Free Republic

A growing issue capturing headlines across the country is now back in the spotlight in Rochester. Monday morning, Mayor Lovely Warren will be briefed on the possibility of the former Blossom South Nursing and Rehabilitation Center housing immigrant children. According to statement from City Hall, members of Warren's staff were contacted by representatives of the owner of the former nursing home. They asked if the City had any interest in getting behind an idea to turn the complex into a home for kids in the U.S. illegally and without their parents. When Mayor Warren was asked about the issue last...

Chinese branches of fast food chains, including McDonald's and KFC, have stopped using meat from a supplier in Shanghai following allegations it sold them out of date meat. According to Xinhua, the state-owned news agency, authorities in Shanghai have ordered the suspension of operations at Shanghai Husi Food Co. Reports by local media said that Husi had re-processed expired meat products. McDonald's and KFC said they had stopped using meat from Husi. In a statement posted on its website, translated from Mandarin, the Shanghai Municipal Food and Drug Administration said it had "decided to investigate claims of the alleged use...

What is “chain migration”? Chain migration allows one immigrant to sponsor several relatives for admission. Five years after being admitted as a legal permanent resident, that individual only needs to seek naturalization and demonstrate an income level 25% higher than the poverty level to begin sponsoring other relatives who then sponsor other relatives and perpetuate this cycle. In 1965, the Immigration and Naturalization Act was amended to expand the definition of “immediate relatives” to emphasize the reunification of extended family members. Previously, U.S. laws limited this category to the spouses and children under 18 of U.S. citizens and legal immigrants....

... But there were warnings as early as 2012, both from the first ladies of Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala who spoke at a conference in Washington on unaccompanied minors, and from Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., told the Post that while Democrats were aware of the urgent problem, they feared that speaking out about the problem too much would make it too politically difficult for Congress to pass an immigration overhaul. "That was always a concern of mine: How to address the issue in a way that did not detract from the need for comprehensive immigration reform,"...

SAN FRANCISCO — Already locked in its third dry year, an ongoing drought could complicate California's battle against global warming and make it more expensive, officials said. For years, dams have been one of California's main sources of clean energy, generating power without spewing greenhouse gases into the air. "If there's less hydro, the power has to come from somewhere," said Victor Niemeyer of the Electric Power Research Institute. "You have to burn more gas, and that costs more money." A power plant operator that uses more natural gas, raising its emissions, must make up by buying "allowances" under the...

U.S. officials warned on Sunday that scammers are attempting to prey on the families of some of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied child immigrants crossing the border from Latin America, seeking money for phony travel costs. "One fraud scheme involved individuals who claimed to be representing a charitable or non profit organization, which they claimed assists in processing and reuniting the children with their families," said Special Agent Michelle Lee. Another scheme used what Lee described as "caller I.D. spoofing" to make it appear that the calls were coming from a San Antonio business, which she didn't name, in...

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Birmingham was one of 400 cities to have participated in what the group claims is the largest anti-amnesty nation-wide protest in history. The group calls themselves "Make Them Listen." They took to the streets expressing frustration with the federal government's stance on immigration. Using Facebook to get the word out, they staged a national day of protesting against immigration reform, amnesty and border surge. Car horns blared and beeped in response to the "no amnesty" and "no illegal immigrants period" signs. More than two dozen people rallied on the grassy area on Highway 280 in front of...

Nearly a year before President Obama declared a humanitarian crisis on the border, a team of experts arrived at the Fort Brown patrol station in Brownsville, Tex., and discovered a makeshift transportation depot for a deluge of foreign children. The researchers’ observations were among the warning signs conveyed to the Obama administration over the past two years as a surge of Central American minors has crossed into south Texas illegally. More than 57,000 have entered the United States this year, swamping federal resources and catching the government unprepared. The administration did too little to heed those warnings, according to interviews...

EXCLUSIVE: RINCON PENINSULA, Texas -- U.S. Border Patrol agents on the American side of the Rio Grande were forced to take cover Friday night when high-caliber weaponry was fired at them from the Mexican side of the river, sources told FoxNews.com. The weapons were fired at the U.S. side of the riverbank in the area of the Rincon Peninsula across the Rio Grande from Reynosa, Mexico, at about 8:30 p.m., sources said. Bullets ricocheted into an area where Border Patrol agents were positioned, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, told FoxNews.com. Border Patrol sources confirmed Gohmert's account, and said the shots may...

JONES COUNTY, MS - About one dozen Pine Belt residents carried signs and American flags and waved at vehicles from an overpass on Interstate-59 Saturday to protest illegal immigration. They were part of a National Day of Protest organized on social media by the "Make Them Listen" movement. Folks from Petal, Pearl River and Jones counties displayed signs such as "Secure the Border" and "No Amnesty" as they stood on the overpass at the Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport exit. "The border is not secure and we're being invaded," said Darlene Thomas, one of the organizers of the protest. "It's not a...

San Diegans gathered Saturday morning to take part in a nationwide protest against immigration reform amid the border crisis. With American flags and opposition signs in hand, dozens of protestors united along the Interstate 8 overpass in La Mesa near Severin Drive to voice their opinions on illegal immigration. “We think our border needs to be better protected,” said Ocean Beach resident Lucy Ingalls. “Crime is coming in, we have disease coming in, we have mothers sending their kids off by themselves to get sick and die on their own and I think that’s a huge crime. I think we...

BEAUMONT - Holding Texas state flags and signs reading "Secure the Border", a group of demonstrators stood along Dowlen Road in front of Chick-fil-A in Beaumont Saturday. It was a small group, only about eight people, but their message was big. “Our federal government is not controlling the border," said Roger Evans, a member of the local chapter of the Texas Nationalist Movement. Hundreds of similar protests are scheduled in dozens of states over the weekend. Evan says something needs to be done to stop the recent surge of thousands of undocumented immigrants, mostly children, crossing into the United States...

DES MOINES, Iowa–Staci Appel, the Democratic nominee for Iowa’s Third Congressional District, wouldn’t say whether some of the tens of thousands of Central American children dumped at the U.S. border should at some point be able to come to Iowa. Appel expressed empathy for the children involved but said the federal authorities first need to investigate the circumstances of the children. She said, “I’m thinking as a mom it’s terrifying for some of the children to be there and be alone.” But she added, “We have to work through the processes, the procedures of how it works to find out...

Protests continue across the country over the recent wave of undocumented people illegally entering the United States. Hundreds of protestors with the Montgomery County Citizens Against Illegal Immigration said they don’t want immigrants to be transferred to the area for housing. “Our big question and I believe their big question is how this happened under everybody’s nose,” said Michelle Prescott. “How the feds were able to bring in these children in our community and not notify anybody about it.”

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – 50,000 immigrants have crossed the southern U.S. border looking for a place to stay. After a proposal was announced by Governor Patrick on Friday, a good amount of them might be seeking shelter in Chicopee. Westover Air Reserve Base may become the newest shelter for hundreds of undocumented immigrant children escaping Central America. 22News spoke with local residents all morning, and after 7 on-camera interviews, all of them said they don’t want the children staying in Chicopee. Chicopee mayor Richard Kos is even against this idea. Representatives at Westover Aire Reserve Base are also hesitant about...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday said Utah is not required to recognize the marriages of roughly 1,000 same-sex couples there while state officials pursue appeals. The court’s order was two sentences long and said only that a lower court’s ruling “is stayed pending the final disposition of the appeal” by the federal appeals court in Denver. Friday’s order came in a different case, one concerning the status of what the state calls “interim marriages,” meaning those entered into during that period in December and January when same-sex marriage was briefly allowed. The case seeking recognition of the 1,000...

President Barack Obama will sign an executive order on Monday barring federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, senior administration officials said. The order will allow some exemptions for religious groups that are federal contractors but not as much flexibility as the groups had wanted. A religious organization would be barred from making hiring decisions based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Exceptions would be allowed for ministers, and groups would be allowed to favor individuals of a particular religion when hiring. The White House believes the order will help improve productivity by reducing...

Madness has gripped our border. I am not talking about the migrant children fleeing from crime and violence in their home countries in Central America and looking for the opportunity to live a better life. I am talking about the misguided protesters—and the right-wing public officials that egg them on, railing against anything they think even might be an immigrant. Republicans need to get hold of themselves, understand facts and keep their anti-immigrant extremist voices in check. If they don't do it for the country's future, they should at least do it for their own political survival. Republicans cannot afford...

Joint Base Cape Cod could become a temporary home for hundreds of migrant children in custody after attempting to cross the US-Mexico border. It’s not the first time the military facility has found itself at the center of a large-scale effort to provide makeshift housing for people fleeing crisis. In the days after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, then-Governor Mitt Romney announced that as many as 2,500 evacuees from the Gulf Coast would come to the Cape as part of a massive relief effort. They were to stay at Camp Edwards, which is part of the joint base. It’s not clear...

Q: Did the Obama administration advertise in January to transport 65,000 foreign children apprehended at the border? Did it expect a surge of illegal immigration? A: Yes. There’s been a sharp increase in unaccompanied children from Central America since FY 2012, and the U.S. projected a bigger increase this year. --snip-- It remains to be seen if the 65,000 figure cited in the January RFI for “escort services” proves to be an accurate projection. But certainly the administration anticipated a surge of unaccompanied children at the border.