Free Republic

Leadership: With two relatives having successfully defied deportation orders, President Obama needs to explain once again his relaxation and disregard of the immigration laws he swore to uphold and enforce. We are great believers in individual responsibility, and certainly other presidents have had relatives with less-than-stellar reputations. Jimmy Carter had his brother Billy, and Bill Clinton had his brother Roger. They were responsible for their own actions and idiosyncrasies. But presidents are responsible for upholding the nation's laws, even if they are violated by presidential relatives. On Aug. 24, President Obama's uncle Omar Onyango was arrested by Framingham, Mass., police...

CONCORD -- A father and son set to be deported to Peru won a last-minute, temporary reprieve on Tuesday after an Illinois senator intervened on their behalf. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is delaying for a month the deportation of longtime Concord resident Arturo Rengifo, Sr., and his son, Arturo Rengifo, Jr. "My mom is able to relax more," said the 24-year-old son, who would have left his mother and older brother in Concord had he been forced to take the one-way flight to Lima on Tuesday night. "She can actually breathe now. Hopefully more good things will happen, and I...

Bill would freeze Obama administration's power to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants By Jordy Yager - 06/25/11 05:05 PM ET The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is crafting a bill that would temporarily freeze the Obama administration’s power to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. The measure is in response to a memo issued by the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last week that approved a broader breadth of discretion for agency officials when considering whether to deport someone through the Secure Communities program. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who is sponsoring the legislation, blasted the memo. He...

Police arrested a man who had been previously deported three times on suspicion of drunken driving, resisting arrest and hit-and-run, according to the Escondido Police Department. The man allegedly fled and officers chased the vehicle until it crashed into two other vehicles, injuring one person, Carter said. Flores was booked into the Vista jail on various charges, including felony hit-and-run, drunken driving, driving on a suspended license, resisting arrest and felony evading with injury, according to police. Immigration authorities placed an immigration hold on Flores. The man had been formally deported three times and had voluntarily returned to Mexico 12...

he Homeland Security Department said Thursday it will halt deportation proceedings on a case-by-case basis against illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria such as attending school, having family in the military or are primarily responsible for other family members’ care. The move, announced in letters to Congress, comes after Hispanic activists and Democrats had urged President Obama to exempt broad swaths of illegal immigrants from deportation while Congress wrestles with the issue. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said her department and the Justice Department will review all ongoing cases and see who meets the new criteria on a case-by-case basis....

The Obama administration deported nearly 400,000 people last year – a record – with the number driven up by those tossed out for traffic violations and drunken driving, according to a report on Friday. The focus on ousting those with relatively minor offenses raises questions about whether the administration has lived up to its promise to focus on deporting the most dangerous offenders, the Associated Press says. During the fiscal year that ended in Sept. 30, 393,000 people were deported, and half of those were considered criminals. Of the criminal deportations, 7 percent were based on traffic violations, 23 percent...

Facing a barrage of criticism from some Democratic governors, members of Congress and local officials, the Obama administration is altering a controversial federal program in which law enforcement agencies share fingerprints of suspects held in local jails with U.S. immigration authorities. The Secure Communities program, which was intended to identify and deport convicted felons, wound up also ensnaring minor offenders, victims of domestic abuse and other crimes, as well as witnesses to crimes and people who were arrested but not convicted of offenses. In response, U.S. Homeland Security officials announced Friday that the department had issued new guidelines in an...

Federal immigration officials say they will not deport immigrants pursuing legitimate civil rights claims, a move hailed by advocates as a way to protect a vulnerable population while critics say it encourages abuses. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a memo Friday that “absent special circumstances,” it is against the agency’s policy to deport immigrants in the midst of a legitimate effort to protect their civil rights. ICE officials said the memos were designed to provide guidance on exercising appropriate discretion.

The suspect accused of driving his vehicle through a police barricade and killing a Houston police officer may be an illegal immigrant, records show. Johoan Rodriguez, 26, charged with the intoxicated manslaughter of Houston officer Kevin Will, has an immigration detainer placed in his arrest records after investigators found "reason to believe" he was not a citizen. It’s not clear exactly what evidence prompted the detainer. Typically, a detainer is placed when a individual’s fingerprints surface in federal immigration databases. However, fingerprints of lawful immigrants are also kept in the same database. "No further info can be released at this...

VAN NUYS - Immigration activists, officeholders and Christian leaders rallied at a San Fernando Valley church on Saturday, renewing angry calls for President Barack Obama to order a halt of deportations they say shatter the families of legal U.S. residents. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys, and immigration-reform proponent Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., were among the speakers at La Iglesia en la Camino (The Church on the Way) in what was billed as a bipartisan town-hall meeting. "When communities are terrorized by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children...

The California State Assembly passed a bill that would allow counties to refuse to participate in the Homeland Security Department's controversial Secure Communities program. The program cross checks fingeprints from people who are arrested for crimes with Immigration and Customs records. It's designed to deport dangerous violent offenders who are also illegal residents. Some local sheriffs say the program is getting rid of violent criminals and is making the streets safer. But the State Assembly didn't agree in approving the bill which says counties aren't required to participate in the Secure Communities program unless they specifically chooses to.

Not everyone has the right to be in AmericaIf the U.S. Supreme Court says California has to create room in its prisons by releasing convicts, the least the federal government can do is send those who are illegal aliens back over the border. The message is simple: If you come to our country and don’t follow the rules, you’re outta here. On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of “Brown v. Plata” that overcrowding in California prisons constituted a violation of the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The court affirmed the judgment of a three-judge...

On May 9, 2011, the Illegal Immigration Prevention Apprehension Co-op Team (IIMPACT) conducted a human smuggling investigation. During surveillance, detectives stopped a suspected smuggling load vehicle on State Route 202 at 40th Street in Phoenix. The vehicle was loaded with nine undocumented immigrants and smuggler or “coyote” who was the driver.It was discovered during further investigation that one of the persons being smuggled was a criminal alien, with a prior arrest in California by the Redwood City Sheriff’s Office in 2005 for attempted murder of a police officer. The charges in California were dismissed and there was no record of...

The Obama administration is making it possible for more foreign students studying in the U.S. on visas to stay and get practical training in their career fields. The administration is expanding the list of science, technology, engineering and math degrees that allow foreign students who earn them to stay in the U.S. up to 17 months after graduating. Those months can be spent working. The time also could mean the student may not have to leave before getting an H-1B visa, a visa reserved for high-skilled workers that can last for up to six years.

Indianapolis— Five students arrested at an immigration protest at the Indiana Statehouse Monday will not face deportation. Federal authorities lifted detention orders against the illegal immigrants Tuesday evening. The detention was lifted shortly after the five declared a hunger strike Tuesday. The students say the hunger strike will last until Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R) vetoes the immigration bill he has previously promised to sign. The students were part of a protest that went all the way to the front door of the governor's office. Senate Bill 590 would make illegal immigrants pay much higher tuitions. The cost would be...

WASHINGTON – Nayely Arreola was a high school junior when a U.S. senator first protected her from deportation. The year: 2003. Nayely is now 25, newly married and a graduate of Fresno Pacific University. She and her family still remain protected, thanks to special bills that need not pass to exert influence. "Perhaps the greatest hardship to this family, if forced to return to Mexico, will be (Nayely's) lost opportunity to realize her dreams and further contribute to her community and this country," Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein declared. As she has regularly since 2003, Feinstein in March re-introduced a so-called...

Jessica Colotl, in many ways, is exactly the kind of person we wish we had more of in this country. She's bright, ambitious, a good student and interested in civic affairs. "I am no different than any other American," she told the Atlanta newspaper this week. Maybe not, except for one little thing: Ms. Colotl has spent most of her life in this country illegally, and arrogantly thinks the laws that apply to everyone else - and especially those that apply to foreign nationals who want to become citizens of this country - shouldn't apply to her. Ms. Colotl, you'll...

An immigration judge in Newark on Friday suspended the deportation of a Venezuelan man who is married to an American man, responding to an unusual signal this week from the Obama administration that it is exploring legal avenues for recognizing same-sex marriages in immigration cases. The Venezuelan, Henry Velandia, had been awaiting the hearing with dread, since immigration authorities had said it was the last step before his deportation. Mr. Velandia, a dancer, was legally married last year in Connecticut to Josh Vandiver, a graduate student at Princeton. Mr. Velandia was denied legal residency as Mr. Vandiver’s spouse because under...

Having met with business leaders and entertainment stars on stalled immigration reform... Obama... heard from Hispanic lawmakers who have been pressuring him to help certain immigrants stay in the U.S. while they wait for congressional action.The meeting with members of the all-Democratic Congressional Hispanic Caucus... ... DREAM Act ... but it is expected to be introduced again this session.

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama (AFP) – Recent tornadoes ravaged immigrant and other low-income communities in the US state of Alabama, but undocumented aliens say they are reluctant to openly seek help out of fear of arrest and deportation. Tornadoes left a wide swath of destruction through this university city, leaving at least 39 dead and several missing, and poorer neighborhoods such as Alberta and Holt, where many immigrants and African-Americans saw their homes left in splinters, were especially hard hit. Illegal immigrants were keeping a low profile Sunday, but about 30 of them gathered at Holy Spirit Catholic Church for a Spanish-language...