How many? That's the question. Anecdotal evidence isn't enough.
I don't know how many, but the fact that they exist is evidence enough that you can't just toss the whole number of illegals into a neat category.
You keep on asserting these things, but give no evidence. You are not an accepted authority. And *how many* get paid more is extremely relevant to your point.
My point was that the minimum wage law is not enforced for these people - it isn't like they can file a grievance about it. So, why would we expect a significant number of them to be paid above minimum wage?
How many get paid more would be better, yes, but it's a fact that there are numbers that do get paid more. People don't pay them $5 an hour to clean the pool or do the lawn.
http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/eng207-td/Sources, Links/illegal_immigration.htm
"Juan and María (not their real names) follow a simple strategy — staying out of trouble and undercutting competitors. Juan does landscaping, charging about $600 for major yard work — about $400 less than the typical legal contractor. María cleans houses for $70; house-cleaning services normally charge $85 or more."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129028587
"Annette's painter is not authorized to work in the U.S. In fact, he's not authorized to live here, either. His name is Raphael, and he's cheap. Annette says an American painter quoted her $1,200 for the job. Raphael charges $500.
Annette believes American prices are inflated, so paying Raphael the lower wage is justified.
"If Raphael didn't come, he would work in a maquiladora in Juarez, and he would make $1 an hour or $2 an hour, whereas here he can make
$500 in a matter of five hours," Annette says. "So I have no problem giving him the keys to this condo, because I know he'll do a good job."
"He and his wife, Patricia Butler, pay Spanish-speaking men who roam their neighborhood seeking work about $30 a piece to trim about a half-dozen palm trees that tower above their pool."
They get paid less for the same job, but they are doing jobs that make more than minimum wage, so even making less, they're still getting minimum wage or better.
And *WHAT IS THE HUGE NUMBER*? You wave your hands around making claims, and you don't back them up. Why should anyone listen to you if you don't back up your assertions?
I did a quick search for how many people make under $10/hour, and the number I found was about 15 million. Took me about 30 seconds to find a CNN article. You're welcome.
When I went looking for the number of unauthorized immigrants in the workforce, the number I got was about 8 million. At least twice as many as you assert. You seem to have estimated that about a third of illegals were working, when the numbers say more like 70% or more of them are working.
Now, 8 is less than 15. But, it means that illegals make up about a third of this low-wage pool, and therefore their impact can't be ignored.
I'm not saying that there won't be an impact. That impact, however, could be absorbed by out of work Americans, albeit at higher wages. There would be an increase in the cost of produce and such, but not a significant one. I'm willing to pay it.