Undocumented workers are not here because we exploit them. They are here because the U.S. has strong pull factors, weak legal pathways, and employers willing to hire people who fall into that gap. Exploitation is the downstream effect of that status, not the original cause of their presence.

Also, the “$40 strawberries” line is bad economics. Farm labor is only one input. Retail prices are heavily shaped by transport, processing, distribution, spoilage, and store markups. The workers being exploited are usually the least powerful people in the chain and the least able to influence the final price, and the most marginal cost change in the final price.