"There is a concerted effort on the part of advocates for illegal aliens to dismiss the widespread public outrage over unchecked illegal immigration as irrational. The illegal immigration crisis is not a myth, and the American people have not succumbed to mass hysteria. The problems are real: They affect Americans' lives, jobs and pocketbooks, while the Obama administration intentionally refuses to enforce most immigration laws. These realities are precisely why Arizona enacted SB 1070," says FAIR president Dan Stein.

"A group of Republican senators has written to top immigration officials in the Obama administration asking them to reveal whether large-scale plans are under way to provide a so-called non-legislative version of amnesty," Fox News says. "The lawmakers cite an 11-page draft document written by staff to the director of the Citizenship and Immigration Service that says they are reviewing several executive orders and other mechanisms that effectively would serve as a substitute for comprehensive immigration reforms."

"On Thursday, [Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman] Corey A. Stewart released his legislative proposals for the Virginia General Assembly to consider. The proposals are at virginiaruleoflaw.com. The list is broken down into 10 sections, dealing with everything from taxing international wire transfers to impounding vehicles of those who knowingly transport illegal immigrants in the state," Inside Northern Virginia says. "According to his website, Stewart is shooting for 100,000 signatures supporting his Rule of Law proposal."

"When the prospects for a reform bill turned bleak earlier this year, immigration advocates told themselves to be patient. John McCain would be back, just as soon as he fended off a conservative primary challenge in Arizona next month," Politico reports.

"But now, the onetime champion of comprehensive immigration reform appears nowhere near ready to rejoin Democrats in the fight, which left him alienated from his party and feeling abandoned by Hispanic voters during the bruising 2008 presidential election."

"A U.S. senator and a state lawmaker in Arizona, both central players in the battle over immigration law, separately proposed this week that "birthright" citizenship be denied to the children of illegal immigrants. They said the change would help stem the flood of illegal border crossings," the Wall Street Journal reports.

"'People come here to have babies. They come here to drop a child,' Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said Wednesday night on Fox News. 'That shouldn't be the case. That attracts people here for all the wrong reasons.' Mr. Graham is a onetime partner with Democrats in crafting a proposed overhaul of immigration laws."

[FAIR Comment: Graham supported adoption of a Constitutional amendment to change the 14th Amendment provision regarding U.S. citizenship. FAIR's view is think that "birthright" citizenship can be ended by an act of Congress and believes that avenue should be pursued first. A Constitutional amendment should be initiated only if the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the act of Congress unconstitutional.]

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said she was prepared to fight to the Supreme Court to defend Arizona's new law SB 1070 from legal challenges. A federal district judge yesterday issued a preliminary injunction that will keep key parts of the law from going into effect. "The Supreme Court -- with a working conservative majority -- accepts a fraction of appeals but may take this case because it presents a conflict of federal and state law, said Cristina Rodriguez, an expert on immigration and constitutional law at New York University Law School," the Washington Post writes.

"A judge says she's not sure whether lawsuits filed to block a Nebraska city's ban on hiring and renting to illegal immigrants should be heard in federal or state court. U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp on Wednesday gave attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund two weeks to submit briefs explaining why their suits belong in federal court," the AP reports.