One of the most prominent arguments used by proponents of amnesty for illegal aliens is that they do jobs Americans won't do, and there are just so many of those necessary jobs that amnesty and its assorted variations are the only solution to the problem.

An isolated incident still unfolding may provide at least one anecdotal test of that argument.

Stillmore, Georgia is small, with a population of fewer than 1,000.  It's poor, with an annual median income slightly below $27,000.

Stillmore got smaller and poorer – becoming a "ghost town" according to the Associated Press – after September 1 this year when Department of Homeland Security agents raided the Southeast Georgia town in a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

The raids netted more than 120 individuals, but even more escaped into the woods and eluded capture.  Most worked at a Crider Inc. poultry processing plant, the area's only large employer.

The crackdown had begun in the spring of this year, when federal agents arrested a Stillmore man for supplying counterfeit documents to numerous illegal immigrants, and his records provided the leads necessary to begin the government operation.  Even before the raids, Crider had been dismissing employees discovered to be illegal, and others had been leaving on their own to escape firing or arrest.

Ultimately, as a result of challenges to the status of Crider workers, the plant has gone from approximately 1,000 workers to 450, forcing the company to transfer some operations to other plants, outsource some jobs such as cleaning and slow processing until it can build a new labor force.

Most important, the company has raised its pay levels, escalated attendance bonuses and begun spending more on hiring and training.  An Atlanta Journal-Constitution article this week focused on the recruitment of felons on probation and homeless men, employment programs that while small and just beginning are intriguing for multiple reasons, including the rehabilitation opportunities for those who are willing to work.  Several have already become shift leaders.

While some small businesses in Stillmore have suffered from the exodus of illegal immigrants, others are thriving from the influx of prospective new legal workers.

There is no question that the raids have temporarily disrupted Stillmore and Crider, socially and economically.  In fact, more of that can be expected in other of the small towns that dot Georgia, which has the fastest-growing illegal immigrant population and this year passed stringent laws to deal with it.

Within days after the raids, Stillmore became something of a rallying cry for supporters of illegal immigration, including some who have benefited from it.  Stories of hardship were related; typical rhetoric flowed.  The community is still divided.  Many of the illegals who did escape are said to have gone to Kentucky where a former Stillmore priest is now based, with no indication of pursuit.

There is much to ask about Stillmore, including how more than half of the town's total population and more than half of Crider's work force came to be made up of illegals.  The story is far from over.

Are there sufficient legal workers willing to take the Stillmore jobs that are now plentiful?  Will Crider continue to adapt to its need to recruit, train and retain the workers it needs, perhaps providing a pathway for others who must do the same?

Crider's Home Page graphically contrasts the company's humble beginnings in 1944 with its current massive, state-of-the-art operations, an impressive, if not atypical American success story.  The company founder's wife initially dressed the chickens herself.  Perhaps that is one of those jobs Americans will no longer do.  But we're not willing to take that bet.