Mesa and Tempe police chiefs denied Wednesday their departments are part of a new task force to combat illegal immigrant smuggling, despite being listed as such by a federal agency.

WASHINGTON — Former hotels, nursing homes and other sites would be used to hold immigrants who are not criminals or violent as part of a larger plan to reform immigration detention proposed by the homeland security secretary, according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department has failed to ensure that local and state law enforcement partners pursue serious criminals and don’t misuse their authority while enforcing immigration law, government investigators say.

SAN DIEGO  — The U.S. government began flying Mexican deportees home on Tuesday in a two-month experiment aimed at relieving Mexican border cities overwhelmed with people ordered to leave the United States.

WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department released from its jails more than 2,000 illegal immigrants facing deportation in recent weeks due to looming budget cuts and planned to release 3,000 more during March, The Associated Press has learned.

Two traffic stops led the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office to bust 52 suspected illegal immigrants Tuesday, according to a sheriff's office press release.

WASHINGTON - While a new Arizona law targeting illegal immigrants is attracting all the attention for its focus on targeting illegal immigrants, communities across the country have long focused on identifying those here illegally and alerting federal authorities.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents are increasingly using roadside bombs detonated by remote control to attack American forces in Iraq - the latest killing a U.S. soldier and his Iraqi translator in northern Baghdad on Monday.

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar - Madagascar's top generals handed over control of this Indian Ocean island nation to the opposition leader on Tuesday, hours after the president himself stepped down and tried to put the military in charge.

BOSTON - A blitz by federal agents during the last three weeks captured nearly 2,100 illegal immigrants across the country in raids targeting child molesters, violent gang members and past deportees who re-entered the country.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., presented the case last week to fast-track construction of the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Monday rejected criticism that his agency is preoccupied with terror threats, at the expense of preparing for natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans turned much of its attention Sunday to gathering up and counting the dead across a ghastly landscape awash in perhaps thousands of corpses.

WASHINGTON — Determined to show a commitment to stopping the flow of illegal immigrants, the Senate convened a special session Thursday and passed a $600 million bill to put more agents and equipment along the Mexican border.

The Department of Homeland Security is slapping new restrictions on local police agencies that have authority to enforce immigration law.

April 14, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A pair of car bombs exploded near government offices in the Iraqi capital on Thursday, killing 18 people and wounding three dozen, while insurgent attacks against the nation's nascent security forces left at least eight others dead, officials said.

Republicans look like they made it a clean sweep in the state's top offices, winning the races for governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer and superintendent of public instruction.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Many illegal immigrants who were facing deportation despite having no criminal record will be allowed to stay in the country and apply for a work permit under new rules from the Homeland Security Department. Republicans are balking at the change.

WASHINGTON - Former FEMA director Michael Brown blamed others for most government failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday, especially Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He aggressively defended his own role.

TEHRAN, Iran - The Iranian government brushed aside a Persian New Year's message Friday from President Barack Obama offering to resolve years of hostility, saying it wants concrete change from Washington before it's ready to enter a dialogue.

NEW YORK - Crude oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will outstrip supplies.

WAITSFIELD, Vt. (AP) — Nearly 30 years ago, a handful of enterprising Vermonters realized they could do more with milk than just sell it. And with a little help from the state, they became pioneers in what quickly blossomed into the now behemoth artisanal cheese movement.