There's less than a month to go before the midterm elections and early voting has started in some states. So we're deep into the ugly, mud-throwing season of political advertising. And too often the ones who are splattered with residual mud are immigrants.

After being hammered for months for not delivering on a promise to move on immigration reform, Democrats in Congress might soon have something to tout, just before the midterm elections. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he will try to pass a bill legalizing certain undocumented immigrants if they attend college for two years or join the military. This is the crux of the DREAM Act.

According to the Brookings Institution, there are several myths that continue to cloud the debate about immigration. These are myths that are bandied about by the media, by politicians, and by the public who assume they are true. Unfortuanately they are skewing the debate into irrational fear and xenophobia.

A recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center shows that an estimated 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the United States in 2008 were the offspring of unauthorized immigrants.Unauthorized immigrants comprise slightly more than 4% of the adult population of the U.S., but because they are relatively young and have high b