Immigration

Hispanic congregations in Alabama are reporting declining numbers of worshippers under the enactment of the state's controversial immigration law, one of the strictest in the nation.

Pastor Gomez of First Baptist Church of Center Point said that many of his congregants left because of the law.

"I called them back and some of them returned. But I know of another ministry that is close to me here in town that had around 120, and now it has about 40," said Gomez to Baptist Press. more >>

Correction appended

Becky Morlock never expected to become a mother when she left the United States to serve as a missionary in India. A month after she arrived, a 2-day-old baby was given to her by a mother unable to care for him. Four years later, she is still waiting on approval from the U.S. government to bring her son home.

Kyle's birth mother was from a remote village in India. She had concealed her pregnancy and traveled to Kalimpong to give birth. Unmarried, she could have been kicked out of her village had her pregnancy been discovered. more >>

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer defended her finger-pointing exchange with the president Thursday, saying she had prepared a handwritten letter to Barack Obama and was instead dragged into a dispute over her book.

Reports asserted the two argued after pictures of the Wednesday encounter portraying the governor with her finger pointed at the president emerged. The finger wagging incident also led state Democrats to call for an apology. Online speculators deemed the entire thing a publicity stunt.

Brewer denounced stunt claims Thursday as "absolutely ridiculous." She told Fox News that she went to the airport tarmac to greet the president with a personal letter. When she shook his hand, Brewer said Obama confronted her about her book's portrayal of a White House meeting. more >>

Newt Gingrich has pulled a Spanish-language ad accusing rival Mitt Romney of being "anti-immigrant" after sharp criticism from Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

"This kind of language is more than just unfortunate. It's inaccurate, inflammatory, and doesn't belong in this campaign,'' Rubio told The Miami Herald Wednesday when asked about the ad. "The truth is that neither of these two men is anti-immigrant. Both are pro-legal immigration and both have positive messages that play well in the Hispanic community."

Rubio's remarks came a day after he criticized Gingrich for comparing Romney to former Florida Governor Charlie Crist. Crist is not well liked among Republicans in the state. Crist lost to Rubio in the race to decide the Republican's nominee for the Senate in 2010. He then left the Republican Party and ran against Rubio as an independent in the general election. more >>

Florida political experts are warning that an aging Cuban community and the corresponding growth of pro-Democratic Latinos suggest that, without changes, Republican presidential candidates will have difficulty winning the state in future national elections.

And despite a new Quinnipiac poll showing Newt Gingrich surging in the Florida GOP primary, he might have a harder time winning Florida in a national election than Mitt Romney.

When it comes to analyzing the Latino vote, a recent poll conducted by Latino Decisions for ABC News/Univision underscores this dynamic. In current head-to-head matchups, Obama would win the Florida Latino vote, 50 to 40 percent, against Romney, or 52 to 38 percent against Gingrich. By comparison, President George W. Bush won 56 percent of the Florida Latino vote in 2004. more >>

Mitt Romney has been spending a significant amount of money and resources to win Florida's 50 delegates in the state's Jan. 31 Republican presidential primary. While Gingrich's position on immigration was seen as a drawback in earlier states, it, ironically, may deliver him a significant victory in Florida.

Former Massachusetts Governor Romney lost to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in the 2008 Florida primary. CNN's exit polls for that contest showed that Romney tied McCain among non-Latino voters but lost heavily among Latino voters. Thus, Latino voters helped deliver McCain his victory, and could do the same for Gingrich in a tight race.

Cuban-Americans made up seven percent of the votes cast in 2008 and they voted for McCain 54 percent of the time. Non-Cuban Latinos were another four percent of the electorate and supported McCain by 53 percent. Only nine percent of Cuban-Americans and 21 percent of non-Cuban Latinos supported Romney. more >>