> these folks are illegal and basically don’t deserve the $20 an hour requested
you can’t have it both ways. Either you believe in dina d’malchusa and not hire illegals or you don’t, and then pay fair wages according to halakha. What next – threaten them with ICE and make them work for a $1?
fwiw, back when Russian Jews were coming in droves to US, I observed some “frum” families were hiring old Jewish ladies for $2/hour. I know that these families were not rich and the ladies had no other sources of income, other than government subsidies, but still …