As Congress works toward the final stages of an immigration reform plan, a new issue brief from the Center for American Progress explores how immigration and the growing Latino population could impact the future political landscape in key states.
Immigration issues among Latino voters were crucial in swinging the 2012 presidential election.
And
the rapid growth and voting power of the Latino population also ensured
key swing states such as Florida, Colorado and Nevada voted for the current Democratic president, according to the brief.
Key states such as
Arizona and North Carolina are also reaching demographic tipping points that could shift the states reliably blue, said Philip Wolgin,
senior policy analyst for immigration at the Center for American
Progress.
“These are states that are becoming swing states in a
way that I think nobody really envisioned would have happened in the
past,” he said.
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Pressure is mounting against a proposal to open a for-profit immigrant detention center
in Joliet. Activists submitted 4,000 petitions against the facility to the 
Immigrant rights advocates, workers and other activists will
march and rally in the city today in support of workers' rights and
comprehensive immigration reform that provides a
fair pathway to citizenship and stops deportations until a new law is passed. 
Northern Mexico is in the grips of one of the worst droughts in its
history. Acres upon acres of crops have been wiped out so far, and more
than two million people are without reliable water.