If there is a labor shortage, the normal thing is for wages to rise. At present, agricultural labor is only a small percentage of the cost of produce. If wages doubled (which would be an extraordinary increase), it would only produce a very modest increase in food costs for the public. So why does your paper flack for the farmers who are so insistent on getting cheap compliant labor? We have a lot of unemployment in the US, so if wages are forced up a little bit, it is all for the good. That’s what happened in the Clinton era, and it was a time of declining poverty rates. Try showing a little skepticism when farmers whine about inability to exploit foreigners to do everything at a cheap wage. Also keep in mind that their goal is to keep the profits but socialize the education, health and other costs associated with absorbing a vast number of poor unskilled people. Also ask yourself: when agriculture becomes more mechanized, exactly what are the offspring of nom-literate immigrants going to be doing? Check the actual numbers to see whether they are thriving in any school district in America. Hint: they are not.
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