For those of you who remain willfully ignorant; there is an immigration process in place for seasonal workers. It is the H-2A visa.
The issue here is many farmers do not like to apply for the necessary visas. There's no need to discuss the reasons why. Nonetheless, a legal process does indeed exist.
lol, having a visa option don't actually mean much.........
I guess that you don't generally apply for visa to visit somewhere else? The last visa I did is 189 visa for my wife. Yes, visa option are there, but it's very hard to get it, because of 2 things, quotas and requirement.
No doubt, having a visa means there is a legal way to stay, but the visa requirement are different, for example, a 189 visa (Permanent Skill Migration) require government sponsorship, skill reference, age and qualification requirement. Where as 417 visa (or 2 years Working Holiday Visa) require nothing but you only need to be under 30. By the way, US is one of the few country that do not have an unrestricted Youth Visa like Australian 417 visa, if anyone wants to go and apply for a H-2A, then you need a full sponsorship, which is very hard to get.
Also, before Clinton IIAIRA in 1996, illegal immigration issue virtually did not exist, and guess what had changed since 1996?