Illegal immigration is one of the most challenging issues facing America. Histrionics rule the day, and the debate over what to do about the estimated eleven million undocumented workers in the country has become bitter and divisive. Immigrants have long been the source of America's economic strength. Yet our immigration laws have always been ill-defined and arbitrary, based largely on the fears of the moment and aimed at limiting particular groups of people. Deconstructed unravels these economic issues and shows the ineffectiveness of America's policies through the eyes of a man who has watched first-hand the immigration crisis unfold during the past forty years. When Stan Marek took over the drywall company started by his father and uncles, he never expected to find himself at the vanguard of the immigration debate. A descendant of Czech immigrants, Stan has grown increasingly concerned about the economic impact of illegal immigration on the construction industry, as well as the dangers and hardships it poses to the immigrants themselves. He has watched the construction business devolve from one that offered middle-class careers for working people to one that traps illegal immigrants in the shadows - paid in cash, without overtime or benefits, and unable to fully participate in our economy. Stan isn't an advocate of wall-building and mass deportation, nor does he believe that the country can simply open its borders to all comers. Instead, he favors a rational approach to reform that addresses both the economic need for immigrant labor and the realities facing workers who are already in the country illegally. In Deconstructed, business journalist Loren C. Steffy traces Stan's own family immigration history and shows how it has intertwined with the fits and starts of U.S. immigration law for more than a century. The book explains the economic forces driving illegal immigration and shows how laws to prevent it and punish the newcomers ignore economic reality. Stan Marek has worked tirelessly for years to bring about sensible immigration reform. He proposes an even-handed policy that would simultaneously lift immigrants out of the shadows and enhance the U.S. After years of witnessing the harm ineffective immigration laws inflict on people and businesses, Stan offers a thoughtful road map that benefits individuals, companies, and America itself.