Illinois Congressman Luis V. Gutiérrez wants to focus on passage of the DREAM Act as a stand-alone bill during the lame duck session. In New York over the weekend, the leader in the fight for immigration reform signaled a shift in tactics.

Advocates in New York are symbolically mailing pens to President Obama, urging him to use his executive powers to reform the federal immigration system.

Cautiously optimistic advocates cheered the California Supreme Court’s decision on Monday to continue allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates to public colleges, assuming they attend high school in California for at least three years.

Congressional leaders will make a push for the DREAM Act, a bill that would create a path towards legalization for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrant youth, before Republicans take over the House in 2011.

At a packed hearing, council members try to better understand the relationship between the Department of Corrections and Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding immigrants sent to the Rikers Island jail.

Republican victories at the state level mean that Arizona-style immigration bills will start popping up in 2011. Here’s a primer on the states most likely to pass tough new laws.

New York City Council member Ydanis Rodriguez says he will introduce a resolution calling on Governor Paterson to remove New York from the controversial immigration enforcement program known as Secure Communities.

It’s not clear if New York has the power to opt out of the federal program designed to find and deport undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes. Immigrant advocates say Secure Communities is being used against people who only committed minor offenses.

Part of the effort is encouraging new citizens to represent those who can’t vote at the polls–the undocumented.

The fact that Meg Whitman and Lou Dobbs employed undocumented workers shouldn’t be news: it’s the status quo.