Vague Thesis - Immigration

The article I have read is “Behind the ‘Illegal Alien’ Label, Real Kids with a Lot to Contribute” by Marcos Brenton. In this article it seems like there is no clear thesis and it seems as though the article is just trying to imply one. If there was a line in this article that best stated what this article was trying to argue it would be, “The very term ‘illegal alien’ is like blood dumped in shark-infested waters” (Brenton).  This article tries to convince it’s audience that names that illegal immigrants are called are stereotypical and unfair to the many “honor students” (Brenton) that come into our country. The author also tries to state that the term “illegal alien” is just rhetoric trying to get people to dislike all illegal immigrants from coming into our country. I for one see his point in this but is does not change the fact that they are coming illegally and for free when many other immigrants are sacrificing and paying much to come to this country legally. I can see why the author does not mention this, because it would weaken his argument.  So instead, he simply goes on using other examples that try to prove his point that many people might be able to agree to. The author mentions drug lords briefly and he mainly tries to tag the illegal immigrants as honor students and hard workers. Which may be true in many cases but it is always important to realize that there are drugs coming across the border and that’s a bigger problem than just mere social labels.