It hasn’t been too long since the abridged version of the Arizona illegal immigration law went into effect, and already a video has surfaced on YouTube of police officers turning a routine traffic stop into an illegal immigration raid. The officers appear professional albeit stern, and take away a woman on the basis of having had a previous blemish on her traffic record.

The political rhetoric coming from some GOP officials right now on immigration might make one believe that skyrocketing crime rates are a direct result of illegal aliens. But as Rachel Maddow pointed out last night, not only are crime rates way down, but so too are the number of illegals apprehended at the Arizona border. Maddow points out some specific reports that have spread around right-of-center websites that seem to be straight up lies. Yes, its yet another patented “Scaring White People” segment, that is quite effective.

What makes Lady Gaga different than the city of Los Angeles? Well, unlike the City of Angels, the singer refuses to boycott Arizona over the controversial immigration law. A couple of nights ago, Gaga performed in Phoenix and told her screaming fans about how a “couple of really big rock and rollers” (any guesses who, folks?) called her up and asked her to cancel her show. To the delight of the “Little Monsters” in US Airways Arena, Gaga told them she would not cancel but would instead “protest actively.”

Rick Sanchez is the sometimes combative and often entertaining CNN anchor, who is not only of proud Cuban-American heritage, but also a rather vocal advocate of immigration reform. J.D. Hayworth is the conservative talk radio host who is in a bitter primary running against Arizona’s Senior senator John McCain, and a loud voice for anti-illegal immigration reform in the state of Arizona, the current hot spot from which this political discussion is being hotly debated.

A protest against the recent controversial immigration law in Arizona turned violent today as several protesters were arrested for their behavior. The protest was organized as a response to yesterday’s ruling that parts of the law were unconstitutional and the fact that the law partially went into effect today.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has taken the media offensive since a judge blocked several provisions in the state’s new immigration law, first appearing on CNN and then putting on a chipper face for a primetime appearance as Sean Hannity‘s guest on Fox News. Struck by her optimism, Hannity questioned Brewer on her next step regarding the law, and she left open the option of suing the federal government.

The partial rejection of the Arizona immigration law today by a federal judge shifted the gears of the news cycle significantly today. On Hardball tonight, Chris Matthews invited two Arizona legislators to debate the pros and cons of the law. Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva finished the segment as Matthews’ designated “serious” person, while Republican state Rep. Rick Murphy was branded a “BS artist” for his opposition to the national ID card.

Earlier today, Federal Judge Susan Bolton granted an injunction that blocks the most controversial part of the recently passed Arizona Immigration Law. Governor Jan Brewer, who in many ways has became the face of this issue, claimed “today the federal government got relief from the courts to not to do their jobs.” She defiantly used the court injunction to call out her political foes, adding the feds need “to step and do the job that they have the responsibility to do for the people of America and for the people of Arizona.”

Federal Judge Susan Bolton has granted an injunction that blocks the most controversial part of the recently passed Arizona Immigration Law. The lawsuit had been filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Phoenix and argued that Arizona’s law requiring state and local police to question and possibly arrest illegal immigrants during the enforcement of other laws such as traffic violations usurps federal authority. It appears that this ruling stops that specific part of the rule from being enforced.

With the illegal immigration debate still raging in Arizona, new statistics are showing that there are 1,100 undocumented convicted felons in only one of the state’s counties– statistics that have Bill O’Reilly concerned about the federal government’s opposition to the state’s new illegal immigration law. O’Reilly invited Univisión’s top anchor Jorge Ramos on the Factor, who opposes the law, to ask him for a fair alternative solution.

Well, it’s happened. While there have been rumblings over the past few weeks that the U.S. Justice Department would be bringing a lawsuit to block the Illegal Immigration Law in Arizona, the suit hadn’t officially been filed until today. The stat of Arizona and Gov. Jan Brewer have been named as defendants.

The fight in Arizona against illegal immigration is an issue on which John Stossel‘s traditional libertarian views are not as clear as they would be on topics of individual rights or government control. On last night’s weekly Stossel segment on The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly tested Stossel’s views on the matter and, yet again, he erred on the side of smaller government.

In a recent debate, Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona commented that she believed illegal immigrants were mostly not coming into America for the jobs– most were here for representing drug cartels. Today, she added to those comments, claiming that a majority of illegal immigrants are “under the direction of drug cartels.”

When going all out in opposition to something, it’s best to always have your facts straight. It’s a lesson that would have well served Wisconsin County Supervisor Peggy West, who has come out strong against the Arizona illegal immigration law claiming that it doesn’t make sense for Arizona to be so agitated about illegal immigration. It’s not Arizona is like “Texas, which is a state that is directly on the border with Mexico.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sparked new controversy over Arizona’s so-called “Show me your papers” law when her announcement (during a June 8 interview on Ecuadoran TV) that the Department of Justice would be suing the state of Arizona reached Governor Jan Brewer last week. The debate carried over to ABC’s This Week, where Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren (who sparred with Mediaite over the issue on Friday) made an excellent point.

CNN is reporting that the U.S Justice Department is planning to file a legal challenge over Arizona’s controversial immigration law that has been fodder on cable news channels for the last two months.

This morning, Mediaite columnist Tommy Christopher took issue with some comments Greta Van Susteren made last night on her Fox News program about the White House’s response to the controversial Arizona immigration law– namely, that Van Susteren seemed to express little concern with the possibility that the law may be unconstitutional. Van Susteren, understandably, begged to differ, and suggested Christopher “take the potato out of his ear.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made news yesterday when Arizona Governor Jan Brewer noticed a statement that Clinton made in a June 8 interview with an Ecuadoran TV station. Secretary Clinton revealed that the Department of Justice will be filing a lawsuit challenging Arizona’s so-called “Show Me Your Papers” law. A DOJ spokesman wouldn’t confirm this, saying “The department continues to review the law.”

When the new Arizona immigration law was first passed, a provision giving police the authority to check immigration status when faced with visual evidence that a suspect is in the country illegally caused controversy because even the state’s governor, Jan Brewer, admitted she didn’t know what an illegal immigrant “looked like.” On the House floor today, Iowa Rep. Steve King argued that “looking illegal” isn’t about race– it’s about “common sense.”

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has proven to be very no-nonsense when it comes to the illegal immigration problem in her state, and in a recent interview with her state’s local ABC affiliate, she showed she didn’t even spare the children of illegal immigrants who may have been born in America. Asked about how to solve the problem of mixed-status families, Brewer answered: “They can take their children back with them.”

We haven’t really seen much political activism from ’80s blue-eyed soul duo Hall and Oates since their heartfelt farewell to Alan Colmes on The Daily Show, but now they have come out to publicly boycott the state of Arizona in response to the state’s controversial immigration law, canceling a concert slated for next month in Phoenix and encouraging other artists to boycott the state, as well. Which begs the question: Hall and Oates still tour?

Did you know Bill O’Reilly used to be a high school teacher? Well, he was, but that doesn’t mean he could tell Glenn Beck about what a “racist monster” Woodrow Wilson was. In an O’Reilly Factor segment about leftist indoctrination in schools, Beck railed about the atrocities of the Wilson administration and how they had been wiped from the history books, only to receive an apathetic “That may be annoying, but its not vital to the country,” from the host in response.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer met with President Obama in the Oval Office today in what she described as a “very cordial” discussion regarding her state’s controversial new immigration law. Afterward she took questions from various members of the press; when asked if Obama had read the law, she did not answer, choosing only to smile knowingly.

While the BP oil spill garnered the most attention during President Obama‘s press conference today, a number of other pressing issues came up as well, namely, the passing of a controversial immigration law. When asked if he would support a boycott of Arizona, he indicated that, while he understood the frustration of the people of Arizona, he thought the law was the wrong approach, also adding, “I’m President of the United States, I don’t endorse boycotts.

The news that President Obama will send 1200 additional troops to the border, which was greeted by a number of media folks with barely a shrug, has been greeted by the GOP with calls for more. Rachel Maddow noted last night that the announcement has started a bit of a bidding war on the right.