So I have a brother in law who's a zero gen Mexican who immigrated to California in the 90s, he came to visit and now he's talking politics: he's insistent on saying that people can 'make' it on minimum wage (he's telling my mother in law, "con el mínimo la haces, amá"). I understand that he's saying this because he found a better life in the US, but from what I've seen and experienced myself, it can't be true. Can someone write up a counterargument that won't hurt his fifis?
If I was going to try and change his mind, I would focus on the point that it doesn’t have to be this way. We can do better, and therefore we must.
If he is Catholic to any degree (assuming because Mexico) there is a wealth of sources you can pull from that focus on the Christian obligations to the poor and there are encyclicals that speak against exploiting labor (they don’t use any leftist language, but the message is there).
Just because a person can survive, does not mean their inherent dignity as a human being is being respected.
I don’t know how to put the finishing touches on this angle of rhetoric, but I can attest to it getting people, even chuds, to agree with the premise you establish by taking it. The hard part is bridging that and getting to them realize that the solution is socialism.