by T. Alexander Aleinikoff

About the author: T. Alexander Aleinikoff is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Who harvested the fruits, vegetables, and nuts that graced our Thanksgiving tables? Most Americans, taking a moment to think, would know that immigrant labor in American fields brought in this autumn’s crop. The circumstances of these workers’ lives, however, are less well-known. The stark reality is that more than half of all farm workers live below the poverty line and the vast majority have no health insurance. And despite a general economic boom and increases in industry productivity and revenues, the real wages of farm workers have continued to fall—as they have for the past 20 years.

Invisible Workers

The people who work in the fields...