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immigrants committing crimes. Every time a drunk driver is in an accident and is illegal, the media reports his immigration status as fervently as they do his blood-alcohol level. The truth is that hundreds of accidents are caused yearly by drunk drivers; hundreds of people are killed, banks robbed, beer shopliftedbut the media thrives on the uproar caused by adding the subtitle, "Suspect is an illegal immigrant." This sensationalism contributes to the myth that illegal immigrants are the root of all evila myth debunked by the studies and statistics cited earlier in this argument.

Unfortunately, the misconceptions about illegal immigrants are as difficult to dispel as Los Angeles smog. The truth is illegal immigrants are simply people who desperately needed a better life for their families and did what they had to do in order to provide it. In reality, the United States has created part of this problem with backlogs at the border as well as inefficient and unrealistic immigration policies. The United States urgently needs to reform immigration policies to make legal immigration more attainable. In addition, America must do the right thing and give amnesty to those who are already here contributing to American society and working hard to carve out their own piece of the American dream.

Works Cited

Executive Office of the President Council of Economic Advisers. Immigration's Economic Impact. Washington, DC: Executive Office of the President, 2007.

Fukuyama, Francis. "Immigration and the Family." May 1993. UCDavis.edu. 10 November 2008 <http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~mat loff/pub/Immigration/ImmAndThe Family/Fukuyama.html>.

"Immigration Nation." November/December 2006. Foreign Affairs.org. 15 November 2008 <http://www.foreignaffairs.org/ 20061101faessay85606/tamar-jac oby/immigration-nation.html?mo de=print>.

Sampson, Robert J. "Rethinking Crime and Immigration." January 2008. Contexts.org. 11 November 2008 <http://contexts.org/articles/f iles/2008/01/contexts_winter08 _sampson.pdf>.

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