Contrary to the popular belief that we are swimming in more immigrants than ever, in 1890 14.8 percent of our population was foreign-born compared to today's 12.5 percent. And the number of illegal immigrants is on the decline.

The complaints that were made about Irish immigrants are pretty similar to those we hear today about Mexican immigrants. The xenophobes insisted the Irish were lazy, prone to crime, drank too much, and were stealing jobs from good white Americans.

In the absence of national action on immigration reform, states and local communities have attempted to fill the gap, passing and defending ill-advised laws that seek to preempt federal power over immigration.

This week, Senate Republicans held the US Military and their families hostage to appease their extremist, reactionary fringe. Yet, on Thursday in DC, ...

The Republicans siding with the Birthers and generally ramping up of the anti-immigration sentiment, are shooting themselves in the foot.

In the midst of the ongoing immigration and "Christian nation" debates, it is always instructive to look at America's past for clues to the present.

At one of his town hall meetings, Glenn Beck asked, "How many think that change in this country will come from Washington?" No one raised their hand. Then where will it come from, and how?

The forced downsizing of American Apparel is more than a tragedy. It is a canary in the coalmine for how the most vulnerable populations in this country will fare under the Obama administration.

John Tanton, the architect of the movement and founder of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), has a more than 30-year history of racial extremism.