[Ronald_Magnus]

I’m curious as to what he wanted to tell that CA farmer women before he ran out of time concerning her need to hire illegals.

[kabar]

One of the problems with the agricultural guest worker programs is that they require such things as minimum wages that make it uneconomical to go thru the government program. If the farmers could negotiate their own terms on wages, conditions of employment etc., then the programs would be used.

If there were no illegal aliens, then the producers would have to pay higher wages, which would be passed on to the consumer. Most Americans would prefer to pay a little more for their lettuce and avoid all of the other costs associated with illegal aliens. It is the old ploy of privatizing the profits and socializing the costs. Illegal immigration costs the US more than $100 billion a year in terms of healthcare, education, and incarceration. And those numbers are very conservative.