Immigration Reality- History: How Arizona became ground zero for immigration reform

This Christian Science Monitor article provides helpful historical context as to why Arizona has become "ground zero." Following that, an MSNBC article tells how yet anotther state government, Virgina, is getting into the battle.  

How Arizona became ground zero for immigration reform: "The current focus on immigration in Arizona shows an ignorance of where the US has been, says Deborah Kang, a post doctoral history fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

“What always surprises me about these debates is how quickly we forget,' she says. 'Some in the media have reported that SB 1070 marks a new high-water mark for anti-Mexican sentiment in the United States and a new precedent in the history of American immigration law.”

But she says Mexican immigrants have been repeatedly scapegoated for the nation's economic woes. Individuals of Mexican descent, whether undocumented immigrants, legal residents, or even US citizens, were forcibly removed from the US in deportation campaigns in the early 1920s, 1930s, and 1950s – all in the midst of a national economic downturn or crisis." August 3, 2010, Christian Science Monitor

Virginia wades into illegal immigration battle: "Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli waded into the hottest legal issues of the day. ...

In a legal opinion issued Monday, Cuccinelli said Virginia law enforcement officers are authorized to ask about the immigration status of any one in the state who is stopped for another reason – provided it does not significantly add to the overall time of the stop." August 3, 2010, MSNBC