The United States is shockingly irrational in the way it handles immigration. Unlike other nations that strategically use immigration to pursue national goals, we lurch from concerns about border security to illegal immigrants to drugs and crime without considering our long-term political and economic priorities.

Yadira Barragan used to think that people who came to this country illegally should simply return home to sort out their situation there.

Nearly three dozen Chicago-area men were among 370 immigrants arrested throughout the Midwest this week for a wide variety of offenses, federal customs enforcement officials announced Friday.

A crowd of about 100 demonstrators rallied inside City Hall on Thursday in support of a federal judge's temporary block of the most controversial sections of Arizona's immigration law. The rally, which was part of a "National Day of Action" with similar demonstrations opposing the law around the country, also celebrated a recently introduced Chicago City Council resolution that calls for a symbolic boycott of Arizona businesses.