Free Republic

Violent crime is going down in Venezuela just as the United States has been hit with a rash of high-profile violent crimes by illegal immigrants. It’s not hard to figure out why. The killing of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student in Athens, Georgia, has become the latest and most prominent case of an American being killed as a consequence of President Joe Biden’s open-border policies. The man being held in connection with the killing of Riley is Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who reportedly entered the United States in 2022. Since his arrival in the U.S., he...

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning. Host Margaret Brennen had asked Secretary Mayorkas if the illegal alien who killed Laken Riley should have been deported. He never answered, but instead deflected the question. Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student, was brutally murdered by one of Joe Biden’s illegal aliens. Biden won’t say Laken Riley’s name either. “Should this man have been deported?” Brennen asked Mayorkas. “One individual is responsible for the murder, and that is the murderer,” Mayorkas responded. “Are you saying there that the Federal Government had been informed about this...

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the federal government was not notified about previous arrests by the suspect in the murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student. Partial transcript as follows: MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about a- a criminal case that has become a political rallying point. You heard Donald Trump use this phrase, “migrant crime”. A 22 year old nursing student—I know you’ve been following this—Laken Riley, in the state of Georgia, was murdered allegedly by an undocumented Venezuelan migrant. The suspect had been detained by...

The “Bolivarian Revolution” of Venezuela is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its rise to power. On February 2, 1999 — 25 years ago — I was a naive 11-year-old, devoid of any political thought. Today, just as the socialists celebrate a quarter of a century in power, I am barely starting anew, having been finally able to flee from socialism with my brother, who is under my care due to his mental condition. As they celebrate, cheer, rejoice — I am here, having left everything behind: my home, remaining family, neighbors, and friends, carrying nothing but three pieces of luggage;...

The homicide rate in Venezuela has dropped like a rock. The numbers are shocking, actually, in how high they remain and how much they have fallen. More than a 25% drop in about a year, according to the Venezuela Violence Observatory. Suicides are up, though, which isn't such good news. The explanation for this sudden drop in the murder rate doesn't require a great deal of research. All you need to do is read the news and you will see story after story about Venezuelan illegal immigrants committing crimes in the United States. (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela’s rate of violent deaths...

Remember when Trump said countries were emptying their prisons and sending them to us? Remember the reaction? Trump claimed that South American countries are emptying their prisons and “mental institutions” and sending those people to the U.S., but immigration experts tell us there is no evidence of that happening. Uh huh. The same people tell us the border is secure. Meet Tren de AraguaTren de Aragua, the Venezuelan criminal gang spreading terror from Chile to Colombia The organization, which is involved in crimes such as human trafficking, sexual exploitation and drug trafficking, is extending its tentacles in eight countries in...

'You have to have blinders on to not see that there have been problems'... WHITEWATER, Wis.—The migrants began to trickle into Whitewater, a sleepy town of 15,000 an hour west of Milwaukee, toward the end of 2021. Prior to their arrival, local news and political debates generally revolved around school fundraisers or the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's D3 athletics. Today, residents are focused on their 1,000 new neighbors, who mostly hail from Nicaragua and Venezuela and largely keep to the shadows because they lack official identification. Locals say the real number of migrants in the town could easily be double the...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Monday doubled down while speaking to a group at a town hall meeting in Canarsie, Brooklyn, saying the sanctuary city law needs to be modified so that any migrant who commits a felony can be turned over to ICE and deported. Adams commended his administration for doing an excellent job during a challenging time, but stated his hands are tied by federal and local law. The mayor spoke about some migrants participating in robberies and using mopeds to commit snatch and grab stick-ups. The issue, Adams said, became a real problem, so the...

Corporate media are covering for the deadly consequences of President Joe Biden’s border invasion by pretending the illegal border crosser who allegedly assaulted, kidnapped, imprisoned, and murdered 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student Laken Hope Riley this week was merely a nearby resident and not an illegal alien from Venezuelan with a criminal history.One day after Riley’s body was reported missing and subsequently found following an early morning run on her university’s campus in Athens, Georgia, Jose Ibarra was charged with several felonies related to her disappearance and death.The revelation sparked outrage among Americans who have noticed a pattern of...

Venezuela's rate of violent deaths dropped to its lowest level in more than two decades following years of massive migration as both criminals and victims fled the nation's economic crisis. The Venezuelan Violence Observatory registered 26.8 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants this year from a rate of 35.3 for every 100,000 habitants in 2022, Roberto Briceño León, director of the Observatory, said in a webcast Thursday. That's its lowest since 2001 and is one-third of what it was in 2016, he added. Young people, who have traditionally been the main victims of violence, have fled, while criminals and gangs have...

Of the nearly nine million illegal migrants that Joe Biden has allowed into the United States since taking office, a significant percentage of them came here from Venezuela. There were 50.000 of them just in the month of September, setting a record that still stands today. The vast majority of them were simply allowed to stay, receiving court dates to make their asylum claims as much as a decade in the future. But to his credit, Biden managed to have a small number of the worst of the worst rounded up from time to time and put on planes to...

Venezuela is reportedly refusing to accept its citizens who have been deported from the U.S. and Mexico, further forcing illegal immigration as a key issue in the 2024 presidential race. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro introduced the ban after D.C. reimposed some economic sanctions it had previously lifted on the Central American country, according to a report last week in The Wall Street Journal. About 13% of all U.S. Customs and Border Protection encounters this fiscal year have been with Venezuelan nationals for a total of more than 160,000 encounters, per government data. That number is likely higher as CBP has...

With the last recent events at the US border and the approach of the authorities’ response (not the ones of the States being affected, but the highest ones), anyone with some degree of common sense would start to ask questions.How are migrants from Venezuela getting from their country to the US border? Are they walking? if so, how long does it take and how are they equipped for it? If not, how are they getting there? Are they criminals? Are they crossing other borders legally? Is someone funding this?As a Venezuelan, I hope to answer some of these questions for...

Editor’s Commentary: While corporate media and local authorities do their best to downplay the immigration status of suspected murderer Jose Antonio Ibarra, it seems crystal clear that he’s an illegal alien. He’s allegedly from Venezuela and is not a U.S. citizen. Fox News, to their credit, did at least highlight that Ibarra is not a U.S. citizen. Other news networks danced around and often never mentioned that part at all. This story has been in the national news spotlight since it broke Thursday. Let’s see how fast the coverage disappears now that it’s an illegal alien in custody. Here are...

The United States is reportedly hoping that Brazil’s radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva uses his “influence” to convince Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro to commit to a “free and fair” election following his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday. The “free and fair” presidential election agreement — which the Maduro regime and Venezuelan opposition signed in 2023 and Blinken has repeatedly promoted over the years — has, so far, resulted in a major blunder for the Biden Administration. Venezuela’s political situation was one of the subjects reportedly discussed in Blinken’s meeting with Lula,...

CHICAGO — Two migrants, recently arrested at different locations for allegedly committing completely different crimes, told Chicago police officers they have turned to lives of crime because they want to be sent back to Venezuela, according to their CPD arrest reports. In fact, police say Dhian Gomez-Mendoza told them that he is so desperate to go back to his native country that he “will do whatever it takes if that is beating up a police officer or hurting a civilian, he will do it.” Gomez-Mendoza allegedly said that after cops arrested him at O’Hare International Airport on February 7. Chicago...

In France tonight police removing 200 protesting farmers from the headquarters of dairy conglomerate... At least 23 dead after an open pit gold mine collapsed in Venezuela... US Central Command reporting four strikes against missile sites in Yemen and... Israeli airstrikes reported late tonight in Gaza... The Baltic nation of Lithuania tightening restrictions on movement of Russian nationals... As he campaigns in California Joe Biden canceling federal student loans... The Florida legislature passing a bill to release some state grand jury information related to Jeffrey Epstein... "female spaces should be exclusively for females, not biological males" Canada's Opposition Leader Pierre...

The five illegal aliens arraigned on Friday are:24-year-old Yorman Reveron held on a $100,000 cash bail or $250,000 bond24-year-old Yohenry Brito held on a $15,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond19-year-old Kelvin Servita Arocha held on a $15,000 cash bail21-year-old Wilson Juarez held on a $1 cash bail19-year-old Darwin Gomez-Izquiel held on a $50,000 cash bailMeanwhile, 21-year-old Ulises Bohorquez and 18-year-old Yarwuin Madris are already being held on Rikers Island for the attack. Bohorquez has a cash bail of $100,000, while Madris has been ordered held without bail.Jhoan Boada, a 22-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela, has been charged and let out...

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office sought high bail for a group of illegal immigrants accused of attacking two NYPD officers near Times Square last month after their initial no-bail release caused a national uproar. The suspects each pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on a superseding indictment Friday morning. Despite the prosecution's change in stance, one suspected Venezuelan gang member who was ordered to leave the country last year had his bail set at $1. However – it is not expected to be paid. The move allows him to avoid deportation while in custody. First up, the judge set...

A brutal Venezuelan gang that has used the border crisis to set up in New York could join forces with the feared MS-13, a senior FBI agent has told The Post. Tren de Aragua, which law enforcement is warning is rapidly expanding its criminal empire with a spate of brazen phone robberies in the five boroughs, is a priority for the FBI, agent John Morales said. Morales, the special agent in charge of the El Paso division in Texas, said the agency is closely monitoring Tren de Aragua’s growth and is concerned about it forming alliances with existing networks.