Illegal aliens

TUCSON, Ariz. — The release of about 300 illegal immigrants from federal custody in Arizona this week has raised a firestorm of controversy in this volatile border state, which has one of the nation’s toughest laws against illegal immigration and is home to highly vocal groups on both sides of the debate.

WASHINGTON -- A week before mandatory budget cuts go into effect across the government, the Department of Homeland Security has started releasing illegal immigrants being held in immigration jails across the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday.

SAN DIEGO — Schools in Yakima, Wash., are taking nearly a month to deliver transcripts to former students. The Mexican consulate in Denver introduced Saturday hours last month after passport applications spiked by one-third. San Diego public schools added five employees in a new office to handle records requests.

Schools and consulates have been flooded with requests for documents after President Barack Obama announced a new program allowing young illegal immigrants to apply for two-year renewable work permits. Up to 1.7 million people may qualify, which would be the broadest stroke to bring illegal immigrants out of the shadows in more than 25 years. Applicants — some eager to get in line before November’s presidential elections — are finding they may have to wait a few weeks longer for a prize that has eluded them for years.

ATLANTA — Despite the “model minority” stereotype that presumes all Asian-Americans are prosperous and well educated, Keish Kim’s family is not well-to-do and she can’t get into her dream college.

The first blow to Kim’s quest for success came when the lawyer hired by her family to handle their immigration from Seoul, South Korea, in 2000 (when Kim was 8) missed a crucial deadline, making it impossible for them to attain citizenship. The second came in 2010 when the state Board of Regents barred illegal immigrants from attending Georgia’s top five universities.

But not long after the regents made their decision, Kim found herself receiving instruction from University of Georgia professors at Freedom University, an underground classroom for illegal immigrants provided by volunteer teachers at an undisclosed location in Athens, Ga.

WASHINGTON -- The number of Mexican immigrants living illegally in the U.S. has dropped significantly for the first time in decades, a dramatic shift as many illegal workers, already in the U.S. and seeing few job opportunities, return to Mexico.

OGDEN — Ten individuals in Weber, Davis, and Box Elder counties were arrested as part of a nationwide round up last week of convicted criminal aliens, immigration fugitives and immigration violators.