POSTVILLE, Iowa—A group of Jewish boys in
yarmulkes and winter coats walked past the “Taste of Mexico” restaurant on
Lawler Street last week on their way home from school. Minutes later, a Somali
man wearing a keffiyeh scarf around his neck passed by, perhaps on his way to
the town’s makeshift mosque on Main Street.

After months of internal wrangling and confusion over an ambitious nationwide program allowing state and local police agencies to identify immigrants with criminal records, Obama administration immigration officials have decided to take a hard line against communities that try to delay or cancel their participation in the program, according to documents made public late Wednesday. Read more