I think there's a lot more to it than just cheap labor. American culture just doesn't believe in working those type of jobs. If these farms were too exclusively higher legal workers they simply wouldn't have enough workers for the job. The people that come across the border no job is beneath them to better their lives.
I agree, somewhat. But I have many tales from the trenches of Podunkland. Or, as some people like to call it, "anecdotal evidence" , or, in current slang,"cool story bro." Here is one of those tales:
An uncle of mine, only a few years my senior, is a very articulate, well educated man of many degrees. He made $$$ advising and keeping local industries from running afoul of environmental and OSHA laws. And consulting them when they find themselves in legal trouble. Sometimes, I would work with him. My job would be to set traps for, search out, and count tiger salamanders, count certain kinds of bird nests in oak trees, note evidence of habitat destruction caused by wild pigs, search for, confirm, and document ruins, (native, Spanish, or even oil exploration remnants and abandoned junk from the 1920's), and other hippie nonsense.
He's also a pro-active Mama's boy. His mother began suffering the effects of old age. He could afford to hire anyone and anything he needed in order to take care of his mom. He wasn't having any of that. Instead, he took an indefinite time off from work to enroll himself in a nursing program in order to qualify and become proficient as a nurse and caretaker in order to personally care for his mom when she would likely be needing it in the not so distant future.
Part of this course is spent qualifying in a hospital and nursing home doing, and doing well, the most filthy, terrible tasks of caring for and dealing with the elderly. I have dealt with this. Many of you know exactly what I'm talking about. Especially the "sundowners" wandering around distraught with filth in their pants and repeatedly asking the same questions. Dialing the phone number of a decades long, dead friend or relative to drive over and pick them up. My great grandmother's frequent request was KImball-31241. Over and over and over...Seriously drive you nuts.
His co-workers were all foreign born. They all spoke only Spanish and Tagalog (when they knew plenty of English) at him and all engaged in various types of passive-aggressive workplace bullying, and were constantly reporting him to Human Resources for fabricated or thin transgressions. In short, they were actively trying to get him fired from his job. They thought my uncle was just another dumb, unlucky, beat-down white boy battling for last place in the job market. And if my uncle had indeed been one of those people, he undoubtedly would have been fired, unable to pay the rent, evicted, and back in the unemployment line. Again.
They were unaware he was going with the flow and playing dumb. And that he grew up in a household where Spanish was often heard. Also was no fool in occupational and workplace violation legal matters. He carefully documented and recorded the majority of his negative interactions and abuse with his co-workers, HR, and occupational workplace violations. He also consulted a lawyer he had on retainer. And most important of all, played it cool.
One day, when he was called in to HR for the umpteenth time, he shook off the dumb facade. He very authoritatively and convincingly presented the suits with all the evidence of workplace harassment, OSHA violations, and many other broken laws. Real, exaggerated, and imagined.
He had them eating out of his hand and he wallowed in it. There was an investigation. Many people were fired. He quickly settled out of court for a pittance. And purposely blew every cent of that money at two gun stores and a strip club. Best of all, he included me in his debauchery.
Many people allege that American citizens simply won't do certain kinds of jobs. But it begs the question: who exactly (post-emancipation) was doing these jobs before so many industries became so dependent on foreign born workers?
And as my story illustrates: Even IF a beat-down, native born citizen (of which I've known way too many of) were to attempt to work those kinds of jobs, he would be bullied, harassed, and tormented by his foreign born co-workers. And unceremoniously fired in short order. As poor people do, with the immediate pressures of rent due and the rattling, bald tired car that never has a full tank of gas, they shuffle back to the unemployment line. Or, simply give up. I've read many times that "as goes California, as goes the rest of the nation." Personally, I have lived it and watched my state transform while dumbfounded as to how in Hell is this possibly continuing to happen? Many of you have seen the slow, creeping Californication of your own states. Whatever prosperity there is touted ("sixth largest economy in the world" and other vapid slogans of illusory and selective prosperity) will very likely NOT include you OR your children. As much as some people may like to think otherwise, if current trends continue, this very slippery slope is the future and all the bad parts of it very much includes you or somebody you care about.