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The reason the "legals", most of us, can not live on what "illegals" live on is often two fold. One is how long you are used to living in one place, as in establishing a permanent year around home, for yourself and your family or are content to follow the work moving several times per year. The other is what you have in mind as a decent standard of living. If you come from a place with no aversion to trashing the environment, roadside dumping and living three, or more people, to a room, then you can live quite cheaply, if you are happy to share a vehicle and living space with virtual strangers. For low skilled labor, employers see only the need to get the work done, and could really care less how you must live or even how you behave off the job, so illegal labor is only seen as a plus (since the bosses don't need to live next to the help) as the wages/benefits offered can be far less.
So the real answer is ultimately "Because the 'legals' don't want to do that which would be necessary in order to live on the same wages as an illegal".
It really comes down to what legals are unwilling to put up with, not that the wage isn't a livable one. It's the conveniences that they don't want to give up.