For more than a decade, arriving asylum-seekers have faced the possibility that they will be detained while immigration authorities oppose their admission, under stricter laws passed in 1996. But a new study by the international advocacy group Human Rights First, shows that it has become harder for them to win release while their cases are considered.

"A former FBI agent and William and Mary student has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after admitting she entered a sham marriage to gain U.S. citizenship more than seven years ago.

Yue Cheng, 26, of Williamsburg was sentenced to a year in prison by Judge Henry Coke Morgan, said Dana J. Boente, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Cheng pleaded guilty on Dec. 4 to five federal offenses, including marriage fraud and unlawfully claiming U.S. citizenship."

The world-wide economic crunch has slammed shut ports of entry for immigrants almost everywhere, and in some places even produced offers of all-expense-paid trips home, courtesy of the migrants' host countries.

Thanks to a recent twist on a relic of the Cold War, however, there is a welcome mat out for an expanding number of U.S.-bound migrants -- so long as they can establish that they are citizens of Cuba, even if they have never set foot on the island.

A Gallup poll released on August 5, 2009 shows that 50% of all Americans believe that immigration should be reduced.  This number is 11 points higher than the figure from an identical poll conducted last year.  Only 14% of Americans say immigration should be increased (down from 18%) and 32% say immigration levels should remain the same (down from 39%).