The Justice Department announced Thursday that it has filed a lawsuit against Arizona Sheriff Joseph Arpaio, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and Maricopa County for failing to turn over documents in an investigation into alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and jail policies that discriminate against people with limited English skills. In their complaint, the government agency says the sheriff's office has failed to turn over documents relating to the case and has refused to cooperate. It is the first time in decades a lawman has refused to cooperate in one of the agency's probes. Sheriff Arpaio says the government is targeting him - and Arizona.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to give a speech on comprehensive immigration reform at the American University School of International Service in Washington, D.C. today. This in the wake of Arizona's controversial immigration law, and the threat of other states passing their own immigration legislation. Valeria Fernandez, a reporter for Feet in Two Worlds — a project of the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School; and Maria Elena Salinas, an anchor at Univision, join us to talk about what they and the hispanic population hope the President will say in his speech.

Democrats unveiled a framework for immigration reform yesterday, just as cities across the country are bracing for big May Day protests by Immigrant advocacy groups. The groups are hoping to put pressure on Washington to speed up changes to current laws, which some say endanger families with members that have come to the U.S. illegally.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer followed tough words with tough action when signed the "Safe Neighborhoods" bill into law on Friday. State House Bill 1070 is considered to be the nation's strictest law against illegal immigration. Among other changes, the bill requires all immigrants to carry proper identification at all times and broadens the power of local police to detain anybody suspected of immigration violations. State and local leaders who support the bill praise its sweeping reforms and cite the state's violent crime rate as reason alone for strict measures. On the other side of the debate, activists and lawmakers, including President Obama, have called the bill a "misguided" attack on the "basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans."

Yesterday, at several bus stations and other locations around Arizona, more than 800 law enforcement officials carried out the largest operation against human smuggling in ICE history. The targets were shuttle bus operations that allegedly carry illegal immigrants around the region and across the border. The tactic of targeting the networks of traffickers rather than carrying out workplace raids reveals a shift in strategy under Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano and President Obama from the policies of the Bush era.

The rate of federal prosecutions is at an all-time high, showing an increase of nine percent since last year. According to a new study by Syracuse University's TRAC project, this increase is primarily related to an increase in arrests of immigration violators. We talk with John Schwartz of The New York Times and Valeria Fernández of the Feet in 2 Worlds Program about the increase, and what it signifies for the Obama administration's stance towards immigration reform.

Read John Schwartz's article in The New York Times.

Earlier this month, the sheriff for Arizona's Maricopa County, Joe Arpaio, was stripped of his powers to enforce immigration rules by a change in federal law. But the feisty sheriff has said that won't stop him, and apparently it hasn't. He announced that he will be conducting an anti-immigration sweep disguised as "crime suppression" in Maricopa County today. He will face protests, though, as he does it. Valeria Fernandez, an independent journalist from Phoenix, Ariz., joins us with the story. (Read Fernandez' piece on the Feet In 2 Worlds blog.)

Here's Sheriff Arpaio on "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" explaining that despite losing his federal enforcement authority, he still plans on "locking 'em all up."