The false notion that undocumented immigrants are affecting federal elections has been floating around for over 100 years, experts say, but this year, due in part to an increase in migrants at the southern U.S. border, the idea could have new potency.

A record number of refugees came to Arizona last year, and data show the state is on pace for a nearly 50 percent increase in arrivals this year. Now U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says efforts are underway to streamline work permits for people who were forced to flee their home country.

With record numbers of migrants arriving at the border in recent months, Douglas Mayor Donald Huish is working to find alternative solutions to avoid so-called “street releases” of asylum seekers by Border Patrol into the community with no resources.

Republican state lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs agree — they say the federal government has fallen short in securing the state’s southern border. But they are at odds over a Republican package of bills that would restrict immigration.
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Tomas Robles, said the International Rescue Committee’s Welcome Center is also facing a funding cliff — even as they have taken in thousands of migrants dropped off in metro Phoenix by the Border Patrol recently.

LA Times reporter Andrea Castillo dug into a new pattern that has emerged in where migrants cross the U.S. border.

U.S. Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly are again calling on Congress to renew funding for Pima County’s migrant and asylum-seeker assistance programs.

Arizona lawmakers are considering a bill that would expand the Castle Doctrine, which allows property owners to use deadly force against trespassers in their homes.

UCLA says the number of Latina adults who earned at least a bachelor’s degree grew steadily during the first 21 years of this century. But the final percentage in each Southwest border state came in below the national rate.