They're doing the jobs many others don't want to do; and with more than 500,000 undocumented workers living in the city, what happens to our economy if President Trump moves ahead with mass deportations?  Staten Island Reporter Amanda Farinacci takes a look.

Max Wiesner and his family have owned the Wiesner Brothers Nursery for nearly 90 years.

The landscape and garden center relies on a handful of day laborers during the spring and summer. Wiesner acknowledges they usually are undocumented immigrants.

"They are a huge help to our company, because they — I mean, they're just phenomenal workers, honestly, and they're great laborers, too," Wiesner said.

Great laborers that don't cost much, and are found across the city in places like nail salons, restaurants, construction companies, and a car wash whose owner told us nearly all of his workers are not in the U.S. legally.

About a half a million undocumented immigrants live in the city, playing a big role in the economy.

Which is why many local businesses are anxiously following President Trump's push to step up deportations of the undocumented.

Wiesner says he fears the impact on his family business. "It'll probably cost us more in the long run, and I'm not sure we'll get as good of a quality worker," he said.

A City Council study estimates that more than 340,000 jobs would disappear, and some services would likely become more expensive, if all the undocumented in the city were deported or left.

While that's a worst-case scenario, experts say there's reason to be concerned.

"This could be pretty catastrophic for the city's economy," said Nisha Agarwal, the commissioner of immigrant affairs.

"Services that people are expecting will suddenly be more expensive," said Jonathan Peters, an economy professor at the College of Staten Island.

"People run around every day, expecting their lawn to be mowed, expecting their dishes to be washed — a lot of those low-end jobs are held by people who have limitations on what the employment opportunities are," Peters continued.

Some day laborers NY1 spoke with say it's become more and more challenging to find daily work since President Trump took office.

They blame widespread fear and uncertainty, and say it's getting harder to pay their bills.

"None of these clients of mine want to come out to look for people for work," one day laborer said. "It affects us in a negative way because that's our bread and butter."

They're hoping the deportation risk fades and they'll be back at work soon, but it's not clear that will happen.