Jobs Americans are paid not to do...

A common refrain from open borders advocates are that illegal immigrants are merely "doing the jobs Americans won't do."  This story repeats that tired meme:

Even before federal judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn upheld the toughest parts of Alabama's groundbreaking immigration law Wednesday, daily life in Alabama had already begun to look – and feel – a little different.
The state's agriculture commissioner says some farmers are mourning squash rotting in the fields, after migrant workers either left or avoided the state, some in fear that their children would be used as deportation tools as schools next week begin checking the immigration status of incoming students....
And those working to rebuild the state from this spring's massive tornado outbreak predicted delays under the expectation that Hispanic workers will be harder to find to lay roofs, build decks, and pour foundations.

We're constantly told these days about the plight of the unemployed, and how it's critical we keep extending the benefit period for them.  And yet on the other hand, we're told that if we actually enforce immigration law, there will be rotting crops and a lack of manual labor.  Really?  When unemployment is above nine percent?  Try as I might, I can't seem to square these two positions.

We're paying to sustain people who are allegedly looking for work (though there's jobs they "won't do"). At the same time we're letting in waves of new laborers who further drive down the wages of the less prestigious jobs (mostly in fields that require real physical work...).  Run these two in combination, and you have an unsustainable system.

What say we run an experiment: close off one or the other condition.  If underpaid migrants can't be exploited to pick produce, perhaps wages will rise in that market to the point the job is attractive to laborers already here.  Conversely, we could leave the borders open, but refuse to pay unemployment after, say, three months... at which point those desperate for ANY income will riot at the effect illegal immigration has on their earnings potential.

It's hard to escape the idea those in charge are deliberately mixing this brew.  You couldn't select more destructive governance if you tried.