There's probably 7 more years of waiting considering the F41 priority dates. How is this person working without an EAD card? Even though adjustment may be available under 245i, she can't even file for it for several more years. During that time, they're out of status.

What's the current guess, 20 million people managing it?

Just one of them doing a job Americans will not do.

It was a rhetorical question

Many people without status are doing more than manual labor and food service. They're on the payroll of Fortune 500 companies, working on Wall Street, for municipalities, banks, and making 100k+ each year. Some have even been caught working at the White House. It's very common. The willingness to commit a few felonies is all that it takes to work wherever you want to.

I thought it might be.

But probably mainy misdemeanours.

Yeh, they're rarely prosecuted criminally anyway.

18 USC 1546(b) makes it a felony offense to use a false identification document, or misuses a real one, for the purpose of satisfying the employment verification provisions in 8 U.S.C. § 1324a(b).

So unless the person is only doing casual under the table employment without a Form I-9, it could be a felony.

Thank you all for all your invaluable input.
Got to a lawyer. Thank God she is covered under the 245 provision. She is OK as long she stays in the US, no working during the wait for the visa no. She is able to go to school. If she leaves the US she will be on a 10 yr. ban - not doing that !!
She can extend her Malaysian passport, unfortunately she has passed
the 5 yr. grace period so she need to file an appeal to Wisma Putra thru'
the embassy which will take about 2 to 6 months. All in all it did not turn
out as bad as I thought it would be.
Again, my heartfelt thanks for all your support, you are a great community !!