I wouldn't even be worried about if you're 'certain' or not. If you follow Redleg's instructions and you're wrong, they'll see that these guys have work permits and taxpayer ids fairly quickly.

You should be cheesed, and this is eggregious, especially considering that you had made explicit statements to the contractor that you were paying him a premium for the use of documented workers only (which, frankly, you shouldn't be doing anyways, you shouldn't have to reward people for obeying the law).

Above and beyond anything else, this is why "Americans just don't do those jobs". If you pay an American 10.00/hour, he sees maybe $8.00 of it. If you pay an undocumented worker $9.00, he sees all $9.00, so he's not really working for less, though it looks that way to the contractor (who by the way is skipping out on his portions of FICA, SS, etc).

I don't believe this BS that Americans are lazy and overpaid and you can't pay them to do certain jobs. It's an unfair comparison. If you paid all the associated costs with every laborer, they wouldn't be so attractive anymore. And as for the 'at any price' part goes, that's a crock. They have no idea, because they're not allowing wages to rise and then they'd see if people took those jobs. As DA's thread a few months back went, if you paid me $75K a year to dig ditches all day with no other responsibilities, I'm certain you'd get a much larger labor pool competing for that job. I'm not saying they should get $75K/year, I'm saying the marketplace should set the rate for that labor, not what the employer arbitrarily decides is fair and won't pay more...

These contractors (or any other entrepreneurs) are really arguing for the right to artificially hold demand low and supply high. These "honest businessmen that just can't find the right help" are in fact arguing for price fixing, in this case, fixing on labor prices. As an extreme fiscal conservative, this burns me to the core, and frankly, I'd argue that they should have all their business licenses pulled, be it Walmart meatpacking facilities or lawncare dudes. The issue is the same.