The writing is terrible. I mean godawful. See Quotes for the lowlights. There are some helpful statistics, such as the growth of worker remittances in Mexico, and some reasonably informative anecdotes, but there's really not much of interest for me here. Is the "shadow economy" really news to people? It never occurred to them that cash-only transactions are widespread and untraceable? The case that this is just "part of the culture" for immigrants, illegal immigrants included, is very weakly made.

Informative report about the economic impact of illegal immigrants -- and the 'shadow economy' which they participate in. This factual article provides the latest statistics from a variety of sources (which seem credible, though not all of them are named) to give the big picture on this under-reported issue.

Recommended read. This in-depth report explores several aspects of the economics of illegal immigrants, including the payment of taxes, remittences, and the role undocumented workers play in the broader US and Arizona economies.

This is written in a scattered, imprecise manner, citing 'expert opinions' without providing much background, and masquerading gut feelings as informed opinion. Overall it does attempt to be fair, citing a breadth of opinions.

"They probably use more in services than they pay in taxes, some experts say." This is not journalism.

No, the reporter is just talking about her opinion regarding the "underground" economy in Arizona State. Look like she is a big supporter of Arizona government and support them by using her job as a reporter, not good.