A federal appeals court has taken what some attorneys called the unprecedented step of demanding to know if the government plans to prosecute seven illegal immigrants who have no other criminal record.

The U.S. Border Patrol is moving to halt a revolving-door policy of sending migrants back to Mexico without any punishment.

The Homeland Security Department will use 50 immigration agents to screen jail inmates in Arizona's most populous county after it revoked the sheriff's authority to access its systems, the agency said Monday in a letter to U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl.

Arrests of illegal immigrants along the U.S. border with Mexico are at the lowest level since the Nixon administration, indicating that fewer people are attempting to cross the border to live or work in the United States.

Arizona authorities plan to release more details at a Monday news conference about their bust involving a major drug smuggling ring.

Immigration officials announced that they deported nearly 400,000 undocumented immigrants in fiscal 2011, setting a record for a third consecutive year under the Obama administration.

Immigration officials this year flew fewer than 9,000 Mexican nationals home, the lowest number in the eight years of a voluntary government repatriation program.

Managers of the Coconino County Jail say the inmate population has reached "crisis" levels for the third time in three years.

The Obama administration said Thursday it will allow many illegal immigrants facing deportation the chance to stay in this country and apply for a work permit, while focusing on removing from the U.S. convicted criminals and those who might be a national security or public safety threat.

Strict enforcement laws like SB1070 sprang from widespread sentiment that the federal government refuses to untangle the illegal immigration mess, leaving states to bear the brunt of its fiscal and societal costs and compelling them to adopt a patchwork of laws to confront the problem.