A large increase in Border Patrol agents, additional fencing and expanded prosecution of illegal border-crossers contributed to a 20 percent drop in apprehension of undocumented migrants this year at the U.S.-Mexico frontier, immigration officials said Tuesday. ...more

November 7, 2007

AVON PARK — It has been more than a year since then-mayor Tom Macklin brought up an ordinance to penalize landlords for renting to illegal immigrants. Though it failed in June 2006, it mobilized several businesses and most of the Hispanic community, and for better or worse, it changed many residents' views of their city and the actions of City Hall, even to this day. "They're (the customers) more careful now, because they know they're after them," said Angel Del Valle, who worked at the Broken Spoke Flea Market during the unfolding controversy last year. He now owns the store, and had several Hispanic customers browsing the shelves when interviewed Wednesday afternoon. "They try not to be too obvious." Though Macklin was the mayor of Avon Park for six years, most people only remember him for his final months, when he brought the Illegal Immigration Relief Act to the council chambers. He earned a large group of detractors, but also earned the support of those like James Geer, who wrote in a 2006 letter to the editor that "the federal government is not doing its job." ...more

November 4, 2007

Republican Fred Thompson said Tuesday that the government should yank federal dollars from cities and states that don't report illegal immigrants. ...more

October 24, 2007

A contractor in Mississippi has withdrawn a government application to allow up to 400 foreign workers to enter the United States to take welding jobs at Tampa's largest shipyard, an official with Florida's Agency for Workforce Innovation said Wednesday. ...more

October 18, 2007

In a finding sure to affect the presidential campaign, Republican voters are now skeptical of the value of free trade, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. ...more

October 7, 2007

Dr. Esam Omeish resigned as a member of the Virginia Commission on Immigration after his anti-Israel remarks in support of 'the jihad way' were posted on YouTube. He told a news conference that jihad has nothing to do with violence, but instead is about inner struggles leading to spiritual triumph. We've heard this before. Such explanations are presented after a terrorist act or a radical is exposed. Radicals also have been known to lie, especially to 'infidels.' ...more

October 2, 2007

The Democratic candidates who attended Univision's landmark Spanish-language presidential forum delivered more symbolism than substance - but that symbolism likely will weigh heavily in next year's election, as viewership of the forum showed. ...more

September 11, 2007