I can not tell, is it better because he employ them or worse sense he probably pay them below market and so is "exploiting"? Sometimes it is hard to find how Californian thinks.
He might not be paying them below market- the way this often works is that the people you employ from the old country are cousins, neighbors of your parents, etc. Not people you would feel comfortable being awful to.
And they may not have reported the income because it didn't come from legitimate sources.