Some Practical Implications of Immigration Law (or Lack Thereof), Plus What Everyone Should Know Come Campaign Season AND UPDATES! Hot off the AP Wire

Since the passage of SB 1070, the notably anti-immigrant Arizona law, the need for comprehensive immigration reform can no longer be ignored at the federal level. But before the campaign season reaches full swing, here are a few things every American should be aware of.

1. A deportation-only policy not only doesn’t address the issues with our current immigration system, but would also require transporting 12 million unregistered immigrants out of our country-at an estimated $230 billion expense to the United States. In addition, this would result in damaging families, industry, and don’t forget, a shortage of over 2.5 million workers.

2. Immigrant workers actually lead to an increase in productivity for a low price-which then gets turned into better, not lower, wages for native born workers. This fact is based on the research and agreement of an overwhelming majority of economists, including the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

3. The United States does not spend billions on welfare for undocumented immigrants. In fact, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for welfare benefits-ever. Even children of immigrants-documented or otherwise-suffer from declining rates of eligibility. And legal, permanent residents are no exception-they are required to pay into Medicare and Social Security for around 10 years before becoming eligible for retirement benefits.

4. Undocumented immigrants are not more likely to commit crimes than U.S. citizens. According to a 2001 study by Univ. of California, Irvine, among men ages 28-39, the incarceration rate for native-born citizens was 3.5%, or five times higher than that for immigrants in 2000.

5. Finally, there is no research that suggests immigrants are unable to assimilate into U.S. society. In states with a long history of immigration, such as California, immigrants learn English and climb the socio-economic ladder over time, and the gap between immigrants and native-born white Americans closes more with each successive generation.

UPDATES! Hot off the AP wire!

**Sarah Palin appears with Gov. Brewer at campaign fundraiser; supports AZ immigration reform, criticizes President Obama for not prioritizing border security.

**Jewish rights groups are upset over AZ bill/Holocaust comparisons; Rabbi Marvin Hier states it diminishes tragedy of the WWII genocide.

**Univision poll finds that just 20% of non- hispanic Americans actively oppose the AZ bill (30% are neutral) while 67% of Hispanic Americans actively it.

**Gov. Brewer meeting with tourist agency representatives to soliticit their aid in combating bad PR regarding the AZ bill.

**Senator McCain reneges on previous adversity to US/Mexico fence: "Complete the danged fence!" he demands in a recent commercial, while back in 2007 he called the fence the "least effective" method of border security available.

Concerning the myths about the Immigration Reform debate, it appears that the American society has gone merely by word and feelings rather than true facts, as is something that has always been about American culture: gossip. It also seems as if people are going against what they thought before, the obvious example being Senator McCain saying that a fence dividing Mexico and America was the "least effective" method of border security. There are only two sides to this debate, those for it and those against it, each having their variety of reasons. Although these myths about immigrants have been scientifically proven, it's a widely known fact (not having to be proved) that people will still argue that they're right, especially if they truly believe that those myths are true.

Speaking of going back on their word, the two Republican senators that had once criticized the supports of the new law have turned around and announce their support. Now that Arizona has established a new law, Florida Republicans have opted to join in, planning to adopt the Arizona law and use it as their own as well. The only problem is that this idea seems to be a bad move on tourist part. Florida prides itself on the massive amount of tourists it brings in, especially to Miami and this new law, or potential new law, has a load amount of people boycotting touring Florida.

This new Arizona law has created a giant debate among the country, resulting in switching of sides and a lot of disturbed peace echoing across the nation. Just flip on the television, switch to the news and discover how the country feels about this new, harsh law that might soon be passed throughout several states-especially boarder states. But new questions have arisen, especially about the immigrants that had yet to flood to America, having chosen this country for a specific reason. What's going to happen if every single immigrant is afraid to even think about escaping to America?