this might not hurt, but close your eyes anyways — That thing that everyone said would happen is now...

That thing that everyone said would happen is now happening.

Background: Not to be outdone by Arizona, misguided lawmakers in Georgia in May passed their own “papers, please” law that allows law enforcement to question certain people about their immigration status. And, unlike Arizona’s anti-immigrant legislation, the Georgia law also creates stricter reporting requirements for businesses that hire workers and harsher punishments for companies that employ undocumented workers.

Authorities in Georgia will begin enforcing the law July 1.

What’s happening now: Undocumented workers are now leaving Georgia en masse as the enforcement date approaches – leaving millions of dollars of rotting crops in the fields and sabotaging the state’s farming economy because no one else will fill the labor void they’ve left.

“Georgia labor officials estimate a shortage of some 11,000 workers in the agriculture sector, and the state has enacted a program where people on probation, who often have difficulty finding jobs, are sent into the fields,” reported the AFP. But employers are finding that, when given the opportunity to work in place of an undocumented laborer, America’s probationers aren’t nearly as productive. This disruption to Georgia’s farming economy will hurt consumers.