Immigrants across the Island say a job shortage has prompted them to urge others to cancel plans to illegally cross the border. Their messages mirror reports from directors of food banks, shelters and church outreach groups, who see signs that illegal immigration to Long Island is slowing significantly.

Tromanhauser called the proposals divisive, unproductive and expensive. She also said they are missing the most crucial part -- a resolution urging federal policymakers to pass immigration reform.

"Until we reform the badly outdated system at the federal level, it doesn't make any sense to jump in with both feet at the state level," she said.

Although immigration authorities are ramping up a new effort to deport illegal immigrants from North Carolina, Burke County won't be a part of it for awhile.

Guantanamo Bay isn’t the only prison crisis that President Barack Obama will have to deal with. There’s another crisis growing - in the many immigration detention centers carpeting the interior of the country. Long ignored by policymakers because the combination of immigration and prison reform is politically lethal, calls for major restructuring of the immigration detention system may soon become unavoidable. The death of German immigrant Guido Newbrough in a Virginia detention center has again pushed the issue to the front burner, helped along by incessant calls for change from advocates like Gil Velazquez.

Despite a Latino coalition's pitch to Obama, amnesty and higher levels of immigration are not the top concerns of Latino voters.

Kirsten E. Gillibrand, New York’s new senator, suggested to Latino elected officials on Sunday that she would take the lead on some immigration issues — and perhaps quickly drop some positions that they considered objectionable.

Gillibrand met with lawmakers from the state Senate, Assembly and New York City Council for nearly two hours at Brooklyn's Metrotech Center after Rivera (D- Bronx) and others had recently blasted her House voting record on immigration issues.

On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace failed to challenge RNC chairman Michael Steele's claim that Hispanic leaders support a "secure our borders first" approach to immigration. In fact, many of the nation's leading Hispanic organizations advocate for comprehensive immigration reform, not a "secure our borders first" approach.

Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall was a guest speaker for a white supremacist group that condemns immigration, warns against interracial relationships and works to preserve the country's "cultural and racial integrity."

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who is under consideration to be nominated as Commerce secretary, has supported contentious immigration legislation that sharply divided his party. President Obama's Commerce secretary is expected to play a major role in immigration reform discussions.