PHOENIX - It\'s not the law yet, but for undocumented immigrants like Ismael Palafox and his family, SB 1070 is already a reality. The controversial new Arizona law that is making headlines internationally will take effect at the end of July. For the first time in U.S. history, it makes it a state crime to be an undocumented immigrant. Palafox was questioned by the Apache Junction Police in front of his family in connection with dumping trash in the wrong place and turned over to immigration authorities. He is now in the Florence Detention Centre facing deportation to Mexico.

As a fourth-generation Texas Republican, I continue to be dismayed at the belittling actions taken within the Utah Republican Party that make the GOP not so grand for some Hispanics. On May 8 the state delegates voted to insert new language into the party platform: \"We support suspending automatic U.S. citizenship to children born to illegal immigrant parents.\" (\"Guv wants to avoid immigration debate in special session,\" Tribune, May, 14).

Gov. Gary Herbert is right that the Utah Legislature probably will enact a tougher law to discourage illegal immigration next session. We would hope that when they do, however, lawmakers pay attention to the governor\'s concerns about racial profiling and stopping people without probable cause.

The new Arizona law against illegal immigration has brought to the surface an intraconservative division that has not been in public view since the failure of President Bush’s push for immigration legislation in 2006–07. Most conservatives, like most of the public, have supported the law, but the initial comments of several prominent conservatives — notably Karl Rove, Marco Rubio, and Jeb Bush — were hostile. Some conservative columnists and activists have also attacked the legislation.

At the nexus of the Democrats’ two most urgent policy priorities — reducing CO2 emissions and immigration reform that includes amnesty for 12 million illegal immigrants — lies an uneasy reality: Enactment of the latter may prove to be the key obstacle to achieving the former. The economic and national security implications of open borders have been examined in depth. Less study, however, has been devoted to the possible environmental impact of immigration.

In a preview of the legal clash over Arizona\'s broad new immigration law, the Obama administration has asked the Supreme Court to rule that only the federal government can punish employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. A separate Arizona law penalizing employers of undocumented workers would \"disrupt a careful balance that Congress struck\" in the 1986 federal immigration act, the Justice Department told the court in a filing Friday.

When Bill Richardson canceled his presidential bid, wags in the Latino blogosphere did not mourn the lack of other Hispanic contenders. They still had the \"Mexican-American\" and the \"Panamanian\" vying for the GOP nomination. Those hombres would be Mitt Romney and John McCain.

The California Nurses Association is launching an ad this week on Spanish-language radio featuring a clip from the commercial Meg Whitman’s campaign is running that touts her tough stance on illegal immigration and support from former Gov. Pete Wilson.

It was the picture of a classic New York campaign: The candidate dashed around the city where he had pulled himself up from poverty to business success and now a run for elected office. He met constituents, gave interviews and, at a private celebration in a Midtown Manhattan restaurant, thanked supporters.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kris Kobach sits hundreds of miles from Arizona at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He is on hold with a radio station in Tucson and is in the middle of an interview with another in St. Louis. He has three more lined up. In recent weeks, Kobach has been interviewed on local and national radio and television programs more than 50 times and has been contacted by legislators from around the country seeking his advice.

The exodus of illegal and legal immigrants predicted by some as a result of Arizona\'s tough new immigration law is expected to hurt a variety of businesses that directly and indirectly cater to immigrant populations. It is difficult to estimate the potential economic impact, but economists and market analysts agree it could be substantial

Seven-year-old Daisy Cuevas, thrilled to see herself on television with U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, didn\'t quite understand the predicament in which she had innocently placed her undocumented Peruvian parents. \"She laughed, she jumped up and down. She was excited\" after the encounter at Daisy\'s suburban Washington, D.C., elementary school, the girl\'s maternal grandfather, Genaro Juica, told The Associated Press

TACOMA, Wash. — Paulo Sergio Alfaro-Sanchez, an illegal immigrant being held at a detention center in Washington state, had no idea that the federal government would count him in the census. No one gave him a census form. No one told him his information would be culled from the center\'s records

The manufacture of fake identity cards for illegal immigrants is big business, but it just got a lot tougher. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services this month is phasing in a redesigned permanent resident card, commonly known as the “green card,” with a host of security features to prevent counterfeiting. In Gainesville, home to a significant number of illegal immigrants, local authorities have come across counterfeit work IDs, social security cards and the occasional fake green card

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said President Barack Obama has yet to show the \"political courage\" needed to institute lasting immigration reforms. \"Does the president have the will? He hasn\'t demonstrated [it] this week. What he has done is respond easily by sending 1,200 troops,\" said Gutierrez on NBC\'s \"Meet the Press\" Sunday, referring to Obama\'s decision last week to beef up Border Patrol efforts at the Mexican border with the National Guard.

For the first time, Houston leaders representing businesses, professions, unions, ethnic communities, religious communities and public institutions such as education, health care and law enforcement convened as a task force and held informed discussions to identify a positive, fair, humane and pragmatic community vision for immigration reform and create the leadership to help move that vision forward.