The immigration debate, which the more racist wing of the republican party is staking part of their 2006 electoral hopes on, sure has some ah, "interesting" people arguing their side for them. From an article on the carpet industry in Georgia, which is trying to toss every illegal alien out of the state, is this little gem about Preening Chickenhawk Hypocrite Extraordinaire Saxby Chambliss: (my emphasis)

Another turning point came in 1998, when immigration agents raided the Vidalia onion fields, putting the valuable harvest in jeopardy, only to be called off after Georgia congressmen protested to the Clinton administration. One protest came from then-Rep. Saxby Chambliss (R), now a senator and an advocate of deporting illegal immigrants.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. I don't know what the percentage of Georgia state income tax revenue comes from the workers in the carpet mill, whether they are legal or illegal, but it can't be small numbers. The total amount of money that the state collects from the mills is significant enough that if they were to move over the border because of the Mohawk lawsuit or pure economics, I suspect that the backlash would be pretty severe...Ol' Saxby might have more time every day to run more miles from his home office in Unemployment, Georgia than he is currently counting on following his next election cycle.

Georgia politics being what they are now, it'll be interesting to watch how this plays with the good ol'boys vs. the conservative republican-leaning companies that are enabling the illegals tenure with jobs and a piece of the American Dream. Some companies and industries that have never been particularly 'sociall conscious' might find themselves wondering what hit them if the good ol' boys prevail...some good ol' boys might find themselves wondering what happened to their local economies if they prevail too, but then again, maybe not. For them, lily-white is just alright. Even if it's at $5.15 an hour.