Immigration Impact, August 26. The Republican Party primaries in Arizona may be over, but the anti-immigrant demagoguery upon which the winning candidates built their campaigns is unlikely to fade away anytime soon. Governor Jan Brewer and Senator John McCain both managed to reverse their declining political fortunes in large part by raising the phantom specter of immigrant violence—a cynical tactic they are likely to repeat in the midterm elections. For instance, both trumpeted the discredited claim that Phoenix is the number two kidnapping capital of the world after Mexico City, and portrayed their various and sundry proposals to “get tough” on unauthorized immigrants as sincere efforts to save Arizonans from kidnappers and other violent criminals.

CBS News, August 26. CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto. Concerns about illegal immigration have spurred some Republicans to call for a debate over the 14th Amendment, which provides a constitutional guarantee of citizenship for anyone born in the United States. The American public is almost evenly divided as to whether current law should be changed so that children of illegal immigrants born in the United States do not automatically become citizens, a new CBS News poll finds. Forty-nine percent say the law should be kept as is, while 47 percent say it should be changed.

Associated Press, August 26. Gov. Jan Brewer's lawyers have filed the first brief in their appeal of a ruling that put the most controversial elements of Arizona's new immigration law on hold. Brewer on Thursday asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to reverse the ruling U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton made last month. The governor's lawyers say the federal government hasn't effectively enforced immigration law at the border and in the state's interior and that the state's intent in passing the law was to assist federal authorities, as Congress has encouraged. They also say Bolton erred by accepting the federal government's speculation that the law might burden legal immigrants.

Indo Asian News Agency, August 26. The hike in the US visa fee for foreign skilled workers could impact the wide-ranging bilateral economic relationship with India, parliament was informed on Thursday. 'The government has expressed its strong concerns at the legislation, stating that such steps by the US government adversely affect the Indian software industry's interest in the USA and impact the broader bilateral economic relationship,' external affairs minister S.M. Krishna told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. He admitted that while the provision is not country-specific, it would disproportionately 'affect Indian software companies adversely as a large number of H1B and L visas are availed by them'.

Huffington Post, August 25. Congress after congress, president after president, and year after year, the immigration status quo has continued to persist, and a broken, inhuman and often irrational immigration system has been allowed to fester. And every time an opponent of immigration reform engages in a campaign of fear and misinformation, that's just another win for the dangerous status quo. We at Immigrants' List -- a bipartisan political action committee dedicated to electing lawmakers who are pro-immigration -- decided to shine a light on those individuals who have presented the greatest obstacles to repairing our country's immigration system. We unveiled this week our Hall of Shame, ten of the biggest obstructionists to immigration reform who are running or have run for office this year.

Immigration Impact, August 24. Today, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) faces former Rep. J.D. Hayworth in what has been a hard-fought primary battle for the Republican nomination for Senate. Perhaps the central issue in the campaign has been immigration, with both candidates staggering as far to the right as possible. So far to the right, in fact, that David Catanese of Politico called the campaign “likely to leave a lasting and unsightly stain” on McCain’s legacy. As Catanese narrates: Once the sponsor of comprehensive immigration reform with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy — a stance that hurt him with conservatives — McCain moved in a different direction this year. He switched his emphasis this summer to border security, embraced Arizona’s controversial hard-line immigration law and, in an ad, called on the federal government to “complete the danged fence” — three years after dismissing the notion of a border fence in a Vanity Fair article titled “Prisoner of Conscience.”

Capitol Media Services, August 20. Arizona National Guard troops will arrive at the border by the end of the month. Lt. Valentine Castillo said the first batch of soldiers started training Monday with Customs and Border Protection to be members of 'entry identification teams,' watching the border area for unusual activity and reporting what they find to federal agents. He figures the first group going through the training being conducted by Customs and Border Protection will be ready to take their posts by Aug. 31. Castillo would not provide specific numbers, but he said a new group will start training Monday, with successive multiday classes each week until everyone within the program is ready, which he estimated will be by Oct. 1.

CNS News, August 20. Even as Congress increased overall federal spending from a then-record $2.6 trillion in fiscal 2006 to $3.6 trillion in fiscal 2010, it only appropriated enough funds for the Department of Homeland Security to provide a fraction of the additional 40,000 detention spaces for illegal aliens that had been authorized by an immigration law approved in 2004. Because it lacked adequate detention space, DHS says it was forced over the last three years to release hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens it had caught and were being processed for deportation. Among these, as CNSNews.com recently reported, were 481 illegal aliens from state sponsors of terror and other 'countries of interest' that DHS caught and released in fiscal years 2007-2009 and who are now fugitives whose wherabouts are unknown.

Immigration Impact, August 19. Last weekend, hundreds of well-informed tea party activists rallied around a border fence in Hereford, Arizona. Many participants, fearing danger at the border, brought weapons. Luckily, the more level-headed organizers convinced them that they would be ok if they left the side-arms in their vehicles. Many voiced concerns were comical at best, with a local radio host claiming that while he was used to finding bugs in his bed, now he was worried that “home invaders” would be there. These strange fears ignore some basic facts:

Politico, August 19. The recent call by Senate Republicans to hold hearings on revising the 14th Amendment seemed to introduce a new wrinkle in the polarizing debate over illegal immigration. Or did it? In the mid-1990s, House Judiciary Committee panels held two separate hearings on birthright citizenship, the policy protected under the 14th Amendment that automatically grants citizenship to people born in the United States. What's striking is that the hearings on GOP-sponsored bills and resolutions then featured many of the same arguments as now, when some Republicans are calling for denying citizenship to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

NPR News, August 19. When Republican Sen. John McCain recently paused for a reporter’s questions in an Arizona parking lot, he blurted out a sentiment that detractors have been using against him throughout his bitter primary battle with former GOP Rep. J.D. Hayworth. Why, he was asked by a Politics Daily correspondent, are you spending so much money? Because, the four-term senator replied, 'I've always done whatever's necessary to win.' On that, the man who was the Republican Party's 2008 presidential nominee and introduced the nation to surprise running mate Sarah Palin would get little argument. Though McCain's spending (so far, nearly $20 million to the more conservative Hayworth’s $2.6 million or so) and political gymnastics — including tacking hard right on immigration, currently Arizona's top issue — may have prompted derision among some former fans, his strategy has as much as ensured victory next Tuesday.

Politico, August 19. Arizona Democratic Senate candidate Randy Parraz is no fan of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the conservative poster boy for the state’s new immigration law. And now, Parraz is suing him. Parraz, a former union official seeking his party’s nomination for Senate, delivered a lawsuit to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday for a wrongful arrest in 2008. The suit seeks damages for abuse of process, malicious prosecution, among other charges, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by POLITICO. It was originally filed on Aug. 5, then refiled Monday to reflect several technical changes, said Parraz campaign manager Michael Trujillo. The suit comes in response to a 2008 incident in which Parraz, protesting Arpaio’s actions outside a Maricopa County Supervisors’ meeting, was arrested.

CNS News, August 19. The United States cannot deport all 12 million illegal aliens in the United States and should stop trying, a spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) told CNSNews.com last week. 'We have to recognize that our immigration system has been broken for 20 years and there are now 12 million people living and working and praying among us who are here without documents. Many have spouses who are citizens or children fighting for our country,' NCLR Immigration Field Coordinator A. Elena Lacayo said in an e-mail response to a question from CNSNews.com. 'Deporting 12 million people is not a realistic solution,' she wrote. 'It’s time we create a rational immigration system, take these people out of the shadows and restore the rule of law.'

Bloomberg News, August 19. As many as 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the U.S. in 2008 had at least one parent who was an illegal immigrant, according to a Pew Hispanic Center study of Census Bureau data. Unauthorized immigrants, who make up a little more than 4 percent of the population, are for the most part young and have high birth rates, according to the Pew study. Their children make up 8 percent of the newborn population and 7 percent of those under 18. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is leading an effort to change the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees U.S. citizenship to anyone born in the country. 'We just can't have people swimming across the river having children here,' he told Fox News.

CNS News, August 19. In this June 15, 2010 file photo, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer speaks in Phoenix. With the scrawl of a pen, Brewer awakened a dormant - but politically explosive - issue of illegal immigration, sending shock waves across the political spectrum in an election year when both parties had hoped to sidestep the topic. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File). Twenty-two states are now in the process of drafting or seeking to pass legislation similar to Arizona’s law against illegal immigration. This is occurring despite the fact that the Obama administration has filed a lawsuit against the Arizona law and a federal judge has ruled against portions of that law – a ruling that is now being appealed.

Spokesman-Review, August 18. The 30-year-old English immigrant had recently arrived in Spokane by foot from Alberta, following the railroad tracks into a new country. An ex-soldier and ranch hand, he was a veteran of both South Africa's Boer War and the grinding physical labor of daily farm life. In Spokane, Earle signed up for a temporary firefighting job with the U.S. Forest Service. The pay was 25 cents an hour, meals and bedroll included. 'He basically walked into the employment of the fires,' said his granddaughter, Barb Montgomery. 'That's where his life in this country began.'

Modern Ghana, August 18. OPINION. When I read the news report that Samson Afriyie (former Youth Organizer of the NDC in the Atiwa constituency in the Eastern Region) had defected from the NDC to the NPP because his DCE (Emmanuel Atta-Twum)) couldn't make good his promise to secure a US visa for him, I laughed out loud. Not because I chose to be callous but because of the funny feelings that the aggrieved person's claim aroused in me. When the dust settled, I felt sorry that someone would carry his sentiments to that extent. So, Mr. Afriyie, you also want to leave Ghana for the US, eh? Come along with me, then.

Immigration Impact, August 18. A new report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Council on International Personnel (ACIP) highlights the enormous contributions that highly skilled immigrants make to the U.S. economy. The report, entitled Regaining America’s Competitive Advantage: Making Our Immigration System Work, rebuts the simplistic claims of immigration restrictionists that foreign-born professionals who come to the United States on temporary employment visas (such as H-1Bs) are somehow “stealing” jobs from native-born workers. As the report notes, the restrictionists overlook the myriad ways in which highly skilled immigrants fuel U.S. economic growth and create U.S. jobs through their innovation and entrepreneurship.

Capitol Media Services, August 18. Border Patrol officers are being told by supervisors to stay out of certain areas as too dangerous, Cochise County's top law enforcement officer said Tuesday. 'Agents have told me - this isn't secondhand - that there are places where they don't work right along the border because it's too dangerous,' Sheriff Larry Dever said, adding that line officers told him they are simply listening to what they are told by their superiors. 'There is concern at the management level, at a certain level, that it's too dangerous right there on the fence,' Dever explained. And he said there also is the fear of getting into a confrontation with illegal immigrants and smugglers right along the border that would create an 'international incident … with across-the-border shooting.'

Arizona Republic, August 17. It's the first day at Creighton Elementary School, and kids are lined up at the gates an hour before the bell is to ring, their freshly washed faces pressed against the bars. They are a sea of new shoes and uniforms - navy pants or shorts, white collared shirts - bright in the morning sunshine. They won't stay this clean for long. The front office is overrun with parents turning in immunization records to the school nurse, staff members answering questions about lunch money and library books, kids who can't find their name on the class lists taped to the wall outside. There is much chatter and great hope.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 17. The top federal officials in charge of enforcing immigration laws in Georgia say they are now focusing on busting employers who knowingly hire unlawful immigrants and on deporting violent criminals who are in this country illegally. They acknowledged they are dealing with a serious problem in Georgia. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security report says 480,000 'unauthorized immigrants' were living in the state as of January 2009, ranking Georgia sixth among states behind California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois, respectively, and just ahead of Arizona.

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, August 17. The Arizona immigration law that has sparked controversy throughout the nation could soon ignite some debate in this city. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church parishioners are urging the City Council to publicly oppose Arizona Senate Bill 1070, considered the country's broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in decades. Church Pastor Alex Castillo made the request and asked for a public meeting with council members in a letter mailed to Mayor Paul Leon. Parishioners said they have not received a response to the letter that was mailed in late July.

Associated Press, August 17. A judge who granted asylum to President Barack Obama's African aunt ruled she deserved to stay in the United States because a federal government official leaked her status to a news organization, making her a potential target for persecution in her native Kenya. U.S. Immigration Judge Leonard Shapiro blasted the leak by the unnamed official in his 29-page ruling granting asylum to Zeituni Onyango in May. His written decision was released this week through the Freedom of Information Act and first was reported by The Boston Globe. Shapiro found that a federal government official disclosed Onyango's immigration status and her relationship to Obama to The Associated Press three days before the November 2008 election in which Obama was elected as the first black president.

Omaha World Herald, August 17. Take boiling frustration over a dysfunctional immigration system, sprinkle in fears about the sputtering economy and add a healthy dose of election year politics. What you get is the growing buzz over whether the United States should continue to grant automatic citizenship to anyone born on American soil — a right rooted in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Prominent Republicans, including House Minority Leader John Boehner and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, have floated the idea of eliminating birthright citizenship. Obama administration officials and other Democrats have said looking to change the 14th Amendment is wrong, that what’s needed instead is a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration system.

Tahlequah Daily Press, August 17. The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council Monday night voiced its opposition to Arizona Senate Bill 1070, known as the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, one of the strictest anti-illegal immigration measures passed in decades. Sponsored by CN Tribal Councilors Julia Coates and Chuck Hoskin Jr., the legislation passed unanimously, and supports measures already approved by the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona and the Tohono O’Odham Nation. Coates said many Indian people living outside of reservations in Arizona speak only their native tongue, and some are without birth certificates. Under the recently passed Arizona law, many believe Native Americans could be unduly profiled by law enforcement as illegal immigrants.