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Preface As a sociologist, I am accustomed to examining data, reviewing what is known about a topic, and offering an assessment of the various explana- tions for social phenomenon. A review of my research also shows a wide range of interests, including issues relating to race, crime, poverty, health care, and other topics in criminal justice. In all of these projects, I make every effort to offer a balanced and unbiased assessment of the topic and let the data and the people involved tell the story. When I became inter- ested in studying immigration, I took a similar approach. As I started reading about immigration and the issues surrounding it, I found myself fascinated and confused at the same time. I read many research studies, including ethnographic accounts and books on the problems related to immigration in the United States and learned a great deal about the issues and challenges immigrants and their families expe- rienced. I also read government reports, monographs by various immi- grant advocacy groups, and many more articles. As I learned more, I realized how little I understood the immigration process, and it occurred to me that most people likely had no idea how it all works either. What most people are left with are media accounts and commentary by politi- cians about immigration—all of which can easily be colored by agendas, biases, and misinformation. This project evolved into a book that offers an objective assessment of immigration so that the average person can learn and understand what is really going on, particularly since much of the information provided to the public is often in contrast to what is actually occurring. As I hope to show, this system is, by any meaningful criteria, broken and plagued by political agendas and uncompromising narratives. I also made an effort to separate fact from fiction, which was a difficult task because many of the inaccuracies about immigration are consistently repeated in the media. I