-- a New York Times editorial:

When the Senate Judiciary Committee meets on Monday to resume marking up an immigration bill, it will have two weeks of solid achievement to build on. The bipartisan “Gang of Eight” that drafted the deal has so far held together. The full committee has rejected an array of amendments designed to cripple or kill the bill, while adopting technical fixes and other amendments to make the system fairer, smarter and more generous.

-- by Jacques Billead, The Associated Press:

The immigration debate in Arizona reached a boiling point in 2007 when the state passed a groundbreaking law targeting those often blamed with fueling the nation's border woes: Employers who hire immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

-- by Alan Gomez, USA Today:

After a Senate committee finished poring through the enforcement sections of a sweeping immigration bill on Thursday, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, didn't want to dwell on the three amendments he proposed that were voted down by his colleagues.

He has already been thinking of other ways to change the bill.

The core of the immigration bill, which was produced by a bipartisan group of senators known as the Gang of Eight, remained largely intact after the third hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee that is considering more than 300 amendments. Grassley said little had been accomplished to satisfy him and other Republicans who feel the bill doesn't do enough to secure the border and ensure that unauthorized immigrants can't find work in the U.S.

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-- by Sandra Lilley, NBC Latino:

The nomination of Thomas Perez for Labor Secretary has been endorsed by a Senate panel, but judging from the intensely partisan vote, it will be a tough vote when it goes to the full Senate.  The Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Comittee (HELP) committee voted 12-10 for Perez, with all Republicans voting no.

-- by Esther Cepeda:

The U.S. Census Bureau released its November voting data, and one thing is clear: The so-called Latino Sleeping Giant is still snoozing — fewer than half of all eligible Hispanics turned out to vote in 2012.

-- from Asian Journal:

In California, Asian and Hispanic immigrants pay nearly $30 billion in federal taxes, $5.2 billion in state income taxes, and $4.6 billion in sales taxes each year.

In New York, immigrants are responsible for $229 billion in economic output in the state. Even in Alabama, a state not known for having a large immigrant population, the purchasing power of Asian and Latinos in Alabama totaled $5.8 billion since 1990.

The Immigration Policy Center released last week a partial state-by-state analysis highlighting the importance and economic impact of Asians and Latino immigrants in the United States.

The release of the data comes at a crucial time as the bipartisan “Gang of Eight’s” comprehensive immigration reform legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented people living in the US, makes its way through Congress.

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-- by Carol Morello, The Washington Post:

Immigration will be the primary driver of population growth in the United States within a few decades, a milestone not seen in almost two centuries, the Census Bureau projected Wednesday.

The Census Bureau said immigration will outstrip natural increase — the difference between births and deaths for the total population — by as early as 2027, but no later than 2038. The differing scenarios depend on how many immigrants continue coming to the U.S.

-- by John Benson, Voxxi:

“Over the last few years, particularly since the great recession, I’ve been following college-going in general, and Hispanics have made strides,” Pew Hispanic Center Senior Research Associate Rick Fry told VOXXI. “This is the first time we have published on this particular sort of college enrollment rate. In the past we simply said, ‘Okay, let’s take all the 18 to 24 years old out there and sort of ask, are they currently enrolled in college?’ That’s different.”