Free Republic

Three immigration officers were involved in a shootout at the Long Beach Federal Building Thursday evening, police said. Two officers were pronounced dead at the scene and a third was sent to a nearby hospital, according to aerial communications from Long Beach Police. The third victim, repeatedly referred to as a man, was reportedly shot in the upper body. He is being treated at St. Mary's Medical Center, and his vital signs were positive, said Francine Marlenee, speaking on behalf of the hospital. One of the agents is believed to be the suspected gunman, police said. But the suspect's condition...

‘Contempt of Congress” is a pretty strong term, and one with tangible legal consequences, but how else to describe Attorney General Eric Holder’s continuing obstructionism in the burgeoning Fast and Furious scandal? It’s been 14 months since news broke that a federal agent had been killed with weapons that Holder’s Justice Department intentionally allowed to cross the border into Mexico, with no plan on how to track them and without alerting Mexican officials. In all, the Obama administration sent thousands of guns south to the drug gangs under the misbegotten operation. But since last May, Eric Holder has been stonewalling...

An article in the Washington Free Beacon discusses the 15 year time-to-crime (TTC) statistic that casts significant doubt on DOJ claims regarding firearms trafficking along the southwest border. Time-to-crime refers to the period of time between original purchase of a firearm and the recovery of that firearm by law enforcement. The document obtained by the Beacon comes from ATF and was produced as part of the court record in the 2011 case National Shooting Sports Foundation v. Jones – a lawsuit filed by the NSSF and two NRA-funded firearms retailers challenging ATF’s legal authority to impose a multiple sales reporting...

President Obama is using his budget to advance an anti-gun agenda just before the election. One particularly sneaky provision buried deep within his submission to Congress Monday would, if enacted, allow the mistakes of the “Fast and Furious” gun-walking scandal to be repeated. In November, the president signed the Justice Department appropriations bill, which included language from Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, prohibiting federal agencies from facilitating the transfer of an operable firearm to an individual known or suspected to be in a drug cartel, unless they monitor the weapon at all times. Now Mr. Obama is proposing to remove...

This document by attorney David Hardy, author of "This Is Not An Assault": Penetrating the Web of Official Lies Regarding the Waco Incident, is currently circulating in Arizona legal and political circles. Reprinted, with permission: Notes on State Jurisdiction to Prosecute a Federal actor By David Hardy Congress has recognized the possibility that a Federal agent or employee might be prosecuted by a State, and established a rule for such an occurrence. 28 U.S.C. §1442(a) provides that such a criminal prosecution, commenced in State court may be removed to Federal district court upon motion of the defendant, if the defendant...

The firestorm of controversy over the January 20th HHS mandate requiring Catholic and other religious organizations to pay for contraception, sterilization and abortifacient drugs for their employees shows no sign of abating. This is notwithstanding the Obama administration's "accommodation," announced last Friday, that will permit insurance companies to pass the cost of contraception, sterilization and abortifacient drugs along to Catholic and other religious employers - as long as they do so surreptitiously, of course. Catholics bishops and countless others have characterized this regulation as direct government interference with the free exercise of religion and thus unconstitutional. In this, they are...

When U.S. special agent Jaime Zapata was shot dead one year ago on a notorious stretch of highway in central Mexico, he was driving a $160,000 armored Chevy Suburban, built to exacting government standards, designed to defeat high-velocity gunfire, fragmentation grenades and land mines. But the vehicle had a basic, fatal flaw. Forced off the road in a well-coordinated ambush, surrounded by drug cartel gunmen brandishing AK-47s, Zapata and his partner, Victor Avila, rolled to a stop. Zapata put the vehicle in park. The door locks popped up. That terrifying sound — a quiet click — set into motion events...

On February 7th, Coach is Right posted a story reporting John Boehner was involved in an under-the-table negotiation with Attorney General Eric Holder to arrange a “mutually acceptable conclusion” to the Congressional investigation of Operation Fast and Furious. (1) Originally broken by Mike Vanderboegh on his Sipsey Street Irregulars website, it was reported that the Department of Justice would provide Boehner and Republicans the heads of DOJ higher-ups Lanny Breuer and Jason Weinstein along with assorted minor players and in return, the GOP would drop House and Senate committee investigations, giving Eric Holder and Barack Obama a pass on their...

Last week, Michel Marizco, writing for Fronteras, revealed what those of us who demand that the government be held accountable for its crimes have been saying all along. Operation Fast and Furious was not, contrary to what the administration and its apologists would like us to believe, a "rogue operation," conducted by an out-of-control Phoenix Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) field office, along with the U.S. Attorneys Office in Phoenix, without knowledge of those higher in the Department of Justice. It was instead a large, multi-agency operation--and indeed involved multiple cabinet-level departments. From the article: Newly released...

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...

Go to the source for the speech.

On Tuesday Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House committee on Oversight and Government Reform, took a major step toward holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his failure to provide subpoenaed documents and other information about Operation Fast and Furious.

Scandal: A drug enforcement agent says other agencies knew in 2009 about the Justice Department's gunrunning operation and even tried to interdict the weapons flow. And, yes, it was a gun-control plot. The notion that Fast and Furious was a localized operation run out of the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of which few, particularly the arguably clueless Attorney General Eric Holder, were aware continues to be exposed as the lie it is. "In 2009, I became aware that ATF was walking guns," Tony Coulson, who was in charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency-Tucson...

I think late January and February have been the busiest time for Operation Fast & Furious. The media still doesn’t give it proper coverage, especially this news: On February 4th, Mexico arrests a key figure in Fast & Furious. Not only is he a key person in Fast & Furious, but he was also a top lieutenant to El Chapo. I first found out about it on Borderland Beat, a great website keeping us up to date about the drug war in Mexico. The Los Angeles Times reported it on February 7th and my colleague AWR Hawkins published commenrary on...

Examiner.com article character limits preclude adding more updates to the initial and subsequently-posted Journalist's Guides to Project Gunwalker. This is a continuation of updates from this column and Sipsey Street Irregulars beginning January 27, 2012. It also includes contributions from regional Gun Rights Examiners. Click here for the Part One chronology from Dec. 28, 2010 through March 8, 2011. Click here for Part Two, beginning on March 9, 2011 and ending on April 15, 2011. Click here for Part Three, beginning on April 17, 2011 and ending on June 19, 2011. Click here for Part Four, beginning on June 20,...

“The gunwalking story has never been mentioned on either NBC Nightly News or the Today show,” Geoffrey Dickens reports in a Feb. 8 Media Research Center “Reality Check” piece. Perhaps that’s not quite fair. After all, MSNBC’s “Politics Nation” with Al Sharpton gave Rep. Elijah Cummings unchallenged time to make his case that the congressional Fast and Furious investigation is an “election-year witch hunt” against Eric Holder by Republicans, gunwalking was George Bush’s fault, and the real problem is we need more gun control. So leave it to “Today” to send “national investigative correspondent” Jeff Rossen to Phoenix of all...

This is a larger scandal than anything like Watergate, Nobody died there. People lied and there was a cover-up. Here, there’s lies and cover-ups and we still don’t have the answers, but people have been killed. Fourteen hundred of these guns are still outstanding; other people will die from actions of Eric Holder and the Department of Justice.”

For nearly a year now, House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R=CA) and Attorney General Eric Holder have locked horns over Operation Fast and Furious. Throughout this time we have seen heated exchanges between the two during Congressional hearings, watched the DOJ’s narrative change more than once, and wondered why Holder has thus far been allowed to dictate the speed at which the committee can investigate him. As of late, when Holder dug in and simply refused to the turn over the documents the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed, the contest between he and Issa turned into nothing less than a...

The debate over U.S. gun laws and Mexican drug violence brings to mind Mark Twain’s famous quip about lies, damned lies, and statistics. In a recent editorial, the Washington Post blamed American policies for exacerbating the bloodshed, pointing out that “70 to 80 percent of the traceable guns seized in Mexico can be tracked to the United States.� The key word there is “traceable.� While it’s true that most of the traceable guns originated north of the border, those weapons represent a very small portion of total Mexican gun seizures.According to a Government Accountability Office study based on data...

While criticism surrounding Operation Fast and Furious has so far focused on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, three other federal agencies knew about the operation and some of their agents tried to stop it, according to the former chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Tucson. Tony Coulson, the DEA’s agent in charge of Southern Arizona during Fast and Furious, says many federal field agents knew the ATF was walking guns to Mexico, but supervisors told them to back off when they objected. “Clearly, we went too far,” Coulson said. “The question we had among rank and...

Sea ice is encroaching unusually early on the central Bering Sea, threatening to grind Alaska's economically important snow crab fishery to a halt at the peak of the season, leaving crabbers facing major losses. Very cold temperatures and strong winds are pushing the ice south at the rate of 10-15 miles a day, according to the National Weather Service. A rate of 2-3 miles a day is normal. The ice itself has a maximum thickness of two feet. Crabbing boats are out retrieving their pots or sitting in Dutch Harbor rather than delivering their catch to the now iced-in Trident...

SANTA FE — The Santa Fe County jail continues to release many illegal immigrants — some of them dangerous criminals — to the streets before immigration officials can detain them. That’s according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who this week ramped up their criticism of the lockup in Santa Fe, known for its “safe haven” attitude toward immigrants. After the agency’s statements to KOAT-TV, repeating earlier claims that jail officials don’t do enough to help them enforce federal immigration law, the county and ICE sat down to try to reach an understanding. ICE assistant Albuquerque field office director...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Fifty people have been accused of conspiring to sell the identities of hundreds of Puerto Ricans to illegal immigrants on the U.S. mainland in the largest single fraud case ever for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, authorities said Wednesday. Hundreds of birth certificates, Social Security numbers and driver's licenses were sold for up to $2,500 a set as part of a black market ring based in Puerto Rico that operated from since at least April 2009, according to ICE Director John Morton. "The vast majority were legitimate documents obtained by fraudulent or false means,"...

The generic name for this mayhem is ice cross downhill, a label that reflects its blending of elements from skating, skiing and boardercross (snowboard racing). Crashed Ice, the title of this series of races, offers an additional nod to what happens to many of the racers. Falls are such a part of the race that competitors are required to wear full hockey or motocross protective gear.

Two years after the Secure Communities immigration enforcement program was implemented, federal officials determined that choices available to local law enforcement agencies that wished to decline or limit their participation would be "streamlined" or "eliminated," making the information-sharing program mandatory, according to a memo recently made public. Launched in 2008, Secure Communities was promoted to local and state leaders as a way to focus immigration enforcement efforts on "serious convicted criminals." But the program, which involves the FBI sharing fingerprints collected from county jails with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has come under fire because a large percentage of immigrants...

DALLAS – A Texas teenager who was deported to Colombia after claiming to be an illegal immigrant was back in the United States on Friday and at the center of an international mystery over how a minor could be sent to a country where she is not a citizen. Her family has questioned why U.S. officials didn't do more to verify her identity and say she is not fluent in Spanish and had no ties to Colombia. While many facts of the case involving Jakadrien Lorece Turner remain unclear, U.S. and Colombian officials have pointed fingers over who is responsible.

Syracuse, N.Y. — Case-by-case records provided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that many fewer individuals were apprehended, deported or detained by the agency than were claimed in its official statements — congressional testimony, press releases, and the agency's latest 2010 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. The ICE data was provided to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University in late December, almost two years — 582 days — after TRAC had requested it on May 17, 2010. Details about the vast differences between the agency activities documented by the data...

DALLAS - A 14-year-old Texas girl who has been missing since 2010 was mistakenly deported to Colombia by immigration agents and is now sitting in a detention facility waiting to come home. According to CBS affiliate KHOU Jakadrien Turner ran away from home in the fall of 2010 following her parents divorce and the death of her grandfather. She ended up in Houston, where she was arrested for theft. The girl gave police a fake name, which apparently belonged to a 22-year-old illegal immigrant from Colombia, who had warrants for her arrest.

This is remarkable. A just released Syracuse university study indicates that the government is overstating its enforcement of the immigration laws by a staggering amount. According to TRAC, Syracuse’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has overstated the number of immigration law violators apprehended by a 5:1 ratio. And that’s the good news. Deportations were overstated by 24:1 and detentions by 34:1. TRAC says that ICE has represented, not only in press releases but in congressional testimony, that in 2005 it apprehended 102,034. The records it produced, however, show only 21,339. It further claimed 166,075...

The city in the Heilongjiang province in China first held its Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in 1963, although it was interrupted for a number of years during the Cultural Revolution and only resumed in 1985. The festival, which starts on January 5 and lasts for one month, is one of the largest of its kind in the world attracting thousands of tourists from across China.

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...

As states across the nation ramp up their efforts to catch illegal immigrants, the Obama administration on Thursday launched a new free hotline for people busted on violations to get help. 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.” SNIP 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 removal...

The Obama administration has taken federal-state relations to a new low in its quest for an unprecedented expansion of presidential power. In response to Arizona’s efforts to identify and arrest undocumented immigrants, the president claims that he can preempt state law whenever its enforcement might irritate a foreign government. This unconstitutional power grab cannot stand. While the challenge by 26 states to the 2010 Affordable Care Act seeks limits on Congress’s powers, the Arizona law defends the fundamental authority of states to act in contravention of the president’s preferences. There is genuine controversy over the Arizona immigration policy of penalizing...

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona's Maricopa County has been under fire for his immigration law-enforcement policies from protesters who simply object to what he's doing, in a lawsuit alleging his department profiles on race, and from the federal government which has canceled agreements with his department to check for violators who arrive at his jail. Now he's wondering just how much of that displeasure from Washington is being generated by the perceived White House alarm over his Cold Case Posse investigation checking out suspicions raised by area tea-party officials that Barack Obama may use or try to use fraudulent documents...

The Monty Python defense. My goodness. Joltin' Joe Lieberman announces a Senate Homeland Security investigation on F&F "inter-ageny miscommunication" and the head of Border Patrol runs away the very same day. Folks, just received this statement by email: Statement from Alan D. Bersin, Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Earlier today, I notified the President of my intent to resign as Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection effective Dec. 30. I have expressed my deep gratitude and appreciation to President Obama and Secretary Napolitano for the opportunity to have led such an exceptional organization and for the confidence they...

PHOENIX (AP) -- Dozens of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jail officers lined up at a news conference in Phoenix to ceremoniously hand in their federal credentials a week after they were stripped of the ability to verify the immigration status of inmates.

From Stand With Arizona's Facebook page: PHOENIX (KPHO) - Sheriff Joe Arpaio had his first run-in with a group of suspected illegal immigrants since things heated up with the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice recently revoked his deputies' ability to check immigration status inside Maricopa County jails. Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Lt. Justin Griffin says they pulled over a vehicle and have eight people in their custody for human smuggling at 35th Avenue and Durango. Griffin says they attempted to give four of the detainees to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but MCSO says ICE is refusing to...

An alleged Mexican drug cartel member was arraigned in U.S. federal court Wednesday on murder charges from the roadside ambush of two U.S. immigration agents working south of the border. A spokesman for the U.S. District Court in Washington says Julian Zapata Espinoza entered a not guilty plea and is being held in jail. The charges included murder and attempted murder for the Feb. 15 mid-day attack along a four-lane highway that killed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata and wounded colleague Victor Avila as they were driving to Mexico City after a meeting with other U.S. personnel....

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...

And Obama again proves that only gullible, stupid people vote for him. [VIDEO AT SITE] Posted on the pomposity that is the site of the "Office of the President Elect" it says this: Protect Whistleblowers: Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack...

U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives www.atf.gov February 3, 2011 MEMORANDUM TO: Special Agent in Charge, Dallas Field Division THRU: Resident Agent in Charge , Lubbock Field Office FROM: Gary M. Styers, Special Agent, Lubbock Field Office SUBJECT: Contact with Congressional Investigators On February 2, 2011, at approximately 1500 hours, ATF Special Agent Gary Styers was contacted telephonically by Robert Donovan and Brian Downey, representing United States Senator Chuck Grassley and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Downey and Donovan after identifying themselves asked Special Agent Styers if he would be willing to answer some questions regarding...

PHOENIX - The Homeland Security Department will use 50 immigration agents to screen jail inmates in Arizona's most populous county after it revoked the sheriff's authority to access its systems, the agency said Monday in a letter to U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl. ................

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!]

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has requested that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) develop a strategy for how to provide "health care, sheltering" and other services to immigrants in the event of a significant increase in immigration to the United States. "DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, according to a statement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, recently directed ICE to develop a national-level mass migration plan," Government Services News reports. "The plan will outline how to address the health care, sheltering, processing, transition and disposition of large numbers of undocumented individuals who may arrive in the U.S. as the...

by John HillStand With Arizona Just one day after announcing his intent to try and block the Federal "Secure Communities" program, the mayor of "Sanctuary City" New Haven, CT announced he would be asking the state legislature to grant illegal aliens in New Haven the right to vote in municipal elections. Mayor John DeStefano argues that illegal aliens who live in New Haven pay local taxes and their kids go to school in the city, and deserve the right to vote: DeStefano said he plans to lobby the state for a “resident voting rights” bill that would allow any...

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities said Tuesday that an alleged founder of the Zetas drug cartel had an arsenal of 169 guns when he was captured Monday, and may have been linked to the abduction of nine Mexican marines. Navy spokesman Jose Luis Vergara said suspect Raul Lucio Hernandez Lechuga oversaw Zeta operations around the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, where nine marines disappeared earlier this year. Vergara said a suspect was killed and a marine wounded in a firefight that erupted during Hernandez Lechuga's capture Monday in the Veracruz state city of Cordoba. The bust was the result of...

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...

Breaking News: Feds Falsely Censor Popular Blog For Over A Year, Deny All Due Process, Hide All Details... from the copyright-as-censorship dept Imagine if the US government, with no notice or warning, raided a small but popular magazine's offices over a Thanksgiving weekend, seized the company's printing presses, and told the world that the magazine was a criminal enterprise with a giant banner on their building. Then imagine that it never arrested anyone, never let a trial happen, and filed everything about the case under seal, not even letting the magazine's lawyers talk to the judge presiding over the case....

Imagine if the US government, with no notice or warning, raided a small but popular magazine's offices over a Thanksgiving weekend, seized the company's printing presses, and told the world that the magazine was a criminal enterprise with a giant banner on their building. Then imagine that it never arrested anyone, never let a trial happen, and filed everything about the case under seal, not even letting the magazine's lawyers talk to the judge presiding over the case. And it continued to deny any due process at all for over a year, before finally just handing everything back to the...

The Fast and Furious Scandal gets worse for AG Eric Holder and his Department of Justice. The Watergate adage that it is not the crime, it's the cover-up that matters comes to mind, with the reservation that the crime in F&F -- supplying thousands of sophisticated firearms to a drug cartel -- dwarfs a third rate burglary in gravity. Hundreds of Mexicans have been slaughtered, and two US sworn agents murdered. The fact that the Department of Justice has now acknowledged that it has lied to Congress, covering up its involvement, should make this a headline-grabber of a case, dominating...