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"Where is the greatest number of illegals? I'm guessing the Piedmont."

In total number, you'd be correct, because that's where the most opportunity lies. In percentage of population, it would be the agricultural coastal plain, though.

You may recall the name Siler City, from the old Andy Griffith series. That small, rural town of about 10,000 is absolutely swamped, around 50% or so I hear; it's the meatpacking plants, hog farming and other agriculture in the surrounding countryside that is the draw. I've been told that it all started with one Guatamalan, who was shown a lot of kindness and was treated well, and it took off exponentially from there. The Mt. Olive area, primarily known for producing pickles, is heavily populated with illegal aliens now, too. As far as more urban locales, the section of Winston-Salem where my mother grew up, known then as Sunnyside, may as well be little Mexico now.

The pace of change is just too, too much for most here. Especially taken on top of the collapse of textiles and furniture (China), as well as the long, slow decline of tobacco. I don't mean to paint too bleak a picture, because the economy is doing surprisingly well, in spite of all this. But it's very unsettling. Five years ago, 80% of my customers were textile companies. Now, I only have two left. Thank god for NASCAR, is all I've got to say. There is a gracious plenty of hardworking, legal citizens here, who have been displaced from manufacturing. I fail to see the need, and actually see a great deal of potential harm in the form of conflict between the two here, should the local economy take a turn for the worse. It could happen easily.