Photo by Old Shoe Woman/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Vidalia onions for sale in Georgia, June 2005
Yesterday, NPR’s All Things Considered examined the looming crisis in the Vidalia onion industry in Georgia, where growers of the prized sweet onions could be left without sufficient workers because of a new anti-illegal immigration law that tightens regulations for hiring labor.
But like a twice-deported immigrant, this is not the first time that Vidalia onions, grown exclusively in a small region within Georgia, have had a run-in with immigration enforcement.
The story didn’t mention the political firestorm that ensued more than a dozen years ago, when immigration agents famously targeted Georgia’s Vidalia onion growers. That story in the end illustrated how difficult it is for agriculture to subsist without cheap unauthorized labor – and how economics can trump the political will to enforce immigration laws when push comes to shove.
In mid-May of 1998, immigration agents working for the Clinton administration conducted raids in the Vidalia onion-growing region of southeastern Georgia, apprehending several workers. Some growers had previously applied for H-2A guest workers, but had withdrawn their applications after the federal labor department insisted they pay more than they were willing to.
Unlike with previous raids in the area, the 1998 onion raids – and the ensuing panic among growers – took place at a precarious time, just as the harvest was getting underway.
