The NY Times this week has a story about federal efforts to prosecute
restaurants that hire illegal immigrants in their kitchens.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/di...tml?ref=dining

The punishments being sought seem quite severe, probably indicating
the government's desire to be taken seriously. From the story, the
scope of the practice seems large:

"Out of a total of about 12.7 million workers in the restaurant
industry, an estimated 1.4 million — both legal and illegal immigrants
— are foreign born, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
According to 2008 estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center, about 20
percent of the nearly 2.6 million chefs, head cooks and cooks are
illegal immigrants. Among the 360,000 dishwashers, 28 percent are
undocumented, according to the estimates.

"Those numbers sounded low to a Manhattan chef and restaurateur who
spoke on the condition of anonymity because he does not want to draw
attention to his TriBeCa restaurant.

' “We always, always hire the undocumented workers,” he said. “It’s
not just me, it’s everybody in the industry. First, they are willing
to do the work. Second, they are willing to learn. Third, they are not
paid as well. It’s an economic decision. It’s less expensive to hire
an undocumented person.” '

So if restaurants replace all those workers, and raise prices to pay
them, will you eat out as much as before? -aem