Free Republic

by John HillStand With Arizona The inmates are running the asylum. This Administration has served notice on every illegal alien invader across America: do not be afraid - you are above the law.Eleven illegal aliens who claimed ICE agents "violated their rights" in 2007 raids on their New Haven neighborhood have won a $350,000 settlement from the U.S. government, which also agreed to halt deportation proceedings against the plaintiffs, their attorneys said Tuesday. New Haven is American's most notorious "sanctuary city"- the first in the nation to offer identification cards to illegal immigrants, and critics including the mayor have contended...

by John HillStand With ArizonaFox Phoenix TV (KSAZ FOX 10) on Thursday showed a ridiculous propaganda piece purporting to show "the Arizona border" and how "safe" it is, as they follow Americans from around the nation on a "tour" of the border. Here's how they describe the piece: Make your own decision about life on the border. What is life on the border really like? Hop on the Border Bus Tour, and do your own fact finding about what it means to have a secure border. And in the video, the tour leader, Bob Feinman, tells us on the bus...

HARLINGEN, TX -- Noel Shankle of Carrollton, Texas calls his daughter every night to wish her sweet dreams. "He has a 4-year-old and calls her every night to say goodnight," said Nelly Shankle, Noel's mother. The 28-year-old father hasn't made that call since last Friday. In fact, he hasn't spoken to any of his family members in the Dallas area since flying into Harlingen. "We know he rented a car from Hertz in Harlingen and even got insurance to drive it into Mexico." said Shankle Noel was heading south of the border to Matamoros or Reynosa to have dental work...

by John HillStand With ArizonaMore than 10,000 people in 24 hours viewed our video "14 Illegals in 24 Seconds", showing illegal aliens - most with large backpacks - easily moving over terrain near Tucson, 30 miles North of the border. Floods of illegals crossing the Arizona desert occur continually, thanks to the failure of the Federal government to provide secure border fencing or adequate border patrol agent numbers. But what of the fencing that does exist in parts of Arizona? How well does that stop those determined to get in? Well this next video should give you a clue, and...

Taking shots of tequila has taken on new meaning. Elaborate glass tequila bottles in red, blue and white — shaped like pistols, AK-47s, rifles, machetes and bullets — have been surfacing in the Rio Grande Valley in the past year or so. The bottles — in sharp contrast to the clean lines and curves and the rich colors of more traditional tequila bottles — have been around for years in Mexico, where they are made. David Hernandez, founder of the Holiday Wine & Liquor stores in the Rio Grande Valley, said the weapon-shaped bottles appeal primarily to collectors. "There are...

by John HillStand With ArizonaBarack Obama's Tantrum-on-the-Tarmac in Phoenix Wednesday has given an unprecedented boost to the memoir of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. In the 48 hours since Obama confronted Brewer over her depiction of their July 2010 Oval Office meeting - turning his back and walking away from her as she was still talking - her book, Scorpions for Breakfast, has exploded up the charts on Amazon.com. SWA staffers took a screenshot of the book's rank of #344,761 an hour after the confrontation, and noticed that it had exploded to a stunning #26 by Friday morning: an increase of...

Reporting from Las Vegas— President Obama is spending the day in Las Vegas and Colorado trying to sell his vision for America's energy future, but he's going to have to work to overshadow the buzz around his personal clash with the Arizona governor the day before. On Thursday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) came to the defense of Gov. Jan. Brewer in a conversation with Fox Business Network, where he suggested that President Obama can be a little abrasive. "Apparently Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, had a similar exchange with the president," McCain said Thursday morning. "It is very well-known...

MESA, Ariz. – Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says President Obama complained to her about how she depicted him in her book. It happened when Obama landed in Air Force One Wednesday at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, where Brewer met him on the tarmac. Reporters observed the two leaders in intense conversation.

POOL REPORT President Obama arrived in Phoenix at 3:15 pm local time, finding the chilly weather of Iowa giving way to sunny skies and temperatures in the high 60s. He stepped off Air Force One at 3:28 pm and was greeted by Gov. Jan Brewer. She handed him a handwritten letter in an envelope and they spoke intensely for a few minutes. At one point, she pointed her finger at him. Afterwards, your pooler spoke with the governor. "He was a little disturbed about my book, Scorpions for Breakfast. I said to him that I have all the respect...

When President Obama landed in Phoenix on Wednesday, he was greeted with sunny skies and a kerfuffle with Republican Gov. Jan Brewer.After welcoming the president upon his arrival, Obama told Brewer he didn’t like the way he was characterized in her book, ‘Scorpions for Breakfast,’ the governor told reporters traveling with the president. He was a little disturbed about my book,” Brewer said. “I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president." But Obama “didn’t feel that I had treated him cordially” in the book, the governor said.In the book,...

To expedite his commute to the University of Texas at El Paso, where he studies music education, Andres received a special pass from U.S. Customs and Border Protection after passing a rigorous background check. Applicants have their fingerprints taken and must complete an in-person interview with a Customs and Border Protection officer. They cannot have any previous criminal history. The SENTRI (which stands for Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection) pass allowed Andres to waive the standard vehicle check at the border crossing. Most of the time, the border guards just peered inside his vehicle and waved him through....

by John HillStand with Arizona The border is "safer than ever". So says DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. Again and again. Barack Obama has mocked those who say the border is unsafe: "Maybe they'll need a moat. Maybe they'll want alligators in the moat. They'll never be satisfied." But for Texas ranchers in the Rio Grande Valley, the border has never been more dangerous. And they are stocking up with the hardware to do the job that the Feds refuse to do - AK47 rifles to defend their property and lives from border violence. Barbed wire fencing doesn't keep illegal aliens...

PHOENIX - Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is appeals a federal judge's ruling that prohibited his deputies from detaining people under Arizona's immigrant-smuggling law based solely on the suspicion that they're in the country illegally. ---------

Obama picks immigration reform advocate to lead domestic policy By Amie Parnes and Erik Wasson - 01/10/12 01:27 PM ET President Obama has picked a strong advocate of immigration reform to head the Domestic Policy Council. The White House announced Tuesday that Cecilia Muñoz, a former senior vice president of the National Council of La Raza, would replace Melody Barnes at the top of the council. White House press secretary Jay Carney announced the appointment during his press briefing. Muñoz is now serving as the White House's director of intergovernmental affairs and is in charge of outreach to state and...

ROCKPORT (Kiii News) - The Rockport Police Department is responding to allegations of racial profiling. An attorney claims his clients were pulled over for bogus traffic violations and then asked for their papers. 3 News first started looking into those claims on Friday. When we went to get a response from the police chief, he wouldn't come out of his office. On Saturday, Commander Mark Cory came to our news station to speak on the departments behalf. In a letter to the mayor and city council, the attorney alleges the police department receives a bounty of 600 dollars for each...

Authorities are investigating human remains found at the same U.S. border lake where a Colorado man was reported to have been killed by Mexican drug cartel members last year. A professional fisherman found the skeletal remains on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake on the Texas-Mexico border, according to multiple reports. The skeleton was found about 15 miles from where 30-year-old David Hartley was last seen alive on Sept. 30, 2010. His wife, Tiffany Hartley, said the couple had set out on Wave Runners to take photos of a half-submerged church on the Mexican side of the lake when they...

The hotline, run by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, is available 24/7 for detained individuals to phone if they think they “may be U.S. citizens or victims of a crime.” The hotline will have translation services available in several different languages. ICE personnel will gather the caller’s information and send it to a field office for immediate action, according to the press release. The purpose of the hotline and other measures, including a new detainer form, are “to ensure that individuals being held by state or local law enforcement on immigration detainers are properly notified about their potential...

Firefights, grenade explosions and chases broke out in Reynosa once again Wednesday night defying regular assurances by state officials that all was well. And unconfirmed reports from sources outside law enforcement point to the capture of a ranking lieutenant in the Gulf Cartel, possibly a plaza boss. Mexican authorities wouldn’t confirm or deny the capture. The clashes began as a chase between gunmen shortly after 7:30 p.m. before authorities got involved, according to preliminary information released by a local law enforcement official not authorized to speak publicly. The official wouldn’t comment on the gunmen’s affiliation but said the fighting was...

Miscommunication and bad maps contributed to the deaths of 24 Pakistani troops in a NATO airstrike last month, a military investigation concluded Thursday. A statement issued by the Pentagon on Thursday said "inadequate coordination by U.S. and Pakistani military officers ... resulted in a misunderstanding about the true location of Pakistani military units." "This, coupled with other gaps in information about the activities and placement of units from both sides, contributed to the tragic result," Pentagon spokesman George Little said. The U.S. investigation also conceded a critical error by U.S. troops - telling Pakistan the cross-border shooting was taking place...

A U.S. Border Patrol agent fired his service weapon at several alleged drug smugglers who were throwing rocks at him and another agent. The incident happened at around 7 p.m. Monday near the B&M International Bridge in Brownsville, said Border Patrol spokeswoman Rosalinda Huey. The agents were patrolling when they encountered several people who appeared to be carrying bundles of marijuana, authorities said. When the agents confronted the individuals, they began throwing rocks at the agents, Huey said. “One of our agents, in defense of himself and his partner, fired his service-issued rifle at the subjects. None of our agents...

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION at the link below to show you Stand With Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and AGAINST the political witchhunt of Obama's Department of Justice. This Administration and its open-borders allies La Raza, MALDEF and the ACLU, will stop at nothing to try and destroy the most prominent national symbol in the fight against illegal immigration. Sheriff Joe will not back down. Please sign the petition to show we stand behind him. [Note: The opposition already has a petition AGAINST Joe with 11,014 signatures (as of 6:32PST). Let's blow past them with 20,000 signatures or more by the end...

In all of my years fighting on behalf of the National Rifle Association to defend the Second Amendment, I never thought I would see a White House so vehemently opposed to gun ownership that it would be willing to arm violent criminals and endanger American lives in pursuit of a gun control agenda. Readers will recall that a little over two months ago, in this same space, I wrote: "I would like to believe that President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder – no matter how much they oppose our Second Amendment rights – would never break the law...

Arizona authorities have arrested some 200 people, and seized $7.8 million in cash and more than 1,200 pounds of drugs following an investigation they say has dismantled an "extensive" drug trafficking cell tied to the powerful Sinaloa cartel, federal and state authorities announced Tuesday. Authorities announcing the 15-month-long investigation said that although the Sinaloa cartel almost immediately regenerates after one of its cells have been taken down, their investigation certainly struck a blow. "Arresting a drug dealer is one thing but if we can actually follow that backwards and take out the head of the snake of this organization, we...

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION at the link below to show you Stand With Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and AGAINST the political witchhunt of Obama's Department of Justice. This Administration and its open-borders allies La Raza, MALDEF and the ACLU, will stop at nothing to try and destroy the most prominent national symbol in the fight against illegal immigration. Sheriff Joe will not back down. Please sign the petition to show we stand behind him. [Note: The opposition already has a petition AGAINST Joe with 3,400 signatures. Let's blow past them with 5,000 signatures or more by the end of today!]

A year ago this week, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered. He died protecting his country from brutal Mexican gangsters. Two AK-47 assault rifles were found at his death site. We now know the horrifying truth: Agent Terry was killed by weapons that were part of an illegal Obama administration operation to smuggle arms to the dangerous drug cartels. He was a victim of his own government. This is not only a major scandal; it is a high crime that potentially reaches all the way to the White House, implicating senior officials. It is President Obama’s Watergate. Operation...

The federal government issued a scathing report Thursday that outlines how Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office has committed a wide range of civil rights violations against Latinos SNIP The Justice Department's conclusions in the civil probe mark the federal government's harshest rebuke of a national political fixture who has risen to prominence for his immigration crackdowns and became coveted endorsement among candidates in the GOP presidential field. SNIPThe report will require Arpaio to set up effective policies against discrimination, improve training and make other changes that would be monitored for compliance by a judge. Arpaio faces a Jan. 4...

The wife of former U.S. Border Patrol agent Jesus Diaz, who was jailed over his treatment of a drug smuggler, says she's outraged that the government has told her husband he won't be allowed to return home to be with her or associate with any other law enforcement-linked member of his family while on probation. "I have to ask what does the DOJ want me to do? I can't retire, I'm too young. Divorcing him is not an option as he would still have to come around for the children. What is Chito going to do about his brother, not...

BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, Texas (AP) -- The bloody drug war in Mexico shows no sign of relenting. Neither do calls for tighter border security amid rising fears of spillover violence. This hardly seems a time the U.S. would be willing to allow people to cross the border legally from Mexico without a customs officer in sight. But in this rugged, remote West Texas terrain where wading across the shallow Rio Grande undetected is all too easy, federal authorities are touting a proposal to open an unmanned port of entry as a security upgrade. By the spring, kiosks could open...

by John HillStand With Arizona Maricopa County, AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Human Smuggling Unit arrested 17 illegal aliens over 48 hours - including 2 smugglers, in the north valley region. The illegals had paid the smugglers between $1,000 and $2,000 each to be smuggled across the border. Demonstrating how Arizona is a critical gateway for the entire nation, most of those arrested were heading to locations in the east: Mississippi, Virginia, Florida, Georgia and New Jersey. They are now headed to Sheriff Joe's Tent City instead. Way to go, Joe! But the shocking detail of this arrest is the...

Terrorists from several Middle Eastern groups have infiltrated Latin American countries -- especially Mexico -- in order to plot and carry out attacks against the United States, according to an alarming exposé broadcast this week by the world’s largest Spanish news network.

American Ethnic Studies and Leadership Studies will be teaming up for a new intersession course beginning in summer 2012. The course will involve cultural awareness and service learning projects involving Latino migrant workers in the American southwest. The idea for this course began with Jonathan Berhow, academic counselor for the Academic Assistance Center. Berhow said he had wanted to start a course like this for some time to raise awareness and dispel myths about migrant workers from Mexico and other countries who come to the United States for work. Migrant workers take many risks in coming to the U.S. for...

"The Iranian Threat" ("La Amenaza Irani"), a documentary that looks at Iran's growing political, economic and military ties in Latin American, will premiere Dec. 8 on the Univision Network ... the documentary also looks at the threat Iran's ties pose to the Latin American regions and the United States.The documentary, which was produced in collaboration with Univision News' Investigative unit, reveals exclusive findings, including secret video and audio recordings that provide a rare window into an alleges Iranian-back cyber attack against the United States from Mexico ... also features unseen video footage from extremists linked to Iran and an interview...

A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed a man Tuesday night near Sells on the Tohono O'odham Nation. Initial reports indicate that the agent shot and killed a man who was assaulting another agent, said the Border Patrol in an emailed statement. The shooting occurred at 8 p.m. The citizenship of the man who was shot has not yet been determined, the statement said. The agency said it "regrets the loss of life" and that it is fully cooperating with the investigation led by Tohono O'odham Police and the FBI.

by John HillStand with ArizonaThere was a time when farmers were just concerned with protecting their animals. That's no longer the case. "Now I'm worried about am I going to come home at night after work," said Scott Blevins. The Pinal County farmer and father has every reason to worry. A recent run-in with drug smugglers on his farm hit way too close to home. That's why this farmer isn't playing around. For safety he wears a bullet proof vest and packs a handgun and rifle to work. "I’m convinced somebody’s going to see something they shouldn’t see and somebody’s...

When Zach Taylor, a retired U.S. Border Patrol supervisory agent, talked about the situation on the U.S. border with Mexico, he didn't pull any punches. Disputing assertions by Barack Obama, the president, and Janet Napolitano, head of Homeland Security, that the border is "safer than it's been in years," Taylor was blunt in his disagreement: "It's more dangerous than I've seen in my 26 years in the Border Patrol." According to Taylor, ever since the Border Patrol was moved from the jurisdiction of the Justice Department after 9/11 to the Department of Homeland Security, it's become a political tool of...

"Brian Terry’s murder was entirely preventable. The incompetence of the DEA and FBI let his Border Patrol unit walk into an ambush. After the ambush, it appears the FBI tampered with evidence to cover up that one of their informants was involved with the murder of a federal agent."

PHOENIX - A Tucson police officer has no legal right to challenge last year's tough state law aimed at illegal immigrants, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by Martin Escobar that SB 1070 puts him in the untenable position of being disciplined for refusing to enforce a law he believes to be illegal or enforcing the law and being subject to lawsuit for violating the civil rights of others. The judges also said Escobar's status as "a Hispanic residing in Arizona" does not...

Elaborate tunnel and discovery of more than 32 tons of marijuana are the latest in recent record busts as a new group boosts production after the decline of the Arellano Felix cartel. Reporting from San Diego— Smugglers stacked the bundles of dope on a freight elevator that descended to an underground staging area, where electric carts whisked the marijuana down a tunnel into California. The passageway linked a warehouse in Tijuana with another nondescript building in San Diego, and just like several other drug tunnels, its discovery this week yielded another jackpot seizure.

..The Texas governor has faced criticism from Republican rivals like Mitt Romney for being "soft" on illegal immigrants, because those who live in Texas can attend state universities at the same cost as other Texas residents. Perry, who made the remarks while campaigning in New Hampshire with a controversial Arizona sheriff, said that if elected he would immediately order the deportation of any illegal immigrant detained in the United States. "My policy will be to detain and deport every illegal alien who is apprehended in this country," Perry said. "And we'll do it with an expedited hearing process so that...

<p>Editorial: You just thought Arizona was anti-immigrant Let’s check in on the virtual fence, over in Arizona, to see how this high-tech solution to our porous border is delivering on its promise. If the goal along our southern flank is to secure every inch, then electronic eyes posted along the 1,900-mile frontier are in our future.</p>

Established 15 years ago, the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number [ITIN] is a seemingly innocuous administrative requirement that the Internal Revenue Service assigns to anyone who is employed and pays taxes. According to the IRS website, the numbers are used for federal tax reporting only. But since ITINs, as they are commonly known, are issued to wage earners regardless of immigration status, they’ve frequently been abused by the aliens who hold them. Although the real estate crisis is fading from our memory, it’s important to recall that the ITIN was the vehicle used in lieu of Social Security numbers, which then...

Fifty-three years ago, when newly elected Dwight Eisenhower moved into the White House, America's southern frontier was as porous as a spaghetti sieve. As many as 3 million illegal migrants had walked and waded northward over a period of several years for jobs in California, Arizona, Texas, and points beyond. President Eisenhower cut off this illegal traffic. He did it quickly and decisively with only 1,075 United States Border Patrol agents – less than one-tenth of today's force. The operation is still highly praised among veterans of the Border Patrol. Although there is little to no record of this operation...

The mission was supposed to be a textbook “controlled delivery” — a routine trap by law enforcement officers using a secret operative posing as a truck driver to bust drug traffickers when their narcotics are delivered to a rendezvous point. Instead, things spun out of control. Shortly before the marijuana delivery was to be made Monday, three SUVs carrying alleged Zetas Cartel gunmen seemingly came out of nowhere and cut off the tanker truck as it rumbled through northwestern Harris County, sources told the Houston Chronicle. They sprayed the cab with bullets, killing the civilian driver, who was secretly working...

The mission was supposed to be a textbook "controlled delivery" - a routine trap by law enforcement officers using a secret operative posing as a truck driver to bust drug traffickers when their narcotics are delivered to a rendezvous point. Instead, things spun out of control. Shortly before the marijuana delivery was to be made Monday afternoon, three sport-utility vehicles carrying Zetas cartel gunmen seemingly came out of nowhere and cut off the tanker truck as it rumbled through northwest Harris County, sources told the Chronicle. They sprayed the cab with bullets, killing the civilian driver, who was secretly working...

People entering the U.S. illegally from Mexico are believed responsible for more than one-third of human-ignited wildfires in Arizona over a five-year period, according to a government report that could stoke congressional debate over illegal immigration. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the Government Accountability Office report supports remarks he made earlier this year after his state was hit hard by wildfires. At the time, McCain was accused of "scapegoating" immigrants. "I hope this report is a lesson to the activists and public officials that would prefer to engage in partisan character attacks rather than help focus the discussion on the...

by John HillStand With Arizona The war against Alabama's immigration law has intensified in recent weeks, with a Justice Department lawsuit, visits by DOJ officials, and a showdown over illegal alien children who have been pulled from Alabama schools. Eric Holder sued Alabama, trying to block every aspect of its enforcement provision. Why has the Administration and their ACLU and La Raza allies frantically tried to stop Alabama's law from being enforced? Because it's WORKING - and putting legal Alabamans back to work. As illegals have fled the state by the tens of thousands, the jobs they took -...

PERRY,IOWA - Rick Perry will be in Iowa to participate in a family values forum Saturday evening, but he has yet to light in the small Iowa town that bears his name... "You can't win this state without showing up," said Phil Stone, a retired high school history teacher and current Perry city councilman. The lifelong Republican favors former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney,.... ...........Neither the tea party nor evangelical Republicans have made much of a splash in Perry. "That's mostly the mega-churches over in Des Moines," Pattee said. Bob VanderPlaats, the minister and evangelical activist who organized Saturday's Thanksgiving Family...

NEW YORK—Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry says President Barack Obama and his administration are responsible for policies that have endangered agents patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border. The Texas governor made his remarks while picking up an award from the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation. Perry said lack of funding and "bureaucratic bungling" in Washington have made the border less safe. He singled out one program in particular, Operation Fast and Furious. The arms-trafficking probe run by the Justice Department allowed AK-47s and other weapons to leak into the black market.

The Obama amnesty plan officially begins this week, according to a mainstream newspaper that obtained internal Homeland Security documents outlining “sweeping changes” in immigration enforcement that will halt the deportation of illegal aliens with no criminal records. Much has been reported about the administration’s intention to implement a stealth amnesty plan if congress doesn’t act to spare the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal aliens, but this is the first confirmation that it’s come to fruition. Beginning this week the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will review all deportation cases and start a nationwide “training program” to assure that enforcement agents...

A huge drug tunnel under the U.S. border south of San Diego, apparently dug by a Mexican drug cartel, has yielded 14 tons of marijuana, say U.S. and Mexican authorities. The narrow opening of the 400-yard-long tunnel, outfitted with structural supports, electric lights and ventilation, was discovered by federal agents in a warehouse in the border neighborhood of Otay Mesa, California. After officers stopped a van leaving the warehouse and found three tons of marijuana aboard, they searched the warehouse and found more than six tons inside.