This updated report lays out trends in Latino voting patterns over the last several years, and examines some of the factors that motivate and influence this segment of the electorate. The report features a list of “Races to Watch”—forty-one battleground House, Senate and gubernatorial contests where Latino voters will play a key role—and details the Congressional districts where Latino voting power is most concentrated.

A number of newspapers in states as diverse as Texas, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Kansas have editorialized in favor of the DREAM Act this year. The DREAM Act is bi-partisan legislation introduced by Senator Dick Durbin (D‐IL) and Senator Richard Lugar (R‐IN), and Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), that would give eligible young people who were brought to the U.S. as children the opportunity to legalize their immigration status and work towards citizenship. The DREAM Act would allow talented young people to continue their educations and make even greater contributions to this nation.

Each year, approximately 65,000 young people graduate from high school in the U.S. find themselves unable to work, join the military or go to college because of their immigration status. Approximately 800,000 young people would be eligible for the DREAM Act -- bipartisan legislation that would give eligible young people who were brought to the U.S. as children the opportunity to legalize their immigration status and work towards citizenship -- upon passage.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigrant-hunting tactics have resulted in higher crime rates, thousands of lawsuits, millions of dollars in unnecessary expenses and a reversal of the community-policing strategies that have proved successful to police across the nation. But new Arizona law SB 1070 would force every police officer in the state to use Arpaio as a model.

By signing the “show me your papers” law, SB 1070, Governor Jan Brewer and the Arizona Legislature will force all police jurisdictions in the state to adopt the tactics of controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County.

Rep. King's bogus claims about immigrants have served as talking points for the extreme anti-immigrant movement. King has not only stood side by side with anti-immigrant extremists, he has also been a financial beneficiary of their political action committees.

Latinos represent 21.1% of California’s registered voters and Latino turnout has increased greatly over the past decade. When Proposition 187 was enacted in 1994, it created a backlash among Latino voters who turned against the state Republican Party that championed the measure. Since then, Republican candidates have struggled to compete with Democrats over this demographic group, which has become critical to winning statewide elections.

In what is expected to be a very close race, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is running for reelection in 2010 against Sharon Angle, a Republican candidate supported by the Minuteman PAC. Nevada was one of the key Democratic pickups in the 2008 Presidential contest, where the Latino vote was a crucial factor.

Despite the media hype, spending on immigration enforcement has steadily climbed since 2002 and continues to skyrocket in President Obama’s administration. The following chart shows that spending for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) increased from fiscal year 2002, at almost $7.5 billion, to fiscal year 2010 over $17 billion.