Free Republic

PROVIDENCE — Federal immigration agents and state police raided six Rhode Island courthouses yesterday, arresting dozens of people employed by two contractors hired by the state. The detainees are all believed to be maintenance workers. The raid led to a noisy demonstration by at least 100 people outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office at 200 Dyer St. last night. Police officers arrived as the crowd grew; at one point the police pushed a line of demonstrators across the parking lot. Some in the crowd were relatives of the arrestees. Others included clergy and at least one state representative, Grace...

Seattle, Washington - The number of immigration violators deported from three Pacific Northwest states surged nearly 40 percent when compared to the same period last year, according to statistics released today by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In the first nine months of fiscal year 2008 (Oct. 2007 through June 2008), ICE returned 7,345 illegal aliens to their home countries who had been living in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. During that same period last fiscal year, ICE removed 5,256. This year’s statistics reflect a 39 percent overall increase in the volume of deportations from the three-state area. Of the...

John McCain set a difficult task for himself in his speech to the National Council of La Raza. He had to simultaneously reassure liberal Hispanic activists that he is a more reliable champion of comprehensive immigration reform -- otherwise known as amnesty -- than Barack Obama and convince conservatives that he is still committed to the enforcement-first position he took in the Republican primaries. All while denying that he has flip-flopped on immigration. In substance, his immigration remarks offered something for everyone. He explained his revised position. "Many Americans did not believe us when we said we would secure our...

Future President Barack Hussein Obama makes so many verbal gaffes, it’s barely challenging to find and expose the ignorance. Race-pandering before the hispanic racialist group La Raza, BHO equated Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the government agency charged with carrying out our nations immigration laws, with terrorism. He said: “When communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids…when all that is happening, the system just isn’t working, and we need to change it.” Play the video below:

If conservatives ever though there was little difference between John McCain and Barack Obama on Immigration -- think again! Yesterday, in a speech to La Raza, Barack Obama likened Immigration Enforcement efforts to "terror" . . . (see video) When communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, when people are detained without access to legal counsel, when all that is happening, the system just isn’t working, and we need to change it.As this campaign wears on, Obama is systematically showing himself...

Escondido city officials refuse to give up. Two years ago, the city passed an ordinance to punish landlords for renting to illegal immigrants. But it rescinded the rental restriction after a legal challenge was filed and bills began to mount. Now Escondido is trying a new approach to what it calls the "public nuisances" of illegal immigration, citing residents for code violations such as garage conversions, graffiti and junk cars. The city is also debating a new ordinance that would restrict overnight street parking without a permit. In addition, it is drafting a policy that would prohibit drivers from picking...

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt signed into law today legislation that will make it harder for illegal aliens living in the state to receive benefits and harder to find jobs. The new legislations requires all public employers to use the E-Verify system to verify the legality of a potential employee and requires and individual to prove their citizenship status before receiving state benefits such as food stamps and housing. The bill also punishes those localities that adopt policies to not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Missouri joins Arizona, Oklahoma, and Georgia in instituting state-wide anti-illegal immigration laws. So far, the laws...

Senator John McCain has been accused of flip-flopping on immigration. Supposedly he tacked right during the primaries and now is tacking left. Actually, McCain has been all too consistent. As he has twice in recent weeks told Hispanic leaders, he remains committed to a “comprehensive immigration reform” that increases enforcement but also creates a “temporary guest worker” program and lets many illegal immigrants become legal residents. His one concession has been a matter of timing. During the primaries he said that the public would need to see enforcement work before it would tolerate the other elements of reform. He did...

Scores of heavily armed federal agents last month stormed into Agriprocessors, which produces up to 70 percent of all kosher meat in America. The feds seized almost 400 of the plant's 900 workers in the largest single roundup of illegal immigrants to date, charging about 300 of them with identity theft and using stolen Social Security cards. Some of those workers have since sued the company, alleging abuse, fraud and sexual coercion. Postville, which once sold T-shirts boasting of the peaceful coexistence of its many cultures, has been left "absolutely shattered," said the Rev. Paul Ouderkirk of the town's St....

A Horsham car wash company and three of its managers have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government, harbor illegal immigrants, and commit identity theft. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia said Car Care managers operated a scheme between 2000 and March 2006 that allowed car washes to hire illegal workers by giving them false names and a way to cash their checks at local banks without identification. The banks were given a list of employees who were authorized to cash paychecks without showing identification other than clothing bearing the company logo. Car Care is a wholly owned subsidiary...

PARIS, June 18 -- The European Parliament approved new rules Wednesday designed to standardize the dramatic differences in member countries' treatment of illegal immigrants, whose presence is one of the most heated political issues in Europe today. The measure, which would allow countries to jail illegal immigrants for as long as 18 months pending deportation, was decried by human rights organizations as promoting excessive detention. Supporters defended it as providing greater protections for the foreigners in countries that now permit indefinite detentions and grant detainees few legal rights. Rapidly changing demographics in Europe -- as Muslims arrive from the Middle...

The Bush administration has sharply ratcheted up prosecutions of illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in the last year, with increases so dramatic that immigration offenses now account for as much as half the nation's federal criminal caseload. In the widening crackdown, administration officials prosecuted 9,350 illegal immigrants on federal criminal charges in March, up from 3,746 a year ago and an all-time high, according to statistics released Tuesday. Those convicted have received jail sentences averaging about one month. The prosecutions are among the most visible steps in a larger effort that includes work-site raids, increased border patrols and the...

Steamed over a perceived increase in federal usurping of states' rights, Oklahoma's House of Representatives told Washington, D.C., to back off. Joint House Resolution 1089, passed by an overwhelming 92-3 margin, reasserts Oklahoma's sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and, according to the resolution's own language, is "serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates." The Tenth Amendment states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." Traditionally, this language has meant that...

Hands down, Joe Arpaio is the toughest sheriff in America. And although he is most well-known for his tough treatment of prisoners, Arpaio has over 30 years experience with different federal drug enforcement agencies, and, as the former head of border and drug enforcement in Texas and Arizona, he is one of the country’s leading experts on how to shut down illegal immigration and cross-border drug trafficking. His is a hard-core, no-frills approach to incarceration, with 10,000 Maricopa County, Ariz., prisoners held in old Army surplus tents, fed on bologna sandwiches, and clothed in black-and-white striped, old-style prison uniforms and...

This is one of the most frightening things I've learned in a long time. Over in the US, a bill has passed the House of Representatives and is heading to Congress – with a huge amount of support. The PRO-IP bill, H.R.4279, significantly increases the state's power to detect and prosecute IP infringement, carrying with it a whole host of new law enforcement positions and capabilities. It establishes an IP Czar, someone with the job of overseeing zealous action on behalf of copyright and trademark owners, and includes such powers as the ability to seize equipment if it contains just...

While other states move away from giving illegal immigrant college students state benefits, the California Legislature appears to be pushing to give them more access to colleges and universities. Last month, North Carolina's community college system said it would no longer admit illegal immigrants. But in California, where illegal immigrants are allowed to enroll in state colleges, some lawmakers are backing a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to qualify for state financial aid and fee waivers. An estimated 65,000 illegal immigrants graduate from U.S. high schools each year and could potentially attend college, according to a study by the...

Yesenia Rangel, 12, looked out her window on a Friday morning in February and saw several officers with the letters "ICE" on their sleeves. Yesenia immediately called her neighbors to warn them that immigration officers were outside their Compton apartment building. Then she watched in tears as officers handcuffed her father and took him away. "I thought, 'I'm never going to see my dad again,' " said Yesenia, a U.S. citizen by birth. As federal authorities expand immigration enforcement in California and throughout the nation, teachers, mental health professionals and immigrant rights advocates are raising concerns about the effect on...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After the biggest immigration raid in U.S. history, hundreds of workers have been sentenced but not one company official as yet faces any charges — something critics say is typical of a federal government that is tough on employees but easy on owners. Worker advocates and lawmakers say the fact that nearly 400 workers were arrested in the May 12 raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville — or more than one-third of the total number of employees — proves that company officials must have known they were hiring illegal immigrants. "Until we enforce...

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford will sign the immigration reform bill Wednesday afternoon. Sanford's spokesman says the signing will take place at 4:30pm in his office at the Statehouse. "I'd give real credit to the House for standing strong on the issue of an e-verify requirement, and for leading in that regard -- because we believe that is what will ultimately make this bill effective and enforceable," said Sanford in a statement on May 28. "Working together, we've put forth a bill that will make a difference when it comes to illegal immigration in South Carolina." The bill was given...

The deportation of illegal immigrants is on the rise, according to immigration officials who attribute the record numbers to increased enforcement. Deportations in the first five and a half months of fiscal year 2008 were higher than in all of 2001, according to U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement figures. In all of 2001, 116,202 immigrants were deported. To date in 2008, 119,429 immigrants have been ordered to return home, records show. Scott Sutterfield, assistant field office director in the Office of Detention and Removal in New Orleans, said that over the last several years immigration officials have redoubled their efforts...

The fallout from April's Immigration Raid continues in Chattanooga's immigrant community. Local Social Service Agencies, already stretched to the max, have combined forces to help those affected. Still, the need is great... April 16th in Chattanooga hundreds of lives were disrupted in an immigration raid at Pilgrim's Pride Poultry Plant. More than 100 accused illegal immigrants were arrested, leaving families without an income and children without caregivers. Local social service agencies stepped in for assistance. Rev. Mike Feely, Executive Director of the St. Andrew's Center says, "The reality is, like a lot of other situations, whether it's a flood or...

Federal immigration agents arrested 17 illegal immigrants in the Canal area of San Rafael in raids that began early Thursday morning, putting residents on edge and angering parents who worried about the impact on children. Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement department, said enforcement teams removed 16 men and one woman. Detainees are generally taken to a center in San Francisco and dispersed to other facilities from there. Three of those arrested had failed to comply with deportation orders and one had been deported and illegally returned to the United States, she said. The group...

Valley gun-maker Frank DeSomma donated about $10,000 worth of guns and equipment to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office earlier this year, but he wanted it to be a secret. Governor takes Arpaios funds for task force County OKs $1M for illegal-immigrant sweeps “I wanted to give this because I appreciate the organization,” DeSomma said. “But I wanted to keep it quiet.” But in Maricopa County, DeSomma soon learned, donations cannot be kept quiet. They are even discussed in public meetings because of specific rules to keep such gifts above board. DeSomma, who owns Patriot Ordnance Factory in Glendale, was among...

Hundreds of legal and illegal immigrants in Arizona are being sent back to their home countries, sometimes against their will, for medical treatment because they lack insurance. (snip) The forcible removals are the result of federal and state law mandating that only U.S. citizens and legal residents are eligible for Medicaid.

Veronica Matias and her aunt Eulalia Matias were leaving for a church retreat Saturday morning when two vehicles blocked their driveway in East Ridge. Men got out of the cars and, without identifying themselves, started asking if she and her aunt were in the country legally and demanding identification, Ms. Matias said. “I got out the car and asked them why they needed my information,” said Ms. Matias, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen. “I was told they were looking for a murderer, and they showed me the picture of a man from Ecuador.” She told the men she didn’t recognize the...

Sixteen migrant workers were taken into custody early this morning from a tenant house on a farm in Savannah. Lev Kubiak, with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office says 11 men and 5 women were taken into custody after an investigation that began with complaint from a citizen. Kubiak wouldn't comment on the length of the investigation leading up to the raid. Those in custody were transported to Batavia for further questioning at a DHS facility there. New York Farm Bureau President Mark James says he arrived at the scene on Route 31, and believes there is evidence that authorities...

The raid today at Agriprocessors, Inc. meat packing plant targeted individuals who were using stolen Social Security numbers. Officials say at least 300 have been arrested but that the number could go as high as 700. The raid was the largest of it's kind in Iowa according to Claude Arnold of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Friday stormed 11 El Balazo restaurants around the Bay Area, arresting 63 illegal immigrants - and drawing the outrage of immigration advocates who had marched the previous day to call for the legalization of undocumented workers. The raids began at 10:30 Friday morning in San Francisco, San Ramon, Lafayette, Concord, Pleasanton and Danville and involved 62 people from Mexico and one from Guatemala. Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for the immigration agency, called the arrests "a targeted enforcement action" that is part of a continuing criminal investigation she couldn't discuss further. Immigration officials photographed, fingerprinted...

Both Houses of Congress and the Executive Branch are exempt from security or background investigation for a Security Clearances as are elected Officials and / or Appointees. All Police Departments and a plethora of Governmental Security Agencies, intelligence as well as investigative, rightfully scrutinize their employees, counterparts and support staff in an effort to assure maximum security. This legal enforcement of passing Security criteria extends to all branches of the Military, their support Contractor’s staff and the Judicial System. This also extends to the State and County as well as any governmental agency that deals in anyway with any information...

As Bush administration officials prepared Friday to finalize rules cracking down on employers of illegal immigrants, business and civil rights advocates continued to hammer the plan, calling it an expensive and ill-conceived attack on legitimate workers and their employers. The Department of Homeland Security closed a 30-day window Friday for public comments on a new version of its "no match" rule. Agency officials hope the new language will persuade a San Francisco federal judge to lift an injunction imposed in October and allow the regulations to go into effect. The no match rule would give employers 90 days to resolve...

I want to call la migra on my neighbors. It's not just that I hate the other tenants in my building, or that I want to see some upfront constituent service from noted blackface authority Julie L. Myers, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It's not only that I think I might get better treatment from my prick landlord if several units in the building were forcibly emptied. I'm not even sure how well calling in a raid from ICE would work: I have good reason to believe that the only family in the building I like is out...

U.S. Senator Pat Roberts urged Congress to pass three bills to give law enforcement officers more tools to enforce the nation’s immigration laws. “These three bills are common sense proposals to strengthen enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws,” Roberts said. “I have heard from many, many Kansans and local law enforcement officers who are frustrated with illegal immigrants detained time and again, openly violating our laws.” Roberts has cosponsored three bills to do the following: � Better enable state and local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws S. 2717: This legislation clarifies the authority of state and local law enforcement...

A Tulsa County judge heard legal arguments Friday in a court action that challenges the constitutionality of a new state law dealing with illegal immigration. District Judge Jefferson Sellers did not rule on the matter and did not set a date for a decision. Attorneys now have the opportunity to submit proposed "findings of fact and conclusions of law." Those pleadings are due two weeks after a transcript of the court hearing is prepared, and the transcript is expected to be ready in a week. The plaintiff in the case is Michael C. Thomas, identified as a resident taxpayer of...

Illegal immigration continues to be one of the top issues among conservatives and all Americans across the country, and why wouldn't it be? Despite the rhetoric coming from some Washington leaders on the need to secure our borders and clamp down on the flow of illegal aliens, little to nothing has been done. Bills are passed calling for more border patrol agents -- then, only a fraction is actually hired. Bills are passed calling for a security fence on America's southern border -- then, political moves are made to defund it and slow its construction. Now, another bill has...

Public anger against illegal immigrants, already entrenched in parts of Northern Virginia, is seeping into Maryland. With legislators facing unprecedented demands to take action, fears of a crackdown are spreading among illegal immigrants in a state that has been more tolerant of them.A record 20 bills targeting illegal immigrants have been introduced in the state legislature this session. Although none of the bills is expected to survive, their supporters are far more vocal and organized than in the past, and the movement has gained recent support in Maryland communities that include Mount Rainier, Gaithersburg and Taneytown."If there is any doubt...

Immigration Referrals by Police Draw Scrutiny By KAREEM FAHIM WOODBURY, N.J. — A green-card holder from Guatemala said he was asked about his immigration status last month when he went to pick up his nephew from the West Deptford, N.J., police station. An illegal immigrant from Mexico was arrested March 5 when the car in which he was a passenger was pulled over for rolling through a stop sign in South Harrison Township, N.J. Seven months after the state attorney general, Anne Milgram, ordered local police departments in New Jersey to question people they arrest for certain crimes about their...

The Department of Homeland Security, continuing to enforce what it calls a "strict policy of arresting, prosecuting and jailing" illegal immigrants, deported a record number of those caught on the nation's borders last year — more than 280,000 in fiscal year 2007 compared with 186,000 a year earlier. It was the largest number of illegals ever removed from the country in a single year. The increase is attributable to what veteran law-enforcement authorities said is a revised apprehension process, adding that the department no longer is targeting only criminal illegals for removal, but seeks eventually to apprehend, charge and deport...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Sens. David Vitter (R- Louisiana), Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama), James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), Elizabeth Dole (R-North Carolina), Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia), Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) and Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) announced the formation of the Border Security and Enforcement First Caucus.            The U.S. illegal immigrant population is the highest it has ever been. One in 25 residents currently living in the United States is here illegally. Over the last seven years, immigration has been the highest in history – 10.9 million immigrants arrived, over half of them (five million plus) without...

If you don’t speak Spanish, Miami really can feel like a foreign country. In any restaurant, the conversation at the next table is more likely to be Spanish than English. And Miami’s population is only 65 percent Hispanic. El Paso, Texas, is 76 percent Latino. Flushing is 60 percent immigrant, mainly Chinese.Chinatowns and Little Italys have long been part of America’s urban landscape, but would it be all right to have entire U.S. cities where most people spoke and did business in Chinese, Spanish or even Arabic? Are too many Third World, non-English-speaking immigrants destroying our national identity?For some Americans,...

Why Kerviel is so unsettling By Christopher Caldwell Published: February 8 2008 18:27 | Last updated: February 8 2008 18:27 “You lose a sense of the amounts when you’re doing this kind of job,” the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel told Agence France-Presse this week. “Everything gets dematerialised. You can get carried away.” It is possible Mr Kerviel was just using the interview to set up his legal defence. French authorities have accused him, after all, of forgery and breach of trust. Mr Kerviel had risen from the back office at Société Générale to become a “warrant arbitragist”. His job was...

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors will vote Tuesday on whether to use all but a sliver of its contingency reserve fund to support the anti-illegal immigration resolution. The police department needs $793,425 to begin enforcing the resolution that was adopted by the board in October. County documents show that the money will be used to pay for salaries, overtime, training, computer services, software upgrades, hardware replacement, vehicle maintenance, gasoline, printed supplies, new police equipment, help desk support and new and leased vehicles. The expenditure will leave $3,369 in the contingency fund which comes from the county's general fund....

Oklahoma passed one of the toughest laws on immigration enforcement in the nation, arguably tougher than an Arizona bill that has convinced illegal aliens to leave the state. Oklahoma's "1804" has had the same dramatic impact as its employment enforcement provisions have yet to take effect. Thousands of people have simply left their jobs, leaving some business owners struggling to adjust: Autumn had arrived in eastern Oklahoma, and workers at the sprawling Greenleaf Nursery were prepping for deadly frosts. They needed to ship plants, erect greenhouses and bunch trees together to protect them against the cold. But in late October,...

Illegal Worker Hiring Sites Promote Racketeering by Bridget Geegan Blanton Mexico is notorious for corruption... ...and is nearly unresponsive to a persistent, staggering poverty suffered by millions of Mexicans. At the top of the Mexican power structure is an elitist, wealthy ruling class that vehemently resists even a modest level of taxation while supporting the status of Mexico as a nation dependent on American financial aid. Onerous taxation and big government is never a solution, but at the other extreme is the Mexican ruling class who has shunned any responsibility for the dire economic state of their country. In a...

ORANGE - Jack in The Box. Home Depot. Big Lots. 7-Eleven. Albertsons. Home Depot. Officer Augie Rocha bounces from one location to another like a pinball. He starts his mornings early – usually at 5:30 a.m. – to keep up with the day laborers who begin to congregate throughout the city. The laborers gather in parking lots, in front of stores and on sidewalks to solicit work. As soon as Rocha rolls up in his police car, dozens of men dissipate. Some stare at Rocha but most avert their eyes and slowly walk away. "I try to get out and...

Oklahoma's local law against illegal immigration is among the toughest in the nation. The law went into effect Nov. 1, and advocates for undocumented workers and activists for tougher immigration measures both say that since then, thousands of immigrants have left Oklahoma. Among other things, the new law makes it a felony to harbor, transport or aid an illegal immigrant. Hispanic leaders say the law is causing widespread fear in the Hispanic community. Builders say they can't get enough workers and are threatening a lawsuit to try to block the law. But backers of the measure say it's doing what...

A new law in Arizona that takes effect Jan. 1 aims to punish employers who hire workers without valid US residency. Even though this experiment is by only one state trying to fix only one piece of the US immigration puzzle, the law may provide answers for the whole nation. Arizona stands out in illegal hires – about 10 to 12 percent of the workforce. This border state with only 6.2 million people has more illegal immigrants than Illinois or New York. Two-thirds of Arizona's foreign-born population are not in the US legally, and the vast majority of them live...

Bad. Bad. Bad. That’s how Mesa business owner Ramon Quintana describes the crisis facing Hispanic-oriented companies as people in the Latino community lose their jobs and flee the area for friendlier frontiers. Businesses fighting state's employer sanctions statute Businesses upset over hiring law seek anonymity The problem comes from a mix of fear of recent immigration arrests and the pending crackdown on employers who hire illegal residents. Hispanic-oriented businesses are paying the price. At the height of the Christmas shopping season, some businesses reported less than half the revenue they had last Christmas. Those who remain are struggling to pay...

NOTE: there are now 100 cities across the country proposing laws similar to Hazelton. I’m Lou Barletta, the proud Mayor of the City of Hazleton, Pennsylvania. I believe the United States of America is the greatest nation on Earth. People who are in this country have an incredible amount of opportunities and blessings. But some people have taken advantage of America’s openness and tolerance. Some come to this country and refuse to learn English, creating a language barrier for city employees. Others enter the country illegally and use government services by not paying taxes or by committing crime on our...

MEXICO CITY - Lorenzo Martinez, an illegal immigrant who has lived in Los Angeles for six years, has a message for his kin in Mexico's Hidalgo state: Stay put. The steady construction work that allowed him to send home as much as $1,000 a month in recent years has disappeared. The 36-year-old father of four said desperation is growing among the day laborers with whom he competes for odd jobs. Sporadic employment isn't the half of it. Martinez said anxiety is also running high among undocumented workers about stepped-up workplace raids, deportations and increasing demands by U.S. employers for proof...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) visited the home of a Springfield alderman Thursday night amid what appears to be increased enforcement against illegal immigrants.Alderman Clay Sneed, who lives on Kinneys Road, rents out space in his house along with his other rental properties in the city. He was out on a call for his security company when ICE visited house between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Thursday. “My wife said there were some vans here,” Sneed said. “They weren’t concerned about anything we were doing. They were just concerned about someone that was renting downstairs.” The person ICE came...