They say their concerns are limited to border security and the rule of law, and have nothing to do with nativism or xenophobia. And they reject any suggestion that the debate was hostile to Hispanics.

This is the fable being spun by CNN's Lou Dobbs, a commentator labeled by New York Times columnist David Leonhardt as "the heir to the nativist tradition that has long used fiction and conspiracy theories as a weapon against the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, the Jews and, now, the Mexicans."

In recent days, Dobbs has argued that the Senate compromise died because Americans of all colors dispassionately concluded that it was bad for the country. Racism played no role, he insists.

Most Hispanics feel differently. I've seen three different surveys, including one by the Pew Hispanic Center, where majorities of Hispanics say that the immigration debate has led to an increase in anti-immigrant sentiment.

And, as I travel the country speaking to Hispanic groups, one thing I hear is that "anti-immigrant" rapidly morphed into "anti-Hispanic" and specifically "anti-Mexican."

I get evidence of that every day in my e-mail. Just last week, after I defended the prosecution of two Border Patrol agents, a reader called me a "dirty Latino" who needs to get "back to Mexico."

Another writer called me an "anchor baby" - the term used by nativists to describe the children of illegal immigrants born in the United States. Never mind that I was born in the United States and my parents were born in the United States. What I see here is racism.

Members of the Mexican group said the United States isn't the only country with border problems. In Mexico, immigration officials struggle to handle a growing number of immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras, and other countries who seek low-wage Mexican jobs that have been abandoned for better-paying jobs in the United States.

• The Internet’s abuzz with Romney’s new ’secure borders’ TV spot. Read what the New York Times’ blog has to say. Head, too, to the Charlotte Observer (N.C.).
  • Earlier: Daily video/Candidate tracker: Romney's new TV spot on 'secure borders'
• Tom Tancredo told a group of 40 voters on Tuesday that illegal immigration is his issue, calling it a multi-faceted one. Mostly, Tancredo focused on what he feels is an attack on American culture by illegal immigration.
• CBS reports that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are in a dead heat in the latest New Hampshire polls—each at 31%. In that same state, on the GOP side, Giuliani leads Romney by one percentage point at 27%. In South Carolina, Obama leads Clinton 33 to 29%; Giuliani leads Fred Thompson 28 to 27%.

"It’s not just an insult to our sister nation of Mexico, but to all the nations of Latin America and all the nations of the world," the leftist president said to the applause of Mexican lawmakers.

Numerous studies by independent researchers and government commissions over the past 100 years repeatedly and consistently have found that, in fact, immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or to be behind bars than are the native-born. This is true for the nation as a whole, as well as for cities with large immigrant populations such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Miami, and cities along the U.S.-Mexico border such as San Diego and El Paso.

That immigration does not automatically lead to higher crime rates is evident in the fact that crime rates have fallen in the United States at the same time immigration has increased. Since the early 1990s, immigration to the United States -­ both legal and undocumented­ has reached historic highs. Yet rates of violent crime and property crime have declined sharply over the same period, and the violent crime rate has reached historic lows. Moreover, among men age 18-39 (who comprise the vast majority of the prison population), the incarceration rate of the native-born is much higher than the incarceration rate of the foreign-born.

Immigrants in every ethnic group in the United States have lower rates of crime and imprisonment than do the native born. Iranians certainly have become a symbol of law-abiding citizens in the U.S. One can hardly find an Iranian-born prisoner in the criminal prisons in the U.S. This is true for all immigrant groups ­- including the Mexicans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans who comprise most of the undocumented immigrants in the country. Even though immigrants from these countries are far more likely than natives to have less than a high-school education and to live in poverty, they are far less likely to be behind bars or to commit crimes. Moreover, teenage immigrants are much less likely than native-born adolescents to engage in risk behaviors such as delinquency, violence, and substance abuse that often lead to imprisonment.

The four members of the Gomez family, all undocumented immigrants from Colombia, were seized, handcuffed and told deportation was imminent. Only a grass-roots campaign by Juan Gomez’s friends -- later joined by influential lawmakers -- would get them released, at least for now. (...)

Meanwhile, Juan Gomez’s teenage friends had traveled to Capitol Hill in hopes of saving the brothers from deportation. Their campaign had expanded, and now included dozens of press interviews and a full-out lobbying effort.

Late Monday, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart introduced a private immigration bill that would grant the boys -- and the boys alone -- legal permanent residency. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart also pitched in, writing a letter to President Bush in support of the boys’ bill.

Wednesday, ICE granted the entire family a 45-day reprieve as Congress handled the matter. Julio Gomez was taken to the Broward Transition Center, and the family of four was released together. (...)

Still, the boys’ fate remains uncertain. Early Thursday, it was not clear if Congress would vote on their private bill. Last session, more than 100 private bills were introduced into Congress. Not a single one passed.

Even more uncertain: the fate of Julio and Liliana Gomez, who were not included in the proposed legislation.

We have obtained internal documentation from the Willacy detention center where not only detainees complain about the conditions inside, but also security guards have recorded in their logbooks dozens of undocumented immigrants that have found maggots in their food.

The federal detention center located in Raymondville which houses two-thousand undocumented immigrants has received criticism for allegedly feeding detainees contaminated or rotten food.

An action 4 News investigation reveals that in one instance, over 30 detainees reported that the quantity and quality of food are deplorable, an allegation confirmed by at least two security guards.