Before they were illegal immigrants they were migrant workers. For years they would come across the border freely for seasonal work. The US has arable land tha

Before they were illegal immigrants they were migrant workers. For years they would come across the border freely for seasonal work. The US has arable land that can produce crops that compete with crops in Central America. But the labor there is cheaper. Seems like there's some elements similar to prohibition - the desire is strong enough to create a black market for labor and immigrants are willing to take these risks. Maybe if we permitted more seasonal ag work visas and a lower minimum wage (but still safe workplace requirements) it would be a better compromise. It's very sad that falsehoods about the immigrants fall into racist tropes and all of a sudden we can't have a reasonable dialogue about better solutions to the problem.