IJJ is accepting applications for its 2012 professional fellowship program, which will examine the contentious immigration issues playing out across the country on local, state and federal levels and their role in the 2012 election campaign.

Twelve Fellows will be selected to participate in the professional development program, which will help reporters cover legal, political and demographic developments involving immigration.

The program will provide journalists with facts, figures and perspectives to move beyond the typical campaign rhetoric on immigration. It also will examine the anticipated electoral impact of immigrants who have become newly eligible to vote.

The program, “Immigration in the Heartland: the 2012 Elections and Beyond,” will take place April 20-25 at the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication and its Institute for Research and Training, which are partnering with IJJ in this program.

The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation is the program’s funder.