Maggie's Farm

There are a couple of things that are done. The first option is to work in the underground economy - picking up casual labor with daily pay, construction and landscaping-type jobs. Or, they do household labor, same kind of deal with hourly wage, paid in cash. I know some that are nannies, doing this under the radar. And who wouldn't want a warm, caring, affordable nanny? A person that employs them runs a risk, but it's not a huge one unless they scale up and start repeat hiring on a more full time basis. If they're picked up every day, they're not employees, so there's no wage checks and W-2s and so on. It's illegal - but then of course the US Government has already bought this ticket by leaving the borders wide open. Buy the ticket, take the ride. But it also leaves the Feds with lots of opportunities to be punitive about it - say, if your politics are the wrong kind, for example.

The way employment in businesses are handled for an illegal is by claiming a phony Social Security number. It's always worth checking your personal account with the SS Administration to see if someone is using your number. This way, the business has an excuse if the Dept of Labor shows up. I'm not an expert in these laws, but there have been several bills that have been put forward that would put a strong onus on an Employer to make sure they are vetting their employees to hire only documented people. But I think these have failed along party lines.

I've helped a couple of people get their Green Cards, it's not that hard, although it takes a good bit of time to process through - years, usually (at least back when I was doing it). It goes a lot quicker when you hire a lawyer that specializes in it - like trying to get a visa to a foreign country, a real hassle if you try to do it, but it takes an hour for the visa service.

A lot of illegals are quite adept at gaming the system, and a lot of employers are too.

Oh, and incidentally - I'd hate for anybody to get the wrong idea - but that's 2 million people so far this year, just in case you're getting ideas as to the scale of the problem. The real number isn't known, since the political parties have set things in motion to ensure it's an out-of-control problem, but it's thought to be anywhere from 30 - 50 million people that are in our country illegally, with little-to-no understanding of their criminal history, educational achievement, or infectious diseases past or present. That's kind of a lot, when one's preferences run to Law & Order, although a lot of them just want a better life and live in fear.