I just read a note from an immigrant who reports he has been in this country for 16 years, having arrived at the age of 15 and immediately started working. He is now married, pays taxes and has a driver’s license.
He writes that he paid $1,800 cash for his driver’s license. Where it really only costs about $35. The state didn’t get a penny of those $1,765 even though it very well should have (who knows what the illicit dealer did with the money; I doubt it was pay for homeless shelters, language immersion programs, ambulatory health clinics, etc.)
If one illegal immigrant can save up to buy an $1,800 driver’s license, the cost of absorbing illegal immigrants can certainly be offset by absorbing the robust black market around their presence; let alone the shadow economy of unreported cash payments.