"Without a large supply of illegal (lacking legal status) workers, the farm economies of California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida and most of the Southeast would collapse."
How does Australia have a viable agricultural industry without being Mexico's neighbor?
Beats me. Maybe Australian consumers are willing to pay more for asparagus than we are. Maybe their government agriculture subsidies are bigger. Maybe Australians work cheap. But for the US, having Mexico as a neighbor is a two-edged proposition, especially post-NAFTA. US ag producers are now competing with corporate farms in Mexico, so labor costs are a more important factor than ever.