As I sat on my couch in my pajamas, a glass of wine in hand, I readied myself for the anger I undoubtedly was about to subject myself to as the Republican debate began to start. Inevitably by the time, the topic of immigration came up I watched for a few more minutes and then had to switch the channel. I think people hold so much contempt towards immigrants without even knowing the real facts.

The misconceptions surrounding immigration have become the views of the masses and it is time to dispel the ideals which many hold so near and dear, because regardless of what Trump says, immigrants are not the bad guy here. First off, there are 40 million immigrants living in this country today (if you want to get technical we are all immigrants here, but that is a topic for a different day), according to research by Laura Boutwell, a professor at Bridewater State University. Boutwell states that of those 40 million in the U.S only about twelve million are here undocumented; yes, that means in the U.S., illegally but that word is ugly so I will be using undocumented. These undocumented immigrants don't come here because America is great. Greed and injustice have caused them to leave their homeland in search of refuge. The reason so many of these immigrants come from Mexico is because in 2002 the Farm Bill subsidized U.S agribusiness by as much as 40 percent of net income, thanks to NAFTA, a trade agreement, Mexico lost 1.3 million farm jobs; in turn causing poverty to skyrocket by 50 percent. In simpler terms we screwed over the farmers of Mexico because they can no longer compete or find a job, so then they come here, ironic isn't it?

Another major reason immigrants come to this country is to seek refuge from violence. Immigrants would rather not leave their home country most of the time, but when it comes to dying or coming to America somehow the choice seems obvious. If you are in this country undocumented you cannot under any circumstances receive welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, or really any other benefits. Another myth, immigrants do not pay taxes when in fact undocumented immigrants have paid $100 billion dollars in social security - money they will never see again. They also pay about $90 to $140 billion a year in federal, state and local taxes. Fun fact: without immigrants paying into a system for which they do not reap the benefits (social security) the baby boomer generation would have been screwed come collection time.

Myth number three and a major one at that, immigrants take jobs from U.S American workers on a consistent basis. However, immigrants tend to be concentrated in high and low style occupations that complement--not compete, NOT COMPETE with jobs held by Native workers. Immigrants make up 12.5 percent of the U.S population and make up only about 15 percent of the workforce. Most undocumented immigrants hold extremely dangerous farming jobs for very low wages. One in four farm workers are undocumented and 85 percent of farm workers, in general, are immigrants. Farmers feed the world, therefore, immigrants feed the world. Kiss those fresh strawberries goodbye if Trump gets his way.

I think people believe there is some line similar to that at a deli where you take a ticket and if you wait just long enough you will become a legalized U.S citizen. It is nearly impossible, yup I said it impossible to become a U.S citizen as an undocumented immigrant. Even if they can afford to pay the fees up to a thousand dollars, have to hire an immigration lawyer (in most cases), and fill out the tremendous amount of paperwork they then have to pass a test that most U.S citizens would not even pass.

So really, immigrants in this country are not a bad thing. That is what America was founded on after all you know life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I believe it is that Statue of Liberty that famously stated, “Give me you're tired, you're poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...” At one point the Irish used to be discriminated against and called “negroes turned inside out”. All our ancestors came to this country at one point, putting up a wall and generalizing all immigrants as bad is just well, wrong.