President Obama stressed the need to press ahead with immigration reform during his State of the Union address Tuesday night. But grantees were more focused on new action on immigration unfolding backstage in the run up to his speech. More than 140 Democrats signed a letter condemning the immigration raids the Department of Homeland Security has been conducting in recent days, arguing the roundups were a wrong-headed response to the plight of people fleeing violence in Central American countries (a similar letter was signed by a sizable contingent of grantees). In response, the administration announced it had asked the United Nations to help screen such migrants, and to establish local centers to help vet people seeking to enter the U.S. from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.

This comes as reports on the numbers of migrants crossing into the US from Central American countries rose to worrisome heights. According to new figures released by Borders and Customs Protection, 21,469 people traveling in family clusters were rounded up by border agents during the final three months of 2015 – nearly three times the number detained during the same time frame in 2014.

Muslim Advocates and other grantees who work against Islamophobia voiced their appreciation for the president’s defense of Islam and admonition not to give in to divisiveness and fear in the face of the terrorist threat. Some advocates in the MASA community voiced concern that Obama skimped on racial turmoil and policing and the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

The widow of one of the victims of the San Bernardino shootings filed a series of claims against the county, seeking a total of $58m in lost compensation and “general damages.” A spokesman said the county government would “carefully consider each claim and act in the best interests of everyone involved.”  Separately, several claims have been filed by neighborhood residents over property damage attributed to the hail of bullets fired in the shootout that eventually ended the perpetrators’ lives.

A group of hackers calling themselves “Crackas With Attitude” claimed to have hacked into Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s home phone and personal email account, as well as the personal email account of Clapper’s wife.  

A Silicon Valley data engineer donned a hijab to experience firsthand how attendees at a Donald Trump rally reacted to a Muslim. NBC said that despite the pressure they received from advocates unhappy with their decision to tap Trump to host an episode this season, the ratings made it worthwhile.  

Among other grantee activities:

--Human Rights First and America’s Voice were among the groups praising the new UN program for processing migrants from Central America.  

--The American Constitution Society debated the Gun Owners of America on Democracy Now! over the legality of President Obama’s executive orders on gun violence.

--The Migration Policy Institute put out a report entitled “A Profile of U.S. Children with Unauthorized Immigrant Parents,” presenting a demographic portrait showing that a significant portion of children of the undocumented live in states without much experience in or infrastructure for dealing with this population.