I actually DO live in an area with plenty of illegals (Tampa/St.Pete) and I have seen it for myself. I never said they should not be deported either. I believe that they should be deported. However, the issue that concerns me the most is that we now live in a country that does not enforce it's own immigration laws and nor does it protect it's borders. To me, that is a far greater problem than the Mexican who comes here to pick citrus. All I said is that you need to see the economics of the situation from their point of view also. If you were dirt poor and starving and could walk across the order to another country where you could make money, that country's government would do little to stop you and would not really try to arrest you when you got there, you would do it too. Is it illegal? Sure it is. However, if there was not a significant draw and lax consequences for these people to stream over the border, they would not do it. Deporting them with an open border to the south is like trying to bail out the Titanic with a soup can. Fix the border issues first. Then worry about what to do with the illegals who are already here.
As far as the underground economy goes, it has always existed and always will exist. Be it drugs, prostitution, or working under the table, there will always be work for those on society's fringes who are willing to work outside the normal system. It is a cheap way to buy labor, and an easy way to make untraceable cash. Most of us have done it in one form or another without paying taxes on it, which makes us criminals. Does it make us a danger to society or bad people? That depends on what you do. Selling drugs? Yes. Mowing someone's lawn? Not so much. It's just survival.