Does being an international student affect admissions in any way?

I'm an international student currently living in Asia, looking to apply to colleges this year.

I haven't heard much about how international students are viewed in college admissions, but I can't imagine it being very good. You hear stories about SAT cheating scandals in Asia, companies that "forge" transcripts, awards and recommendation letters for students, hordes of college essays from international applicants saying the same things verbatim, etc. I'm afraid these things are going to give colleges a bad impression on all international students, which isn't very fair to people like me who went to a typical school and did things through my own efforts like a normal person. Not to mention the fact that the amount of international students applying will be huge, with the recent influx (in the millions) of international students in China.

This is just my personal opinion and perspective on the issue though. There isn't much discussion about non-domestic students here, so what is everyone else's opinion? How big of an impact does it make, or does it not matter at all?