The New York Times story sets the scene of a shocking situation in  the foothills of San Gabriel, California:

Earlier this week, New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna J. Duran (pictured, left) announced that her office has made a disturbing discovery. After a two-day-long probe into possible fraud in the voter registration rolls, Duran and her team reported that their investigation revealed that at least 117 names of foreign nationals appeared in that database.

Over the past five years, the number of Mexican immigrants returning to their homeland has increased substantially over the same period beginning in 2000.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton announced Wednesday “record-breaking immigration enforcement statistics achieved under the Obama administration.” Specifically, they crowed about an “unprecedented numbers of convicted criminal alien removals and overall alien removals in fiscal year 2010.”

A recent article published at Politico.com asked, “What makes an American?” That question and the implications arising from the many answers being proffered to it have attracted the attention of pundits and politicians since the passage earlier in the year of S.B. 1070 by the Arizona legislature.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith were thrilled when they purchased their new home in a very desirable neighborhood in an equally desirable state. Their subdivision was gated and governed by a homeowners’ association charter that promised peaceful enjoyment of their property for as long as they lived there. The couple could not have been happier, and for years they faithfully and joyfully paid dues to the association that guaranteed their continuing serenity and security.

Fifty-seven percent of the 25,000 legal residents of Fremont, Nebraska, voted on June 21 to approve an ordinance aimed at identifying and eliminating the hiring of illegal aliens by local businesses and the renting of apartments to those living in the town without the proper immigration documents.