Over the past year and a half, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona has transformed his police department into an immigration-enforcement agency. Read the IPC fact sheet on two independent reports by the East Valley Tribune and the Goldwater Institute describing a Sheriff's department where crime-solving is down and racial profiling and budget expenditures are way up. (December 17, 2008)

A federal judge in San Francisco has denied a government request to quickly issue a final decision on whether the Bush Administration may implement its new Social Security Administration (SSA)"no match" rules. The lawsuit brought by labor unions and employers seeking to block the rule will move forward under a standard schedule, and a decision will not come until late February or March of 2009. (December 8, 2008)

IPC has compiled this one-stop analysis of all the available data on the Asian, Latino and New American vote and shows how and why they voted the way did in the 2008 election cycle. The report features a variety of early, exit and election-day polling which tells the story of not only a record rate turnout, but also provides insight into the greatest areas of concern for these voters. It also explores early signals from the new administration and Congress with respect to immigration reform. (December 4, 2008)