[Digger]

Hajek and Goehring tell me they want to follow the law, but they also need laws that ensure them access to cheap immigrant labor. Americans simply won't reliably do the work, they say.

Here's the rub. Americans will do the work for decent wages that a family can live on. End of story.

[tigtog]

Agree. But my point is we really don't know the total cost of Mr. Hajeks peaches since we haven't amortized the cost of illiterate, uninsured immigrants to the price of the peach. Maybe we should ask Mr. Hajek how much free medicine is being dispensed at his local hospital? Cheaper to import peaches rather than peach pickers. This is true for half of California's agriculture. Add the cost to provide cheap water to desert farms to the tab and the real cost of vegetables might shock you.

[Obadiah]

And that's the vicious cycle that these businesses have started and are now invested in. Many of these jobs paid decent wages and there was no issue. Then, as businesses started to cut corners and hire illegals, the cost of labor dropped precipitously. While this discouraged native job seekers from seeking local employment, these businesses nonetheless increased profits significantly.

Now, however, these guys are being called on the carpet for their illegal hirings and are using the excuse that no one wants these jobs the jobs they themselves devalued!

There is no such thing as a free lunch. These businesses want sky-high profits through employing dirt-cheap labor. By destroying the labor market for their activity, they now lament the fact that they are forced to clean up the economic mess they made!