"Salt Lake City's Hispanic community is gearing up for the implementation of Senate Bill 81, a controversial immigration reform that has many concerned about how it will be enforced. Archie Archuleta with the Utah Coalition of La Raza said people share Police Chief Chris Burbank's concern that the law encourages racial profiling.
"The recession – and a big state deficit – is leading some California counties to cut back on non-emergency health services to illegal immigrants. In others, cutbacks in services for the uninsured are hitting illegal immigrants especially hard.
"The Maryland State Board of Education on Tuesday said Frederick County officials are prohibited by federal law from seeking a count of how many illegal immigrants are in the county school system....
"What the Supreme Court says is that you cannot deny the public education. The same Supreme Court decision doesn't talk about [the Board of Education's] ability to provide information," Mr. Jenkins said.
"A compromise bill that seeks to deter illegal immigration has been advanced to the final round of debate in the Nebraska Legislature. But following debate Thursday, some lawmakers remained unconvinced that its provisions will work toward curbing the problem and that the bill could end up costing the state....
"We ought to be honest about what this bill does and does not do," said Sen. Brenda Council of Omaha, who called the bill "feel-good legislation."
"Nonunion contractors and minority and female workers fear that they could miss out on major construction projects funded by the economic stimulus package because President Barack Obama has issued a directive on contracting that favors union labor.
An executive order that Obama signed in February "encourage(s) executive agencies to consider requiring the use of project labor agreements" on federal construction projects of $25 million or more...."
"Rushing to mend rifts with the United States' southern neighbor, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday praised Mexico's progress against drug cartels, offered an olive branch in a fierce trade spat and promised action on the long-dormant issue of immigration reform....
Under President George W. Bush, the White House had championed bills to legalize millions of illegal immigrants currently in the United States. All those attempts failed in Congress.
"House Bill 915, sponsored by Rep. Sandra Adams, R-Oviedo, would require employers who want to work with the state to use the now-voluntary E-Verify database. The free service uses databases of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration....
Mike Williams, a lobbyist for the Florida Building and Construction Trades Council, spoke in favor of the bill. Williams, an electrician, said illegal immigrants are taking construction jobs from native-born Americans.
Federal authorities Wednesday arrested six people, including two with Pittsburgh ties, on charges that they operated a network of staffing services with more than 100 illegal workers from Eastern Europe.
The suspects hired workers from Russia, Ukraine, Estonia and Lithuania -- knowing their temporary visas had expired and assigned the workers to businesses in Pittsburgh, Monroeville and Ohio, prosecutors say. The defendants are accused of trying to hide the illegal workers' immigration status by providing housing, as well as transportation to and from work.
The Unicoi County Sheriff’s Department will participate in a federal program that will provide more training in handling issues related to illegal aliens that also could be used in other cases.
Sheriff Kent Harris and Lt. George Berry met Tuesday with two representatives of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency from New Orleans. The sheriff’s department had inquired about taking part in a program in which it would be able to take illegal aliens to a federal holding facility.