[the invisib1e hand]

The point I was trying to make is simply that the big straw man in the immigration debate is that these workers are working cheaper, it is often said for "less than minimum wage," than American workers. It's a ridiculous proposition -- no immigrant is dumb enough to work for less than minimum for long. In the industry I'm most familiar with (the green industry) minimum wage is unheard of for anyone. Minimum wage is a myth, for most Americans and for immigrants as well. Surely there are exceptions. But exceptions shouldn't be touted as the norm.

If one wishes to take a position in the debate, let him not rely on flimsy "urban legends" for premises.

[blanknoone]

There are bigger forces at work that are only hinted at in the article. The 'foreign imported shrimp' is largely farmed. The domestic shrimp is almost exclusively wild caught. This is the 10,000 year old conflict between hunter gatherers (in this case shrimp boats) and farmers (in this case in ponds rather than fields). It is simply more efficient to deliberately grow things than hunt around looking for them in the wild. Our soybean farmers aren't wandering around meadows looking for wild soybean plants for a reason. But our shrimpers still are. Farmer beats hunter-gatherer hands down, every time.