Counterpoint with a few points of anecdata: 2 good friends, 1 Stanford CS, the other Stanford Econ (minor CS), both got kicked out of the US -- one due to an H1B issue, the other because he visited home in Uzbekistan and didn't get let back in.
Please, don't get offended. I'm not a heavy user here and I don't have permission to downvote posts.
https://www.google.com/search?q=deportation&espv=2&biw=1600&...
I think the purpose of all this discussion was whether OP should come to the States and work under the radar, and the general consensus is that being here illegally strongly caps your upside, and has a pretty uncertain downside.
PS - My friend's now the chief engineer of a successful business in London... I always thought it was such a shame for a guy who worked his way from being an orphan on a farm in Kenya to live 90% of the American Dream, only to be kicked out of the country after putting in his all at Stanford and at a few startups.