Wow - an acknowledgement that 7% of the city are illegals. We can debate where the precise tipping point is - 9%, 4%, 10% - but there is some point where illegal presence in the United States is so common that everyone knows of it. And the effect that has on respect for law (traffic laws, criminal laws, tax law, regulatory law) will be impossible to put back in the bottle.
I was in Fort Lauderdale yesterday, getting a “trusted traveler” registration with Customs and Border Protection. Going through the bureaucratic hoops to make exiting and re-entering the US more convenient. I wouldn’t call it arduous, but it required some effort. I have never been arrested, and have passed 5 FBI background checks in my life so far. I had to be fingerprinted, show a passport and state-issued ID, be photographed and interviewed briefly. Glad to do that, but conscious that hundreds, if not thousands that same day were being escorted across the southern border with absolutely no information or identity proof being gathered. That disparity erodes respect for the law as well.
The average citizen had better follow every law to the letter or else they will be in trouble! But the ruling class (the Bidens, etc.) and the bottom classes (habitual criminals, illegal aliens) can get away with almost anything but they are protected.