When Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed HB 56 on June 9, he assured farmers the unemployed would fill positions left vacant by migrant farmworkers. He was wrong.

As HB 56 took effect, few unemployed Alabamians showed up. Of those that did, most quit after a day. Some lasting only an hour in the field.

“Jobless resident Americans lack the physical stamina and the mental toughness to see the job through,” said Jerry Spencer of Grow Alabama, a company that promotes Alabama produce.

This same story has played out in other states.

Farmers in Colorado and Georgia are reporting major losses, with some turning to prison inmates to harvest crops in danger of literally rotting on the vine.

With the total unemployment rate in the United States at a record high 16 percent, have unemployed Americans said there are jobs they won’t do? The answer appears to be a resounding yes.

At the end, this may turn out to benefit those working for comprehensive immigration reform, or at the least more farmworker protections. As we’ve seen in other states, reactionary measures tend to fall from the weight of its own economic losses.