Free Republic

The 'law pollution' tipping point approaches I'm sure you are aware that new "laws" are passed all the time.  I'm seeing "public service" announcements of changes to Texas' "law" regarding seat belts even now.  As these new "laws" are added, the old "laws" remain.  The "law" becomes more restrictive with each passing day.  This results in the condition I refer to as "law pollution".Already every one of us- yes, even you- break a multitude of "laws" every single day.  Many years ago a sheriff's deputy told me that by the time we eat breakfast we have already broken lots of "laws",...

834b. (a) Every law enforcement agency in California shall fully cooperate with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service regarding any person who is arrested if he or she is suspected of being present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws. (b) With respect to any such person who is arrested, and suspected of being present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws, every law enforcement agency shall do the following: (1) Attempt to verify the legal status of such person as a citizen of the United States, an alien lawfully admitted as a...

What solution do you support regarding illegal immigration? We need to adopt new federal laws that ensure stronger, more secure borders Illegal immigrants need to be sent back to their home countries. All illegal immigrants should be granted Amnesty and offered full citizenship. We need to build a new "Ellis Island" type facility near the Mexico Border as a means of properly processing immigrants. The United States needs to annex Mexico. Each state needs to be allowed to handle the situation in its own fashion as with Arizona. There is no solution. A solution not posted here.

During the healthcare reform debate, many Democrats, liberals and other supporters of the law compared the mandate to carry health insurance to similar mandates for having automobile insurance. The Arizona anti-illegal immigration law has a similar analogy to an automobile provision. In many states, including Indiana and Kentucky, police officers can cite drivers for seatbelt violations, but only after they have stopped those drivers for committing another driving offense first. Officers cannot pull drivers over simply for noticing that they and/or their passengers are not wearing seatbelts. The seatbelt violation then becomes an additional charge on top of the initial...

The city has implemented a new policy that will screen every person who is arrested to see if the person is in the country legally.

One insane Senate procedure used to preserve another insane Senate procedure You know about secret holds, right? Where a senator can block consideration of an item without publicly revealing that he or she is the one blocking consideration of that item? Yesterday afternoon, Ron Wyden and Chuck Grassley were all set to bring a bipartisan amendment to the floor that would end the practice, or at least try to, by attaching language to the financial-regulation bill that would kill off secret holds. Then Jim DeMint stood up. Secret holds are just one of many insane Senate traditions that can be...

El Sol de Mexico (Mexico City) 5/7/10 Mexican Congress at work Mexico City – Mexican Senators and Deputies [Representatives] of all parties placed pins on their lapels with the message “NO SB 1070; in protest to the enactment of the “anti-immigrant” law in Arizona. They wore the lapel buttons during a session of congress to demonstrate their solidarity against the Arizona law. One of the legislators made it clear that it wasn’t because the state of Arizona passed the law, which he said was certainly their right to do, but because of the evident violation of human rights of the...

Unidentified immigrant rights activists and community leaders engage in non-violent civil disobedience, by chaining themselves together with lockdown PVC devices, in protest of Arizona's recently enacted SB1070 immigration enforcement law, outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Federal Processing and Detention Center, on Thursday, May 6, 2010, in Los Angeles.

State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-12) submitted a bill, May 5, that would give state and local in Pennsylvania powers akin to those held by Arizona authorities under that state's recently passed law, and require that "every agency or political subdivision of this Commonwealth shall verify the lawful presence in the United States of any natural person 18 years of age or older who has applied for Federal public benefits, State public benefits or local public benefits . . that are administered by an agency or a political subdivision of this Commonwealth" with some exceptions such as treatment of an emergency...

Immigration Echo Chamber In the wake of Arizona’s new immigration enforcement law, people of all parties are up in arms. The law has been called fascist, racist, misguided, and so on. Democrats are making political hay over the law despite the fact that based on its high approval in Arizona, many Democrats must be in favor of it. Republicans are being forced by their base to hammer this issue, drawing attention away from Pres. Obama’s socialist agenda. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of the US to protest the law. So what is all the fuss? ....

Supporters of Arizona’s new law strengthening immigration enforcement in the state should take heart from today’s New York Times editorial blasting it. “Stopping Arizona” contains so many blatant falsehoods that a reader can be fully confident that the law as actually written is a reasonable, lawful response to a pressing problem. Only by distorting the law’s provisions can the Times and the law’s many other critics make it out to be a racist assault on fundamental American rights. The law, SB 1070, empowers local police officers to check the immigration status of individuals whom they have encountered during a “lawful...

Congressional candidate Tom Garcia, a former Commander and aviator in the United States Navy running in Florida's 24th congressional district, has become the first congressional candidate to propose federal legislation that would implement the recently passed Arizona immigration laws nationwide. In a press release today, Commander Garcia stated the following: As a proud American of Hispanic Heritage, it is clear to me that citizenship is a national treasure and one that should not be given out freely to those who trespass on our national sovereignty. I am particularly offended by those who are calling Arizona's Immigration bill SB 1070 a...

The Justice Department is reportedly moving toward challenging the Arizona law. If true, it would be a rare case where the United States directly challenges a state law as opposed to waiting to intervene as an amicus. Given the increasing number of cities and citizens planning to challenge the law, there is no paucity of plaintiffs requiring such a challenge. I will be discussing this issue tonight on Countdown. An early challenge by the Justice Department would indicate that it is not going to wait to create an “as applied” challenge based on actual enforcement. That would make it more...

A man who authorities say has been deported several times is facing new illegal immigrant charges in Chattanooga Federal Court. Salvador Rojas-Garcia was in a van along with seven other people that was stopped for speeding by a state trooper and Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents on I-24 near Manchester last Wednesday. Authorities said Rojas-Garcia was found to be "a prior deport with an aggravated felony conviction." After a fingerprint check at the ICE Office of Investigations in Chattanooga, it was found that he had been arrested and convicted in March 1994 in Salt Lake City for possession of...

Mexico has a radical idea for a rational immigration policy that most Americans would love. However, Mexican officials haven’t been sharing that idea with us as they press for our Congress to adopt the McCain-Kennedy immigration reform bill. That's too bad, because Mexico, which annually deports more illegal aliens than the United States does, has much to teach us about how it handles the immigration issue. Under Mexican law, it is a felony to be an illegal alien in Mexico. At a time when the Supreme Court and many politicians seek to bring American law in line with foreign legal...

Advertisement Quantcast Arizona Governor Jan Brewer last week signed a new law into effect that authorizes local police to stop and verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 60% of voters nationwide favor such a law, while 31% are opposed. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Republicans support the law along with 62% of voters not affiliated with either major party. Democratic voters are evenly divided on the measure. At the same time, however, 58% of all voters are at least somewhat concerned that “efforts to identify and...

Immigration continued to dominate the political conversation Saturday at a rally with U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, in a town hall with U.S. Sen. John McCain - and in a Twitter posting from President Obama. As many as 400 people - some carrying signs with slogans like "Deport the Arizona Legislature. They are the Real Danger to Our Community," and "This is what happens when we don't vote" - showed up at Grijalva's campaign headquarters on South Stone Avenue to protest Arizona's new immigration law, which authorizes police during any lawful contact to determine a person's legal status if reasonable suspicion...

President Obama on Friday criticized a controversial new immigration bill in Arizona, calling it "misguided." "Our failure to act responsible at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe," the president said at a naturalization ceremony for 24 members of the military.

A sweeping new immigration bill sits on Governor Brewer's desk awaiting her signature or veto. Supporters of the bill say that it will curb illegal immigration, while opponents state that it will result in wide-spread racial profiling. What do you think about the bill? Is it racist? Is it a good idea? Will it curb illegal immigration? Does it give law enforcement the right to stop a person on suspicion of being an illegal immigration? Is it a step in the right direction? Vote in the poll and let us know your thoughts and interpretations of the bill. Key passages...

WASHINGTON — Hispanic leaders in the House of Representatives called Tuesday for President Barack Obama Tuesday to act against Arizona's anti-illegal immigration legislation and to throw his weight behind a comprehensive immigration overhaul. Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., demanded a halt to the bill that passed Arizona's Senate Monday. The state's House of Representatives passed it last week. If Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signs it into law, the bill would require immigrants to carry alien registration cards with them at all times and police to check people's immigration status whenever there's "reasonable suspicion" that they are in...