They started hiring illegals to pick produce way before inflation made the dollar what it is today. The farmers who hire(d) them and our government which subsidizes the farmers are responsible for illegals being hired into that work, not the consumer. You can use the consumer as an excuse all you want from this, but we're not the ones saving very much or making any money off of this. The farmers are.
You know, the entire idea that it's the small business owners (local farmers, local construction companies, day laborers, etc) that encourage (let alone make possible) illegal immigration is entirely bullshit. There are two main reasons why.
First: If there were any real possibility that this was the case, the bleeding hearts in Congress would have long ago passed this legislation (wait, isn't there already legislation to this effect?). The problem is that they (the liberals in congress) know that this will not even begin to help the problem, and thus they don't want to look like morons when their grand plan to fix illegal immigration by smacking down on the ebil republican (seriously, where did this idea come from that all small business and farm owners are republicans?) business owners that FORCE the poor illegals to work for SLAVE LABOR is complete tripe. Which brings us to our next reason.
Liberal law makers would be forced to admit that their artificial wage floor doesn't work. For all the screaming liberals do about "fair market wage" and "true market wage", liberals are very against actually letting the free market determine wages. "True market wages" are the wages for which employees agree to work. They're not determined by the consumer or the business owner. Enforcing laws that penalize employers for employing workers at true market wages stands to hurt liberal politicians just as much, and thus they will not do it. Forcing their artificial wage floor on domestic farms would cause the price of EVERYTHING to skyrocket (you know, like it has in every other industry). Industries who use food as ingredients will simply buy more from overseas farms. Domestic farms will close, and the workers will be just as out of work as they are...still making $0/hr.
Seriously, though, low wages are not an inherently bad thing. Low wages lead to low prices...which you liberals have even admitted in this thread. The market will reach its own equillibrium. As labor prices drop, finished goods will be less expensive...thus the buying power will be the same. The difference is that our goods will be more competitive in the global market. Minimum wage is a form of redistribution of wealth that simply doesn't work; buying power isn't increased. In fact, instead of increasing the buying power of the poor and unskilled, you simply REDUCE the buying power of everyone else.
Mostly, though, I don't buy in to the idea that the majority of illegal immigrants come here to pick in the fields for $4/hr. No, most illegal immigrants come here to take advantage of the massive amounts of public services we have here, from public schools to medical services to welfare and beyond. The vast majority of illegal immigrants are not contributing members of society. Getting rid of the few low paid jobs they do have isn't going to get rid of the people.
That said, if you want to make it part of "immigration reform" which combines penalties for businesses who hire illegals with a revision of minimum wage law, enforcement of expired visas, and a strengthening of the enforcement of the border, I'm all for it. It's all moot, though, because if you do the last three, the first will take care of itself.