By spending a few days here in America's fifth-largest city -- which also happens to be at the heart of the nation's immigration debate -- I had the chance to see this volatile issue from many different vantage points.
It was an ethnic twist on an American classic, the kind of thing that some people consider appealing and others frightening. Pinto beans, diced tomatoes, salsa and jalapenos top a hot dog that's grilled to perfection.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ripped the guts out of SB 1070 on Wednesday, striking down the most egregious and indefensible parts of Arizona's immigration law.
What does the rhetorical feud between the Tea Party and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have to do with the case of Shirley Sherrod, a black former Agriculture Department employee who resigned this week under pressure from the Obama administration?
Can the leader of the free world get some love? Apparently not -- if your name is Barack Obama, if your popularity is fading and if you're four months away from midterm elections where the members of your party appear to be headed for what George W. Bush would call a thumpin'.
Did President Obama break his promise to Latino voters that he'd deliver a comprehensive immigration reform plan in his first year?
It doesn't make any political sense for President Obama to talk about the need to reform our immigration system in a speech Thursday at American University in Washington.
During a recent interview with CNN's John King, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said that, if the Obama Justice Department winds up suing her state over an immigration law that President Obama has called "misguided" and many constitutional scholars label unconstitutional, she'll go to court.
California Republicans Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman probably hope Latinos -- who make up 20 percent of voters in the state -- have long fuses and short memories.
Out: Harvard Law School graduates who are scary smart -- having served as editor of the Harvard Law Review -- but come across as unemotional, aloof and uninterested in the demands of leadership even during a national catastrophe.
Don't be surprised if, any day now, you read that the People's Republic of Arizona is in the market for nuclear warheads to put an end, once and for all, to illegal immigration on its southern border. After all, it's the next logical step for the rogue state.
When five students at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, California, taunted Latino students by wearing T-shirts bearing the American flag on Cinco de Mayo, even though administrators had told students beforehand not to wear flag clothing that day, they caused a ruckus, divided a community and reignited the culture wars.
For much of this election season, I saw a lot to admire in Marco Rubio. I liked the independence and courage he showed in going against the Republican Party establishment by challenging Gov. Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate race in Florida. And when Rubio was viciously and unfairly attacked by presumptuous white liberals for not being authentically Latino, I liked him even more.
Michael Bloomberg is out a quarter. That's how much New York's mayor, who has an estimated net worth north of $15 billion, wagered that he knew exactly what type of person would try to set off a car bomb in Times Square.
As a frequent critic of teachers' unions for standing in the way of education reform, perpetuating a culture of low expectations and defending the interests of teachers even to the detriment of students, I'm accustomed to having union officials call me "anti-teacher."
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, are demonstrating real leadership on a tough issue. The issue: immigration. Their solution: a comprehensive reform bill combining enforcement with earned legal status for illegal immigrants, which they appear ready to introduce any day now.
Jaime Escalante was ahead of his time. And today, more than 30 years after the Bolivian-born math teacher put East Los Angeles' Garfield High School on the map by convening 14 students in his very first AP calculus class, the rest of the educational establishment is still trying to catch up.
California is referred to as a bellwether, a state that produces social trends and political movements that spread throughout the country.
The Obama administration needs an air traffic controller to manage its domestic policy agenda. The items are starting to pile up on the runway.
The Obama administration needs an air traffic controller to manage its domestic policy agenda. The items are starting to pile up on the runway.
In the movie "Law Abiding Citizen," Gerard Butler plays a man who loses his family when his wife and daughter are raped and murdered. After the main culprit receives a light sentence as part of a plea bargain and gets released from prison much sooner than he should have, our hero goes all "Death Wish" on the creep. He kidnaps him, drugs him and surgically dissects him into two-dozen pieces.
In most high schools in America, they teach Shakespeare. But at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, they're acting out a Shakespearean drama.
There was a lot to appreciate in yesterday's bipartisan White House health care summit between President Obama and members of Congress.
Sarah Palin has awesome power. We already knew that she had the power to drive liberal Democrats crazy. They don't respect her, but they sure do fear her.
Thirty-seven words. In this week's State of the Union address -- which was more than 7,000 words long and lasted longer than an hour -- all President Obama devoted to the issue of immigration reform was 37 measly words.
If the Obama White House was as good at listening to voters' concerns and adjusting their policy goals accordingly as they are at spinning Democratic losses in an attempt to contain the damage, they would probably have fewer losses to spin.
Some African-Americans insist that President Obama should lead a national dialogue on race when there are high-profile racial incidents that capture the nation's attention. And, in that regard, at least one prominent and highly quotable African-American intellectual thinks Obama is falling down on the job.
For Father of the Year, my nomination goes to David Goldman. Hands down. In fact, for his persistence in tilting at windmills and challenging a foreign government to regain custody of his son and bring him home, Goldman should be named Father of the Last Five Years.
Sometimes, a film is so powerful that it haunts you long after you've left the theater. Usually, it's because of the weight of the message.
When I speak to college students, I always push two messages: If you work hard, take risks, leave your comfort zone and never give up, you can do anything you want to in life; and part of life is competition, because no matter what you want, you can bet that someone else wants it too.
Have you ever seen 47 million people hold their breath and hope for the best?
Those of us in the U.S. can be so smug about what we think we know about why some teenagers turn into bloodthirsty predators -- even when it turns out that we don't know much.
When his stint in the White House is over, President Obama might just learn that Thomas Wolfe was right. You can't go home again.
It's political déjà vu. It seems like just yesterday that hard-core conservatives were griping about a Republican president who wasn't dependably conservative.
As someone who often takes a conservative stance on issues, I once again find myself in the curious position of defending President Obama to disillusioned critics within his own liberal base. And once again, I'm glad to do it.
The Obama administration actually has me feeling sorry for the Central Intelligence Agency. This week, the administration hit the CIA with both barrels.
In order to diagnose what ails President Obama's push for health care reform, we need less heated rhetoric and more "Cool Hand Luke."
A deadline set by a Democratic White House for the passage of a health care reform bill came and went, and a Democratic-controlled Congress just shrugged. Congress adjourns Friday for August recess without passing a bill. And the debate is on life support.
For the last two weeks, Americans have been divided into two feuding camps: "Team Gates" and "Team Crowley." But after Thursday, those terms seem antiquated.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor cruised through her confirmation hearings without a scratch.
Sixteen years ago, after I wrote a memoir about my experience as a Latino in the Ivy League, I got a call from a retired Jewish obstetrician who saw his reflection in my words.
The advocates of comprehensive immigration reform have a message for their opponents: "Game on!"
With Iran suffering a political earthquake, allow me to put in a good word for meddling.
To think there are some people who still argue that the law shouldn't categorize some offenses as hate crimes and allow for enhanced criminal penalties.
By nominating U.S. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, President Obama made history. Meanwhile, conservatives -- by invoking the name of Miguel Estrada -- are coming close to rewriting it.
Listen closely. I'm going to say three words that you don't often hear from columnists: I was wrong. What's more, I've never been so pleased to be proven wrong.
Thursday's competing addresses on national security from President Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney put into sharp focus the contrast between those who think the military prison at Guantanamo Bay makes us safe and those convinced it makes us less so.
Things really have changed with the Obama presidency -- starting with the process for nominating a Supreme Court justice.
On the prickly subject of immigration raids, the judicial branch is moving in the right direction. And the executive branch is moving in all directions.
The Obama administration forgot the first rule in a crisis: Never send Vice President Joe Biden to calm people's fears.
The Obama administration forgot the first rule in a crisis: Never send Vice President Joe Biden to calm people's fears.
For someone who insists he is personally opposed to torture, President Obama has a rhetorical knack for it.
President Obama doesn't speak Spanish. But after his trip Thursday to Mexico City to meet with President Felipe Calderon, it's clear that the two leaders speak the same language.
The Obama administration's stance on immigration reform is like a never-ending telenovela with multiple plot twists --sometimes more than one in the same news cycle.
Friday's new unemployment figures will underscore the fact that millions of Americans are either out of work or afraid they could end up that way.
A lot of Americans are wondering: Is it safe to travel to Mexico? It depends where you go, and what your intentions are once you get there.
Here's the good news: Authorities say that fewer illegal immigrants are crossing the U.S.-Mexican border. The Los Angeles Times recently reported that arrests along the U.S.-Mexico border in the last five months are down 24 percent from the same period last year.
President Obama has clearly drifted to the center, even if neither the right nor the left wants to acknowledge it.
You may have heard the rumor that, as a result of a bloody drug war that has claimed more than 7,000 lives since January 2007, Mexico is on the verge of being declared a "failed state."
Obviously, President Obama has a lot on his plate: two wars, an ailing economy, the mortgage crisis and more. But that doesn't relieve him of the obligation to serve up his plan for immigration reform.
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