Immigration raid devastates Ga. town

People who don't believe that this country can't survive without all these workers should read this story. DP

Half of workforce lost; businesses at virtual standstill

By Russ Bynum, Associated Press

BostonGlobe.com: STILLMORE, Ga. -- Trailer parks lie abandoned. The poultry plant is scrambling to replace more than half its workforce. Business has dried up at stores where Mexican laborers once lined up to buy food, beer, and cigarettes just weeks ago.

This Georgia community of about 1,000 people has become little more than a ghost town since Sept. 1, when federal agents began rounding up illegal immigrants.

The sweep has had the unintended effect of underscoring just how vital the illegal immigrants were to the local economy.
More than 120 illegal immigrants have been loaded onto buses bound for immigration courts in Atlanta, 189 miles away. Hundreds more fled Emanuel County. Residents say many scattered into the woods, camping out for days. They worry some are still hiding without food.

At least one child, born a US citizen, was left behind by his Mexican parents: 2-year-old Victor Perez-Lopez. The toddler's mother, Rosa Lopez, left her son with Julie Rodas when the raids began and fled the state. The boy's father was deported to Mexico.

`When his momma brought this baby here and left him, tears rolled down her face and mine, too," Rodas said. ``She said, `Julie, will you please take care of my son because I have no money, no way of paying rent?' "
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