Marshalltown, Iowa

Iowa woos immigrants to stem population drop

"The point is we need more people," said Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. "Part of that can be done by trying to keep young people here. Part of it can be done by trying to bring Iowans back to the state. But an aspect of it has to be a program or plan or some kind of method by which we become a welcoming state for people from different cultures."

Monterrey, N.L., Mexico

Job-Hungry Mexicans Go North

Mexico' s vision of a borderless future can be seen in Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon state, which is governed by the pro-business party of President-elect Vicente Fox. Fox, a former top Coca-Cola executive, asserts that free trade and economic development could erase the huge income gap between the United States and Mexico in 10 years, after which restrictions on Mexican immigration could be lifted.

Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas

Mexicans Deport 500 Central Americans Arrested in Chiapas

Mexican immigration authorities deported 500 illegal Central American immigrants arrested over the past two days in the southern state of Chiapas. The head of the National Immigration Institute in Chiapas, Javier Jimenez, told EFE that the group included 150 Guatemalans, 200 salvadorans, 98 Hondurans and 52 Nicaraguans. Some 78,000 illegals were arrested and deported to their countries in the past seven months.

Mexico City

Mexicans Wrestle With Their Own Border Issues

Last week, when Vicente Fox Quesada paid his first visit to Washington as Mexico's president-elect and informally presented his ideas for a more liberal northward flow of Mexican workers, he was speaking to a country that sees its southern border mostly as a pathetically inadequate barrier, one that fails to keep out drugs, crime and the tidal wave of some 150,000 undocumented [illegal alien] Mexicans each year.

El Paso

Bush's success with Latinos mixed

In Texas, Bush's record shows that he has embraced his state's growing Mexican- American population, pointedly rejecting the hostility shown by some members of his party on issues like immigration and bilingual education. However, Latinos in Texas remain more likely to be poor, unemployed and without health insurance, ingrained problems that predate Bush but that his critics say he has done too little to address.

Miami

Immigration Fraud Rampant in Florida

Variations on this particular story are familiar in South Florida's large immigrant community. Desperate and unschooled in the complex U.S. legal system, immigrants with residency problems become easy prey. Convinced they can't afford an attorney, they are ideal victims for shady operators who tell them what they want to hear: that they can guarantee them U.S. residency.

Hilton Head, South Carolina

Group to identify problems in Hispanic community

Gov.Jim Hodges formed the committee because the Hispanic population of South Carolina is growing rapidly. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 3,724 Hispanics lived in Beaufort County in 1998, but community leaders say many more now live here. Issues the group will address include motor vehicle concerns, immigration, health care, education, emergency preparedness, housing, and police and emergency services. ALSO SEE THIS ITEM FROM FEBRUARY

Madera, Calif.

One killed in marijuana field raid

Officials were still trying late Friday to identify a man fatally shot when Madera County Sheriff John Anderson and a team of narcotics raiders swooped in on a mountain marijuana plantation. A similar raid last week near Raymond netted $2.7 million worth, Anderson said. One suspect in that raid was a resident of Mexico who was in the US illegally after being arrested and deported on suspicion of cultivating marijuana.