A court ruling on an Oklahoma immigration law isn\'t a clear victory for opponents or supporters, but it may eventually lead to changes in Utah\'s immigration law. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers both Oklahoma and Utah, ruled on two of the Oklahoma law\'s provisions that also are in SB81, the bill passed by the 2009 Legislature that enacted Utah\'s comprehensive immigration reform. The appellate court allowed Oklahoma to require state agencies and state contractors to use the E-Verify system --

Given the jockeying that goes on to get mentioned in a State of the Union speech, it is not surprising that insiders pushing the immigration reform agenda celebrated success. Their issue made it into the speech, reaffirming that the president’s commitment remains alive and well.

So packed is the parking lot at Utah\'s busiest driver\'s license office that on certain days people circle it endlessly in their cars, waiting to pounce on an elusive open spot. Some give up and park illegally. Lines of frustrated customers often stretch outside the busy office into the bitter cold. Others stream out, frequently muttering obscenities after waiting for hours - sometimes only to be told to come back another day.

Immigration reform advocates would bolster their chances of success if they learned to take baby steps. A \"path to citizenship\" for illegal immigrants is a bridge too far. Most Americans understand that it\'s impossible to deport the millions of illegal immigrants who are here, but they recoil at the notion of rewarding illegal behavior with citizenship.

U.S. is using new technology and better cooperation between agencies to detect false applications, but face-to-face visits are the best way to catch a fraudulent claim. The immigration investigator was polite but persistent as he approached the leasing agent at a five-story office building in El Monte. Where is Suite 105? Can I see it? Where is the person who established the business?

WASHINGTON - As President Obama vows to refocus Democrats’ attention on jobs and the economy, advocates for overhauling the nation’s immigration laws say they are still gearing up for a battle in the Senate in coming weeks, despite fading hopes for victory.

RALEIGH — A new North Carolina immigration organization has formed. While it focuses on a hot issue of the day, it differs from most other immigration groups in that it isn’t an advocacy organization. “We’re trying to motivate understanding,” said Randy Jones, who is president of Uniting NC’s board of directors. “We’re not advocating any particular position. We’re not trying to solve anything.”

In an order filed Friday, a federal judge in Austin questioned U.S. prosecutors for seeking criminal convictions in court against some illegal immigrants, writing that the practice \"presents a cost to the American taxpayer ... that is neither meritorious nor reasonable.\"

Zeituni Onyango fears her life will be endangered if she is forced to return to Kenya, her attorney said outside a hearing yesterday that ended without a decision. “She’s arguing she could be a target of tribal violence,’’ said Margaret Wong, the attorney, before stepping into a deportation hearing yesterday morning on the third floor of the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in downtown Boston.

U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio backtracked Thursday from his statement that the U.S. Census should count only ``legal American citizens,\'\' temporarily shifting his surging campaign into damage control. Rubio still favors excluding illegal immigrants from the formulas that dole out $400 billion in federal aid and seats in Congress. His position puts him at odds with his campaign opponent, Gov. Charlie Crist, and many other elected officials who say leaving out illegal immigrants would keep the state from getting its fair share.

From the designer sunglasses to the security entourage in gray suits and ear pieces, it was evident yesterday the towering, 6-feet-plus-tall Zeituni Polly Onyango is no garden-variety illegal alien. The Kenyan aunt of President Obama - who arrived at U.S. Immigration Court in a wheelchair, but glided out on foot to the tapping beat of a cane - testified for 2 hours before Judge Leonard I. Shapiro in support of her second bid to be granted political asylum and continue living in Boston public housing

An attorney for the Maricopa County Sheriff\'s Office told a federal judge that the agency destroyed documents it should have retained as part of a racial-profiling lawsuit, opening the door for sanctions against Sheriff Joe Arpaio\'s agency. Tim Casey, an attorney representing Arpaio, admitted to U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow that deputies destroyed \"stat sheets\" generated in Arpaio\'s controversial \"crime suppression operations\" and had also failed to retain thousands of emails, all of which the agency could have turned over to plaintiffs\' attorneys in the lawsuit.

HOUSTON — Raids on 14 illegal bus companies here have shed light on a seedy underground system that transported illegal immigrants all over the country and that sometimes held them captive until their relatives paid exorbitant fares, federal law enforcement officials said Thursday.

The $90 million California is expected to receive from the federal government this year for jailing illegal immigrants convicted of crimes is far short of the state\'s roughly $1 billion annual cost, officials said. \"The federal government has sole control over the nation\'s borders. The states do not,\" said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the state\'s finance department. \"The incarceration costs associated are borne disproportionally by states like California.\"

PHOENIX -- A federal judge will decide whether to impose sanctions against the Maricopa County Sheriff\'s Office for its acknowledged destruction of police records in a lawsuit that accuses deputies of racially profiling countless Hispanics in immigration sweeps.