it's about cheap labour, stefan. people have been coming back and forth over the border for centuries. they work the farms in california for a fraction of the minimum wage, allowing what is essentially a system of slavery to continue. the real question is how much the cost of goods would go up if you forced the landowners in the region to pay a living wage - and what the political consequences of it would be, in terms of the landowners fighting back.4

the crackdown was political. nobody ever intended to stop the flow of labour. so, you're right that he's glossing over that. but not in the way you're suggesting...

this was a speech that ought to be deciphered. he's very clearly standing up for a system that is worse than wage slavery, if not quite as violent as chattel slavery. but you've been blinded by your racial preconceptions and missed it for what it was.