Free Republic

School records will be among the key documents that young undocumented immigrants must submit in their requests for deferred action, the new immigration policy that allows individuals who arrived in the United States as children to seek relief from deportation and gain work permits. Applicants have to demonstrate, among other criteria, that they are currently enrolled in school, have graduated from high school, or have obtained a GED. But school records will also help many potential beneficiaries prove another key qualification: continuous presence in the U.S. for the last five years. A high school transcript documenting four years of schooling...

TAMPA-- Former Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice implored Republicans to champion a "compassionate" immigration policy in her speech at the Republican National Convention Wednesday. "We must continue to welcome the world's most ambitious people to be a part of us. In that way we stay young and optimistic and determined," Rice said. "We need immigration laws that protect our borders; meet our economic needs; and yet show that we are a compassionate people."

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is moving to give driver's licenses to young immigrants who are in the country illegally but would no longer face deportation under a recently announced policy change by the Obama administration. AB2189 would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to accept as proof of legal residence whatever document the federal government provides to participants in its deferred action program. It passed 25-7 Wednesday and returns to the Assembly.

MULBERRY | A Mulberry man who was charged with 51 felonies earlier this month is now facing 64 more

THEY CAME quite literally FROM OUTER SPACE Top astro-boffins are chuffed today to announce that they have detected large amounts of chemicals necessary to birth alien life - not to mention some alcohol - drifting in space around a young star just 400 light-years away. “In the protoplanetary disc of gas and dust surrounding the young, newly formed star, we found glycolaldehyde molecules, which are a simple form of sugar. It is one of the building blocks in the process that leads to the formation of RNA and the first step in the direction of biology,” explains astrophysicist Jes Jørgensen,...

PHOENIX — Lilia Romo will tell you plainly: She didn't ask for this fight, but now that the immigration war has been declared in this politically conservative state, the confident 24-year-old says she intends to win it. Romo was brought to the U.S. from Mexico by people her mother hired 20 years ago. All she recalls about the adventure is that the man who drove her illicitly across the border plied her and her two cousins with candy to keep them quiet.

TAMPA, Fla. — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) on Tuesday said Republicans aren’t going to close the gap with Hispanic voters until they “stop acting stupid.” Bush said many Hispanic voters share the GOP’s commitment to faith, family and small government but have been alienated from the party by exclusionary rhetoric on immigration. But that, he said, is finally changing. “I promise you this is where the conservative cause is going, and thank God it is,” he said to cheers at a lunch sponsored by the center-right Hispanic Leadership Network. The advantage that Democrats have with Hispanics is a...

KNOXVILLE — A civil-disobedience demonstration over local immigration policing resulted in three people being cited for obstructing a roadway; they were then released. A fourth person was arrested for having no identification. A group of about 50 protesters this afternoon blocked Gay Street adjacent to the City County Building, north of the Gay Street Bridge. One large sign read, "Racism hurts," and evoked Knox County Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones' name. The protesters spanned sidewalk to sidewalk, blocking the intersection at Gay Street and Hill Avenue. Vehicles couldn't pass. The protesters said they are challenging anti-immigrant policies and racial profiling. Specifically,...

Gay and lesbian advocates teamed up with Maryland's largest Latino and immigrant rights group on Tuesday, hoping to build support for November ballot questions to allow same-sex marriage and in-state tuition for illegal immigrants who have attended a Maryland high school and whose parents have paid taxes.

Several Inland immigration activists took part in a demonstration at the state Capitol in Sacramento Tuesday urging Gov. Jerry Brown to sign the Trust Act into law. (here are some photos from KUVS-TV in Sacramento; the story is in Spanish). The bill, which cleared its final legislative hurdle last week with Senate passage, would prevent police from handing over detainees arrested for non-violent crimes to federal immigration officials for possible deportation. Immigration holds could still be put on people charged or convicted of serious or violent felonies. Riverside and San Bernardino counties are among more than 3,000 jurisdictions nationwide that...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal court ruled on Tuesday that a controversial Texas voter identification law discriminates against black and Hispanic voters, effectively killing the law before it could take effect for the November 6 presidential election. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued the ruling. ..

SALT LAKE CITY — Some have raised the question of whether college students who are here illegally could go to law school, and eventually become lawyers, or even judges. Some states are looking into whether the requirements should be changed to become a lawyer, to allow more students who are here without documentation to start the process.

A Hidalgo County kidnapping victim has been released by his captors but authorities have identified one of the supsects who allegedly held him for ransom. Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office deputies reported that 22-year-old Juan Cantu, Jr. was kidnapped by armed men at the JR Tire Shop north of Peñitas this past Wednesday. A motive is not clear but Cantu's family owners the rural Hidalgo County tire shop off Tom Gil Road and Mile 3 Line. Investigators reported that the kidnappers held Cantu for ransom and released him on Friday. Suspect Identified It's not clear if the family had to pay...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Justice Department will establish its first civil rights unit in the southern state of Alabama, the agency said Tuesday -- a development that comes in the wake of the state's crackdown on illegal immigration, which raised concerns about Alabama's compliance with federal laws. . . The department's decision to place a civil rights unit in Alabama shows the state has problems guaranteeing legal equality years after the civil rights era ended, said Shay Farley, legal director of Alabama Appleseed, a public interest legal office based in Montgomery. "It highlights the fact that the war isn't over,"...

PHOENIX (AP) - The U.S. Justice Department has announced that it will monitor primary elections in Arizona's Maricopa County. The department said Monday that federal observers will be dispatched Tuesday to make sure that Maricopa County follows the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. That law prohibits discrimination in the election process on the basis of race, color or membership in a minority language group. Observers will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling locations

"My personal view is that we need to get beyond where we are," said the former Florida governor, adding a moment later, "You can't ask people to join your cause and then send a signal that you're really not wanted. It just doesn't work." Bush has previously stated his concerns about the party's hard-line immigration stance and seemed careful on Sunday's "Meet The Press" to balance his views with a hearty endorsement of nominee-to-be Mitt Romney.

CALEXICO, Calif. — The calls come in thick and fast from the border, just blocks from the fire station here. A woman suffered heatstroke in line at the port of entry. A person detained by customs officers complained of chest pain. An illegal immigrant broke his leg trying to hop the 20-foot wall that divides Calexico from its Mexican twin city, Mexicali. In each case, the Calexico Fire Department responded. All along the Southwest border, from San Diego to Brownsville, Tex., local fire departments respond to medical calls as they would to any emergencies within their city limits. But such...

The Obama administration has extended temporary protected status to El Salvadoran nationals through late 2013, shielding them from deportation and forcible return to their home country. The Department of Homeland Security cites ongoing disruptions from a series of earthquakes in 2001, concluding that "El Salvador remains unable, temporarily, to handle adequately the return of its nationals." The Obama administration's deportation policies have come under scrutiny, just as the president has geared up for his reelection campaign. Despite his support for comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship, deportations have soared to new highs under the Obama administration— and the...

The news should come as no surprise considering it centers on an administration that double-counts $716 billion in order to claim that the Obamacare extends the solvency of Medicare while looting the entitlement’s trust fund. The Daily Caller reports: Internal documents obtained by the House Judiciary Committee show that the Obama administration has been ‘cooking the books’ in order to reach their ‘record’ number of deported illegal immigrants, chairman Rep. Lamar Smith said Friday. Based on the internal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) documents, the number of removals are actually down, the opposite of what the administration has been...

California state legislators passed a bill Friday that seeks to protect undocumented immigrants charged with relatively minor crimes from being deported. The bill, by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, would prohibit local police from detaining anyone on an immigration hold if the person is not charged with or has not been convicted of a serious or violent crime. The bill, which only needs the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown to become law, passed the Assembly on Friday after being amended in the state Senate to remove language that would have required police departments to develop plans to guard against racial...