in Mills River, NC, told a group of about 100 people attending an immigration forum in the western part of the state.

Meanwhile, in Mississippi all eyes are on the Senate, which is considering whether to take action on a House-passed enforcement-only bill. The poultry industry and other agricultural interests have urged restraint.

Filed under: immigration • legislation • H-2B • H-2A