Illegal aliens constitute about 7% of the state's population, or about 2.7 million, according to an April report by the Pew Hispanic Center. State officials say that they add about $4 billion to $6 billion in costs, primarily in the area of schools, prisons and jails, and emergency rooms. This is money the slightly less Golden State can scarcely afford.

For fiscal 2009-10, it's estimated that about $834 million will be spent to incarcerate 189,000 illegal immigrants in the state's prison system. In Los Angeles County alone, Supervisor Mike Antonovich says, illegal aliens add up to $550 million annually in criminal justice costs.

The Arizona state House is considering a proposal to criminalize illegal immigrants as trespassers if police have reasonable suspicion to check a person's immigration status and find it lacking.

The tough new proposal is already being challenged for its constitutionality. Opponents cite a 2005 ruling by a New Hampshire judge who dismissed trespassing charges against illegal immigrants, arguing police chiefs in two communities did not have the jurisdiction to apply state laws to a federal issue.

With California slipping into a financial sinkhole, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to save more than $180 million by cutting short the sentences of thousands of immigrants in the state's prisons and turning them over to federal authorities for deportation.

The idea faces certain hurdles -- for one thing, commuting some sentences will require court approval -- and immigration authorities warn that a mass release of inmates from California and other states could swamp the federal system, which is already at capacity.

Even though E-Verify has been postponed until September of this year, one California company heeded the government’s warning and put all their employees through the verification process.

A Vernon, California food processing and packaging company, Overhill Farms, Inc. fired 260 workers who had given the company fraudulent Social Security numbers. The company found in a recent Internal Revenue Services audit that approximately 260 employees’ social security numbers were invalid.

The Arizona Senate's approved a bill to enable state and local police officers to help enforce immigration laws and to make it a crime for illegal immigrants to be in the state.

The bill would prohibit state, county or local public officials from adopting policies that limit full enforcement of federal immigration law.

Republican Sen. Russell Pearce of Mesa says his bill would erase so-called "sanctuary policies" that restrain police involvement in some jurisdictions.

It also requires police to verify a person's immigration status if there's reasonable suspicion about someone's status.

The bill also would expand Arizona trespassing law to allow local authorities arrest people who sneak into the country illegally.

The Senate's 16-12 vote Monday sends the bill to the House.

In the debate over illegal immigration, San Francisco has proudly played the role of liberal enclave, a so-called sanctuary city where local officials have refused to cooperate with enforcement of federal immigration law and undocumented residents have mostly lived without fear of consequence.

But over the last year, buffeted by several high-profile crimes by illegal immigrants and revelations of mismanagement of the city’s sanctuary policy, San Francisco has become less like its self-image and more like many other cities in the United States: deeply conflicted over how to cope with the fallout of illegal immigration.

Two years after reaffirming Oakland's status as a "sanctuary city," the City Council voted this week to create identification cards for illegal immigrants.

The city's program will be modeled after a similar one in San Francisco, which started giving out cards to illegal immigrants earlier this year.

Council members said the cards will give illegal immigrants easier access to city and business services, improve their civic participation and encourage them to report crimes to police. City leaders also anticipate that the cards will prompt more illegal immigrants to open bank accounts rather than keeping their earnings in cash and becoming targets for robbers.

"Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego will become the first counties in California to begin checking the immigration status of all inmates booked into jail as part of a national effort to identify and deport more illegal immigrants with criminal records.

Law enforcement officials in the three counties will begin running inmates' fingerprints through federal databases this month to see if they have had any contact with the immigration system. Immigration officials will place holds on those believed to be in the country illegally. Once the inmates have finished serving their sentences, they will be transferred to immigration custody for possible deportation...."

"Missouri lawmakers on Wednesday voted to direct the Department of Revenue to not comply with federal driver’s license requirements.

The federal Real ID Act, passed in 2005, requires states to collect and verify certain information about applicants for driver’s licenses and state ID cards. It was passed in response to national security concerns after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But some Missouri lawmakers argue Real ID is an unwelcome intrusion into privacy and requires several new technologies that could increase the risk of identity theft...."

"Margaret Heintz sputtered in frustration.

"There's nothing we can do," the Marshalltown, Iowa, woman said to her daughter, Mona Kilborn, when they talked about their shared point of aggravation -- illegal immigrants.

"Mom, you can do something," Kilborn said. "You can write your congressman. I'll even get you the address."

So in September 2007, the 90-year-old Heintz put pen to paper for her first letter to a politician. Two weeks later, she died at the hands of an illegal immigrant.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Kilborn said. "This one issue, it's changed our lives forever....""