In his recent opinion piece on Donald Trump, the crime of illegal immigration and the concept that we should not enforce our immigration laws, Theodore Cohen omits much and in my view gets a lot very wrong. Perhaps the most amusing is the premise that if we do not continue to use black-market labor on American farms strawberries will vanish from our stores, or they will cost -- wait for it … $20 a pound.

Cohen tells us of the profitable days of his youth shoveling snow and then tells us those happy times are over for American youth because commercial services are using illegal labor. And he doesn't want that scenario to change.

It is not clear why he isn't outraged that the crime of illegal immigration has stolen the opportunity for 21st century youth to live their American dream of "big coin" shoveling snow.

All Americans should honor and defend real immigrants. By federal definition, that sacred term applies to individuals who enter the United States lawfully with the intention of permanent residence. Illegal aliens are not "immigrants" and strawberries or not, intentionally blurring the line between the two groups is shameful.

More U.S. workers would do American farm work if earnings were higher, but a wage increase doesn't seem to be on the horizon. But we still don't need illegal workers.

Cohen doesn't mention that agriculture is the only industry in the nation with its own temporary worker visa. The H2A Ag visa allows U.S. farmers to import an unlimited (no ceiling) number of legal, temporary, foreign workers. The rub here for many in the Ag business is that these H2A workers must be fairly paid. The illegal workers are cheaper.

Cohen's baseless claim on the cost of lawfully produced strawberries seems to have been plucked out of thin air -- or tossed out by the Ag lobby. We respectfully point him to the fact that labor costs represent a very small portion of the retail price of fruit.

According to Philip Martin, labor economist at the University of California, Davis, writing in the New York Times (Dec., 2011): "For a typical household, a 40 percent increase in farm labor costs translates into a 3.6 percent increase in retail prices. If farm wages rose 40 percent, and this wage increase were passed on to consumers, average spending on fresh fruits and vegetables would rise about $15 a year, the cost of two movie tickets. However, for a typical seasonal farm worker, a 40 percent wage increase could raise earnings from $10,000 for 1,000 hours of work to $14,000 -- lifting the wage above the federal poverty line."

Finally, Cohen cites unproven "the sky is falling" reports about the results of state bills aimed at illegal immigration, echoing his "no more strawberries for you!" fable. One claim focused on the 2011 passage of legislation -- House Bill 87 -- in my home state of Georgia as evidence to support the anti-enforcement agenda.

House Bill 87 was aimed at protecting jobs, benefits and services for legal residents, including immigrants -- like my adopted sister. Fact: Georgia has more illegal aliens than Arizona.

The heart of HB 87 was the requirement for use of the no-cost federal employment verification system, E-Verify, for nearly all employers in Georgia, with the intention of driving illegals out of the state. It's working. The number of illegals has declined. Many more growers are now using the H2A visa for labor needs.

Agriculture is Georgia's No. 1 industry. In early 2011, to no one's surprise, the anti-borders mob screamed in the streets that if put into law, HB 87 would encourage "racial profiling," create second class "citizens" and would harm the state's economy, particularly the agricultural industry. "No more peaches," we were told.

Fast forward: According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Georgia's agricultural exports reached an estimated $3 billion in 2013, up from $1.8 billion in 2009.

Since 2011 and passage of HB 87, Georgia been declared "the No. 1 state in which to do business" three times by the influential Site Selection magazine.

Facts matter.

D.A. King, a nationally recognized authority on immigration, is president of the Georgia-based, non-profit Dustin Inman Society. He assisted with creation and passage of Georgia's House Bill 87 in 2011. (http://www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org.) Through early voting, he has voted for Donald Trump for president.