Sen. Chuck Schumer is attempting to revive moribund efforts to pass a comprehensive immigration bill, telling POLITICO Monday that he will hold a hearing next week focused on the economic argument for an immigration overhaul. It’s a subtle shift in emphasis for immigration reform advocates, who met recently with Schumer (D-N.Y.) to plot a strategy.

New Poll Reveals Immigration Top Issue Driving Latino Voting New Latino Decisions/impreMedia Poll Debunks Claims by Rep. Lamar Smith that Latinos Are Flocking to GOP Anti-Immigrant Agenda Washington – Polling released today from Latino Decisions and impreMedia shows that Latino voters prioritize immigration, and do so because they view the issue through a personal lens. The findings hold important lessons for both political parties as the 2012 cycle begins. Among the key findings:

U.S. immigration policy has eclipsed the economy and jobs as the top issue for Hispanic voters, according to a national poll released Monday. Asked to name the most important issues facing Hispanics, 51% of respondents cited immigration. Another 35% said the economy and jobs, while 18% said education.

Back in 2008, when Barack Obama was fighting for the Democratic presidential nomination, local Hispanics like Jose Zacarias were eager foot soldiers for him in this critical battleground state. Encouraged by Obama\'s promise to pursue comprehensive immigration reform, Zacarias hosted parties to raise money for the candidate and helped register new voters in the Hispanic community.

State Rep. Stephen Sandstrom and Sen. Curt Bramble may be attempting to cobble together a deal allowing Utah to adopt a tough employer sanctions bill modeled after Arizona’s law while keeping Utah’s controversial guest worker law from being repealed entirely. The Orem Republican said he expects to incur political heat for moving away from those who only support a repeal of HB116, but he said an E-Verify law that hews to what Arizona passed in 2009 would alleviate many of the concerns he has on the issue of illegal immigration.

A conservative Republican from west Mesa who has held prominent leadership positions in the LDS church has agreed to run against Republican Senate President Russell Pearce, according to sources with knowledge of the campaign. A formal campaign announcement could come as soon as next week. Pearce, whose fervent opposition to illegal immigration has made him a polarizing figure in Arizona, faces the first recall election for a sitting legislator in state history. The vote is Nov. 8.

The United States is a country that has been peopled largely by vast surges of migration — from the British Isles in the 18th century, from Ireland and Germany in the 19th century, from Eastern and Southern Europe in the early 20th century, and from Latin America and Asia in the past three decades.

SALT LAKE CITY — State investigators raided 27 stores in a two-day crackdown on the sale of illegally imported painkillers and other drugs that officials say could pose a public health risk. The Utah Attorney General Secure Strike Force seized thousands of boxes of pills, capsules and injectable antibiotics, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash on Monday and Tuesday, said Ken Wallentine, the attorney general\'s law enforcement chief. Police arrested 21 people, including a man suspected of smuggling the drugs into Utah. Some of them are in the country illegally.

David Cox was at his desk in September 2009, when his receptionist announced an unexpected visitor, a special agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE. Mr. Cox is chief executive of L. E. Cooke Company, a fourth-generation, family-owned nursery in Visalia, Calif., that grows deciduous trees and shrubs.

Just as the Tea Party drew heavily on a public backlash against government spending, another new political movement — the Tequila Party — aims to use the latest crackdown on illegal immigration to motivate Latinos to vote in 2012. Arizona Republican DeeDee Garcia Blase formed the National Tequila Party Movement as an answer to a Tea Party influence she blames for increased political opposition to immigration.

Nearly three decades ago, Celso Muñoz Reyes crossed illegally into the U.S. with relative ease. He paid a smuggler $300 to take him across the San Ysidro border and the then-16-year-old arrived safely in a land filled with countless well-paying jobs ready for the taking. Not once was Reyes confronted by immigration officials, he said, and years later, the Guerrero, Mexico native gained legal residency, settled into Santa Ana and ultimately became a U.S. citizen.

SALT LAKE CITY — A culture clash reminiscent of many in American history is surfacing here as Latino immigrants find they have new competition for service-sector jobs. The clash occurs after an immigrant population gets a firm hold on the lower rungs of the economic ladder and then sees competition from a newer immigrant population.

Poor Marco Rubio. Florida’s junior senator could have been a contender. Instead, he’s become a caricature. In parts of the Hispanic community, Rubio is thought of as just another ambitious politician who is willing to sell out Latinos to curry favor with Anglo colleagues. That’s what you hear from Internet chatter, letters to the editor, Latino listservs and comments on Spanish-language media.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Hace un poco más de cinco años Jesús López Jr., editor del El Estándar me dio la oportunidad de escribir esta columna \"Conversaciones\" con el propósito de compartir historias, información y todo que ver con asuntos que impactan a los inmigrantes aquí en Utah. Hace unos días me informaron que en los próximos días el diario The Standard Examiner quienes son los propietarios de El Estándar estará descontinuando esta publicación

Washington • Utah’s members of Congress are pushing back against Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart, who leveled a scathing attack on the entire delegation for wimping out on fixing the nation’s broken immigration system. \"Our federal delegation has watched the Legislature do the heavy lifting to get immigration reform off the ground, while their political will atrophies in the airless echo chamber of Washington, D.C.,\" Lockhart wrote in a commentary piece published Friday in Provo’s Daily Herald. \"We bleed in the trenches while they wallow in the temporary glory of meaningless blood-boiling rhetoric.\"

There\'s little challenge in having modern prophets, and very little point to it, if they\'re only allowed to ratify our opinions and endorse our behavior. If they always agreed with us, wouldn\'t they be redundant? Prophets aren\'t obliged to make us comfortable, which is why, as President Ezra Taft Benson once observed, \"The world prefers that prophets either be dead or worry about their own affairs.\"