After the fall of the Soviet bloc, it seemed that capitalism had defeated the communist system. America had pulled ahead as the economic superpower and it seemed as if the path to prosperity was paved in gold. The tech boom of the 90’s, with the help of the explosive internet market, helped fuel economic growth in America. The national deficit became a surplus, and people were optimistic about their futures. This was truly a great time to be an American.

Having experienced such prosperity, it is no surprise that Americans are furious and distressed by today’s economic situation. More and more jobs are being sent overseas. Many are being replaced by machines. Newer technologies have rendered many former human-involved jobs obsolete. Yet surprisingly, a large group of Americans believe that they are losing their jobs to undocumented immigrants. Blue-collar whites, conservative media, and the general populace decry immigrants for their alleged infiltration of the American workforce. The truth is that many immigrants, especially from Mexico, are relegated to back-breaking work. They do jobs we don’t even know exist and would never do. For many immigrants, produce picking in the fields of America’s farmlands is the first step on the path to realizing the American Dream. The job is far from luxurious, but it is vital to the success of the agricultural industry.

Yet why is it that such a large portion of the American people have an obsession with bashing field workers? They fail to realize that the supposed “stolen” jobs are those they themselves would never do. Their hypocrisy is insulting. The cognitive dissonance is so discordant that when the UFW started a campaign called “Take our Jobs” so that willing Americans could work in the fields, only seven people actually went through the process and went to pick crops. Why would Americans shy away from such a benevolent gesture? Why would they decline to take back their jobs? Perhaps it deals with the work involved.

According to an independent report done by Eric Ruark, as of 2006, 27% of hired workers by agribusiness were American citizens. Undocumented immigrants made up 51% and green card holders made up 21%. That means that a total 72% of farm workers are immigrants. These massive amount of immigrant workers toil in extreme heat, constantly stooped over, and always rushing to keep up a fast pace. Bathroom breaks are frowned upon. They are paid meager earnings, where $8/hr. is a high “wage”. Sometimes workers are paid on a daily rate regardless of hours worked. Some farmers pay by the weight of the produce picked. Workers that have housing provided live in very small homes with lacking amenities. If housing is not provided, workers must seek housing elsewhere on such a small wage. The luxurious dwellings that don’t break the bank include a dilapidated trailer lacking A/C in a notoriously hot area of California for one family trying to make a living.

Reality is harsh. It is no surprise only seven people voluntarily worked the fields after the “Take our Jobs” campaign was launched. Yet the American people are reminded everyday that these immigrants are weighing down the economy. Politicians keep up the rhetoric that jobs are being stolen. One could come to the conclusion that these people are simply masking deep-seeded racism. But this rhetoric is not accidental. It is purposeful and nefarious. The politics of today surrounding the issue of undocumented immigrant labor is meant to both demonize it, and also perpetuate it.

The reasons to demonize these immigrants vary. Some politicians do it to justify cutting social services. Others do it to mask fiscal irresponsibility by blaming it on uncollected taxes. The true magic is that these anti-immigrant attitudes allow immigrants to be unabashedly exploited. Thanks to the extreme lack of American interest in field work, farmers are compelled to hire anyone they can, for virtually whatever wage they decide. Who better to hire than someone who is undocumented? Not only are they not entitled to many job benefits, but thanks to the Fair Labor Standards Act, farm workers have no right to overtime pay, workers on small farms are not entitled to receive minimum wage, and children as young as twelve are legally allowed to work in the fields. How about threatening deportation? Mr. Zavala was an unfortunate soul who was trying to collect his pay for work he had done. His boss told him and the other workers to meet at a certain place so that he could pay them all. But instead of the former boss showing up with their overdue payment, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents aggressively apprehended them all, and so began their deportation process. It is clear why farmers would want to hire undocumented immigrants: they are a renewable labor force that can be easily controlled and intimidated. So how is this relevant to those of us who do not toil in the fields? We must first analyze the counter-arguments to improving conditions for these immigrant workers.

To begin with, certain groups have posited that increasing the wage for field workers would have a drastic effect on the price of produce. They argue that these increases will make produce more expensive to pick per person. The fear is that the workers will purposefully work slower and still be entitled to better pay. This argument is absolutely unfounded. In 2011, the Economic Policy Institute found that an increase in farm workers' wages of 40% would result in an annual rise in household spending by the American consumer of just $16. This means that each month, Americans will have to shell out a whopping $1.33 more than before to buy the same groceries. What is even more depressing is the indirect implication this is making. People are willing to spend extra money on products they believe are organic. They try to be conscious consumers and buy cruelty-free products. The American public squirms at the idea that the food they buy is the result of animal abuse. But when Americans are faced with the predicament of deplorable working conditions for farm workers, they can’t seem to spare those extra 133 pennies a month.

The exploitation of these immigrant workers is not solely contained within the U.S. borders. The National Farm Worker Ministry states that:

…when the United States and Mexico signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, government-subsidized corn that was cheaply produced in the U.S. began to flood the market in Mexico. With this new influx of artificially under-priced corn, farmers in Mexico could no longer afford to make a living growing corn. Thus, millions were forced out of their jobs. Unable to find jobs in cities, they had no other option but to leave their families and move north to look for work. Farm workers migrate not necessarily by choice, but for survival and the hope of a better life. They endure harsh, extreme conditions to arrive in the United States.

Under the guise of free trade, the United States successfully bankrupted thousands of Mexican farms. By infiltrating a foreign market, the U.S. ensured that displaced Mexicans would become in danger of losing everything they had. This made the Mexicans desperate. What else were they to do but move north and try their luck working for the same people who took away their livelihood? It is easy to complain about the millions of undocumented workers crossing the border each year, but many fail to understand that it is a direct reaction to economic policies enacted by the United States.

A third, and seemingly pragmatic argument, is that the children of these workers should be able to make a better life for themselves if the parents save their money and the child studies hard. While there exists the possibility for children of migrant farmworkers to move up the socioeconomic ladder, the opposite is far more common. As stated before, workers make miserable wages. Many times, the need for extra income is so severe that parents hesitantly have their children work with them in the fields. How is that possible? Well, in the United States, any child 12 years or older is legally capable of working in the fields as long as they have permission from their parents, or if they work on the same farm as their parents. The only condition is that this work must be done outside of school hours. For many of these young teens, working the fields is a necessity. They leave school and go straight to work to take advantage of the sunlight. They return home exhausted, aching, with very little desire to sit over a table and do homework. They go to school the next day groggy, in a daze, trying to recuperate from an afternoon of serious labor. They pay less attention in class and find it harder to keep up. This translates into bad scores and grades, and ultimately the possibility of dropping out and becoming fed up with formal education. It is hypocritical to criticize children of immigrants who struggle scholastically. The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs highlights this hypocrisy: This inequity allows youth working on farms to perform back-breaking labor for long hours and in extreme conditions at ages less than 14, when the very same law forbids children this young from working in an air conditioned office.

What can we learn, then, from these undocumented immigrants? Perhaps most strikingly is their drive to do this extremely laborious work, in ungodly conditions, day in and day out, just to make enough to survive. These people know that they are at risk of being deported. Women know that they run the risk of being sexually assaulted, or even raped, by supervisors just so they can get their pay. Women also understand that their pay may be added on to their husband’s paycheck so that they aren’t entitled to the few benefits available. The sons and daughters of these families are 100% conscious of the fact that they may be stuck in that way of life forever. They realize that they too may be condemned to break their backs on the daily to make ends meet, and sometimes on their own. The field workers are very aware of the fact that they are exposing themselves to harsh chemicals and pesticides that have unknown effects on the human body. Miscarriages, infertility, and even birth defects have all been found to be consequences of constant exposure to pesticides. Despite all of this, there are still many Americans who genuinely dislike these people who are obviously doing a job that they themselves would never think of doing.

Marx said it best, “The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation.” His words ring true to these field workers. The system has perverted the family unit, and created a hole from which these people can’t get out. Marx states, “The modern labourer, on the contrary, instead of rising with the process of industry, sinks deeper and deeper below the conditions of existence of his own class. He becomes a pauper, and pauperism develops more rapidly than population and wealth.” As technology advances, the laborer is found to be less and less useful. The laborer is relegated to even worse, degrading work, with less and less respect. It is now extremely clear that the powers that be are not worried about their fellow man. Their main goal is profit. Their main goal is profit. Yes, indeed, their main goal is profit. And why shouldn’t it be? Everyone wants to be economically well-off. No one wants to live a life of destitute poverty. Can you truly blame the farm owners?

Yes, you can. It is completely insane and ignorant to create a societal double standard in which it is acceptable for undocumented immigrants to work the fields like modern-day slaves, but it is unacceptable for a typical American to work more than eight hours a day without getting paid overtime. The level of ignorance, and insidiously masked racism, is appalling. As a society we have become complacent with the material trinkets produced by the ingenuity of a few bright minds marketed by commercial middlemen, while ignoring the sweat and blood of millions of people worldwide who slave away in egregious working conditions to make those same trinkets. We have become so superficial that we have come to hate the very people who do one of the most difficult jobs there are, and they do it with a smile.