Free Republic

No political summit involving people who at least claim that they want to run for President would be complete without an appearance by Donald Trump. I’ll give the man one thing… he knows how to put on a show, and I’m not just talking about Celebrity Apprentice. After initially coming out and saying that he would have demolished Barack Obama if he’s stayed with the race the last time he ran, The Donald knew just what sort of red meat to throw to the crowd. Trump told that crowd that if he runs in 2016, his first order of business...

A surveillance video that captured the killing of a Phoenix-area convenience store clerk shows the suspect calmly walking behind the counter after pulling the trigger, stepping over the fallen victim and grabbing several packs of Marlboros before slowly exiting. The chilling depiction was outlined in a court document Friday as a Maricopa County Superior Court judge set bail at $1 million for 29-year-old Apolinar Altamirano in connection with the shooting of the 21-year-old clerk during his overnight shift.

MESA, Ariz. -- An employee at a QuikTrip convenience store was shot and killed early Thursday morning, according to police. The QT is located at Stapley Drive and Broadway Road. The shooting was followed by a high-speed chase for about 25 miles from Mesa to southwest Phoenix as police tried to capture the shooting suspect. They said a witness had flagged them down at the QT. Apolinar Altamirano, 29, of Mesa, was taken into custody at 19th Avenue and Buckeye Road. He faces charges including first-degree murder, armed robbery, burglary, possession of a weapon by a prohibited possessor and unlawful...

That is why I am renaming the subcommittee “Immigration and the National Interest,” as a declaration to the American people that this subcommittee belongs to them. Senator Vitter, a strong voice for the national interest, will be serving as Republican Deputy Chairman. The financial and political elite have been controlling this debate for years; this subcommittee will give voice to those whose voice has been shut out: the voice of the dedicated immigration officers who have been blocked from doing their jobs; the voice of the working families whose wages have been reduced by years of record immigration; the voice...

DENVER (AP) — Democrats who pushed to get driver’s licenses for Colorado immigrants regardless of their legal status are outraged over a Republican vote to block access to funds for the program. The issue is a reminder to Democrats of the power they lost in November when Republicans took control of the Senate for the first time in 10 years, and sets up what could be a contentious budget-writing process. The measure allowing driver’s licenses for immigrants in the country illegally passed in 2013 and it was signed by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper when his party controlled both legislative chambers....

Efforts by several California counties to provide health insurance to undocumented immigrants could serve as a model for other states. As a state, California has taken several steps to provide health coverage to undocumented residents. Immigrants in the state who qualified for Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival initiative are eligible for Medi-Cal coverage. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program. In addition, under an executive action by President Obama last year, Medi-Cal coverage could be extended to up to 500,000 undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years and who have no record of felony offenses...

When Sen. Jeff Sessions stepped aside to make way for Wyoming's Mike Enzi to lead the Budget Committee, many wondered if there were bigger plans ahead for Alabama's junior senator. It appears there is Sen. Sessions is set to take over the Senate panel that oversees immigration, reports indicate. The move was first reported in Politico and while the senator's office can't confirm the move ahead of the official announcement, the change is a perfect fit for Sessions who has emerged as the leading opponent of the White House's immigration plans. Sessions is set to take over chairmanship of the...

David has his sights set on another Goliath. After taking down then House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a primary last year, Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) is aiming to slay a border bill from House Homeland Security Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX)—a bill Brat says is a “Trojan Horse” for amnesty. “A border security bill should do what its name suggests and this thing– the McCaul bill– still leaves enforcement in President Obama’s hands,” Brat said in a radio interview on The John Fredericks Show— a local Virginia radio program—on Thursday. “So is that where you want to leave...

The House is set to vote next week on what some Republicans are proudly calling “the toughest border security bill ever.” But once the roll is called and the measure is passed, then what? Not yet a month into the 114th Congress, Republican leaders’ plans to advance border security legislation are sparking some speculation this could be the first installment in the GOP’s long-promised “piecemeal” approach to fixing the immigration system. Just what Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, and his allies have in mind could have some effect on what sort of support the pending bill receives. The bill, sponsored...

The new border bills drafted by Republican leaders require the actual removal of at least 66 miles of weak border fencing between laborers in Mexico and employers in the United States. The border bills also only require for the construction of 27 miles of effective double-layer fencing along the 2,000-mile border. “It is a remarkable that the direction of our progress is going backwards, from a goal of building 700 miles of double-layer border fencing [in 2006] to only 27 miles [in 2015],” said a Hill staffer who opposes the leaders’ bills. “Where the double-layer fence has been put in,...

Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions (R-AL) is expected to be selected by his Republican colleagues to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration. (SNIP) At the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), Janice Kephart serves as Director of National Security Policy. Before Sessions hired her, Kephart testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, alongside her CIS colleague Steven Camarota against the Senate bill. CIS vehemently opposes immigration, including legal immigration. (SNIP) They also promote the myth that immigrants are stealing American jobs, a line that Sessions repeatedly echoes. (SNIP) Sessions Tanked His Own Federal Judge Nomination Over Accusations of “Racial...

On January 30, the Southern District Court of Texas will decide whether 25 plaintiff states in Texas v. U.S. should be granted a preliminary injunction to stop the Obama administration’s latest, lawless executive amnesty. Establishing “legal standing” —essentially, a plaintiff’s right to sue — is highly problematic for petitioners aggrieved by the non-enforcement of our immigration laws, but the plaintiff states have skillfully laid out in their briefs a comprehensive case for why they should be granted standing. The states assert several economic interests harmed by the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) program. They cite, among other things, the...

House conservatives are taking aim at a new target: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Tea Party lawmakers on Wednesday directed their ire at the Kentucky Republican after Senate leaders signaled they don’t have the votes to pass a House-approved bill that would fight President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. It’s a new tack for the Tea Party members in the House, who have repeatedly criticized Obama, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). House lawmakers say their conservative allies in the Senate have a responsibility to force the upper chamber to aggressively challenge Obama’s actions. But...

New GOP Border Security Bill Removes Border Fences The new border bills drafted by Republican leaders require the actual removal of at least 66 miles of weak border fencing between Mexico and the United States. The border bills also only require for the construction of 27 miles of effective double-layer fencing along the 2,000-mile border. “It is a remarkable that the direction of our progress is going backwards, from a goal of building 700 miles of double-layer border fencing [in 2006] to only 27 miles [in 2015],” said a Hill staffer who opposes the leaders’ bills. “Where the double-layer fence...

After Republicans sent mixed signals on immigration in their two official rebuttals to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus struggled to explain the disparity on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Wednesday. Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s State of the Union rebuttal made no mention of the topic, but the Spanish-language version of the rebuttal, delivered by Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo, said Republicans wanted to work with Obama to fix the immigration system. (SNIP) When pressed further on how that explained the disparity, Priebus said, “I think we’ve been talking about this executive amnesty action that...

The new border bills drafted by Republican leaders require the actual removal of at least 66 miles of weak border fencing between Mexico and the United States. The border bills also only require for the construction of 27 miles of effective double-layer fencing along the 2,000-mile border. “It is a remarkable that the direction of our progress is going backwards, from a goal of building 700 miles of double-layer border fencing [in 2006] to only 27 miles [in 2015],” said a Hill staffer who opposes the leaders’ bills. “Where the double-layer fence has been put in, it has worked spectacularly....

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), one of the most relentless critics of the Obama administration’s immigration directives, is taking over the Senate’s panel that oversees immigration, according to three sources familiar with the decision. Sessions is set to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security, according to the sources — giving the conservative a key platform to advance his immigration policies. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), a new member of the Judiciary Committee, is going to be the panel’s vice chair, the sources said. Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/jeff-sessions-senate-panel-immigration-114455.html#ixzz3PUytKfXy

Republican Rep. Steve King, a vehement opponent of immigration reform, created waves shortly before President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night when he characterized one of the commander-in-chief’s guests as “a deportable.” “Obama perverts ‘prosecutorial discretion’ by inviting a deportable to sit in place of honor at #SOTU w/1st Lady,” the Iowa lawmaker tweeted. “I should sit with Alito,” he added, referring to conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.[snip]King, considered a political powerbroker of sorts in the state, is known for his strident remarks against immigration reforms.

The Mexican government is asking a U.S. appeals court to let a Mexican teenager's parents sue the U.S. Border Patrol agent who shot and killed their 15-year-old son from across the border. The arguments are in one of three "friend of the court" briefs filed this month with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considering the lawsuit filed by Sergio Hernandez's parents for the second time Wednesday. The full 16-judge court heard arguments. All three briefs ask the court to overturn U.S. District Judge David Briones' ruling that the family cannot sue agent Jesus Mesa Jr. over...

The first thing to know about the lawsuit brought by two dozen states to block President Obama’s executive actions on immigration is that it is a meritless screed wrapped in flimsy legal cloth and deposited on the doorstep of a federal district judge in Brownsville, Tex. The second thing to know is that the judge, Andrew Hanen, may well look kindly on the suit. He made news in 2013 with a politically charged ruling accusing the Obama administration of criminally conspiring with Mexican drug cartels to smuggle children over the border (he really said that), which is surely why the...