Immigration

The staying power of immigration as a campaign issue was demonstrated anew this week at town hall meeting in Pipersville, Pa., when a woman asked John McCain a pointed question: "Why, as an American, do I have to push a button to speak English or hear English?" The audience, a sea of mostly white faces, erupted in deafening applause. "I think you struck a nerve," said McCain, for whom this is a delicate issue, given his support of last year's failed immigration bill.

With the race for the White House grown tight, Republican presidential candidate John McCain has begun using the issue of immigration to try to dent Democrat Barack Obama's lead among Latino voters, who could prove decisive in the Southwest. Polls have shown Obama leading McCain among Latino voters by margins of 2 to 1 or more. But immigration, an issue important to many Latinos, largely has been relegated to the back burner in the campaign.

For the first time in a decade, the makeup of the U.S. immigrant population may be shifting, with the number of illegal immigrants entering the country falling behind the number of those entering legally, according to an independent report released Thursday.

Eddie Mendiola thought his troubles were over when a federal judge dismissed the case against him for entering the country illegally. But weeks after the ruling, the Orange County resident remains in custody while the government presses ahead with efforts to deport him. In August, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles did not oppose his attorney's motion to dismiss the case, seemingly clearing the way for Mendiola's release from custody. David A.

His seventh-grade teacher was discussing family values last month when Jaime Castillo startled his classmates by bursting into tears. They knew that the 13-year-old hadn't seen his father since he left for the United States three years ago and that he was depressed about it, but he wasn't the kind of child to cry in public. The next day, his friends' surprise turned to shock when they learned he had gone home and swallowed a packet of rat poison.

U.S. immigration authorities Wednesday proposed hefty fee hikes for citizenship and permanent residency applications, pledging to use the revenue to help shorten processing time and improve service. But the proposal, which would hike citizenship application fees from $330 to $595, drew immediate criticism that it would put citizenship out of reach for many poor immigrants. The plan also would increase overall fees for green cards, work permits and other benefits an average of 66%.

Two people were arrested Saturday when marchers supporting two jailed Border Patrol agents clashed with counter-protesters for immigrant rights on Hollywood Boulevard. Police said they separated the two groups, which totaled several hundred people, after members of both sides began shouting expletives and shoving.

A year after an immigrant rights rally drew 500,000 people to downtown Los Angeles, an organizer alleged that his free speech rights were infringed upon by a city Police Commission decision Tuesday to deny a permit for a demonstration Feb. 24.

Seeking to avert a confrontation with police, organizers of an immigrant rights rally that was proposed to be held without a permit this Saturday in downtown Los Angeles agreed to postpone the event until April 7. The Police Commission had denied Latino Movement USA a permit because one had already been issued for that day to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce's annual Golden Dragon Parade.

Citizenship applications are skyrocketing in Southern California and across the nation, as green card holders rush to avoid a proposed fee increase, a revised civics test and possible changes in immigration law. Applications filed in Los Angeles and six surrounding counties shot to 18,024 in January from 7,334 in the same month last year, a 146% increase, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Nationwide, the number hit 95,622, up from 53,390, a 79% increase.