"so that these folks can come in here and work leagally,"
If you mean enter the country as legal immigrants that will pay all the same taxes as a citizen, then that would be fine. If you mean some sort of "guest worker", then that is a problem.
A "guest worker" would not pay all the same taxes as a citizen -- specifically, no SS/M taxes on the employer or employee sides. That would make allow the employer to spend 16% less on that worker compared to a citizen that had the same after-tax income. That means the citizen is still at a disadvantage.
Check this out:
1) Employer spends $100/day on a citizen
2) That is $93 wages and $7 employer-side SS/M tax.
3) Employee has an additional $7 withheld for employee-side SS/M tax.
4) Employee is left with $84 and must then pay Income taxes.
5) The guest worker can work for $84, pay income taxes, and have the same standard of living as the citizen.
If the State has any taxes that will not apply to a guest worker, then the difference in labor prices gets even worse.
If you are suggesting that guest workers should pay into SS/M, then I think that would mean they also were entitled to benefits. That is a losing equation, since low-wage workers always collect more from SS/M than their contributions would justify. They are subsidized by high-earners that receive much less than their contributions would justify.
This is why even legal immigration should be limited to people that will be high-earners and will contribute more to the system than they take out.
Good stats, and we need to get those out.
I am for legal immigration, and firmly against a guest worker and/or amnesty program (and have stated so repeatedly in the past). I'm sorry if I did not make that point clear in my post.