GEORGIA’S ECONOMY

Some of the state’s top industries weighed in on the Trump administration’s immigration policies in interviews with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“A very important distinction that people need to start making is the difference between immigrants and illegal immigrants because it is not being talked about. Everybody is being lumped into that every immigrant is illegal in this country. And I find it extremely offensive as an immigrant to this country because I did not come here illegally.”

Karen Bremer, CEO of the Georgia Restaurant Association

“Agriculture definitely has a large percentage of undocumented workers. We have known that all along. The real question from what I have seen is to what extent... the individual (laborers) are going to react to this. And the best I can tell so far is people just kind of are not coming out of the house.”

Charles Hall, executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association

“Our industry has an incredibly diverse workforce at every level. I was thinking back to 2011 (when Georgia enacted its immigration enforcement law), and what we found out at that time is our hoteliers were very much in compliance using E-Verify. And since then, they have even set their standards higher for compliance.”

Jim Sprouse, executive director of the Georgia Hotel and Lodging Association

“Our businesses want to hire a domestic workforce, a legal workforce. And many of them are comprised of a very high percentage of immigrants because American workers honestly don’t want to do the work in these lowskilled jobs.”

Mary Kay Woodworth, executive director of the Georgia Urban Ag Council