Free Republic

BATON ROUGE -- Two bills designed to discourage public and private sector companies from hiring illegal immigrants have been signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal.Jindal's office said he has signed House Bill 342 by Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, to require all private contractors who want to do business with a state or local public entity to use the federal worker verification system, "E-Verify," to assure that all employees are in the country legally.Jindal also has signed House Bill 646 by Rep. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, that requires private businesses to use the same "E-Verify" system as one means...

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which is responsible for enforcing U.S. immigration laws inside the country, has released more than 8,000 illegal aliens convicted of crimes onto the streets of the United States since fiscal 2009, according to ICE data released by House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R.-Texas). Citing these statistics, Smith has introduced legislation that would allow Homeland Security’s ICE to keep criminal illegal aliens in custody longer than the current six-month period established by the U.S. Supreme Court. The “Keep Our Communities Safe Act” is “desperately needed,” Smith said at a hearing about the bill on May...

A man deported to his native Mexico within months of his conviction for sexual assault was arrested after living illegally for many years in Minneapolis, according to federal authorities. Rodolfo Gomez-Olvera, 38, of Minneapolis, was indicted Tuesday in federal court in Minneapolis on a charge of illegal reentry. Gomez-Olvera was convicted in Southern California in 1995 for having sex with a minor and deported several months later, according to court documents.

A Fairfax County man died Monday night after his car was forced into oncoming traffic near Fort Belvoir by a repeat drunk driver, who had previously been deported for entering the country illegally, authorities said Tuesday.Carlos Sanchez-Ramos, 33, was charged with aggravated involuntary manslaughter and other counts. The victim was identified as Paul J. Krause, 54, of Glenbarr Court in Fairfax Station. After the crash, police said Sanchez-Ramos climbed out of the car with a three-year-old boy and ran away. Police arrested him a short distance away on Route 1. Court records indicate his blood-alcohol content was roughly twice the...

GALVESTON — The crushing news came last month as Maria Sanchez was being prepared for surgery to remove a banana-size tumor along her spine that had crept between her vertebrae. Unable to use her right hand because of the growing tumor, Sanchez, 24, had been at the University of Texas Medical Branch's John Sealy Hospital for six days when, she said, a Spanish-speaking doctor told her she had to leave the hospital immediately because she was an illegal immigrant. The doctor said she should have surgery in Mexico, according to Sanchez. Sanchez's hospital records state that she was discharged because...

PHOENIX (Reuters) – The number of illegal immigrants in the United States leveled off at around 11 million last year, ending a two-year slide since the start of the recession, according to a study released on Tuesday. The study by the Pew Hispanic Center noted 11.2 million illegal immigrants living and working in the shadows in the United States in March 2010, virtually unchanged from a year earlier. The report, which drew on U.S. Census Bureau data, noted the number of illegal immigrants in the workforce remained steady at around 8 million. The leveling off last year followed a two-year...

STORYMIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (WSVN) -- A man has been arrested after, officials said, he caused a security scare at a South Florida airport. On Jan. 11, Miami-Dade Police officers stopped Oluwole Aboyade in the Dolphin parking garage at MIA after he reportedly began taking pictures of sensitive areas at the airport. According to a Miami-Dade Police report, an officer said he became alarmed when he saw Aboyade taking pictures of buildings, surveillance cameras, airport runways and restricted areas. When the police approached the Nigerian national, he said he would remain silent. The police report read, "Mr. Aboyade was observed walking...

MARIETTA, Ga. - An illegal immigrant college student whose arrest for a minor traffic violation touched off a wider immigration debate was found guilty Thursday in a suburban Atlanta court of driving without a license... ... Colotl spent 37 days in immigration detention but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials subsequently agreed to delay action on Colotl's case for a year while she completes her studies. Colotl told reporters before testimony began that she plans to graduate in the spring and wants to stay in the United States. "I've grown up in this country, and I've adopted all the American...

Gov. Deval Patrick says he’ll use his second term to try to implement the rest of an advisory panel’s recent recommendations on immigration reform, including in-state tuition for illegal immigrant students and more English classes. Patrick told immigrant advocates Tuesday that the moves will help better integrate the state’s immigrant population, seventh largest in the country. Last year, an advisory panel released a report on possible Massachusetts immigration reforms, and advocates have been pressing Patrick to push for dozens of recommendations in the report.

An illegal immigrant accused of felony theft will not stand trial. Instead, he was given the chance to go home to Mexico. Damacio Torres-Ochoa, was scheduled in court Monday afternoon in Jefferson County to face charges of theft from an at-risk adult. But Torres-Ochoa never showed up in court. He was in Mexico. "He self deports," said Scott Storey, Jefferson County District Attorney. "He says, 'You know what, I am illegally here, I don't want to fight it, get rid of me.' So what happens? They take him across the border. Do you think he comes back? Well my guess...

A 33-year-old Honduran man is accused of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl early Tuesday in South Scranton. Santos A. Garcia-Paz fled when the victim immediately told her mother, who called police, according to city Detective Vince Uher. Officers caught Mr. Garcia-Paz a few blocks away. He was arrested and charged with aggravated indecent assault of a child, unlawful contact with minor, indecent assault and corruption of minors. He was held at Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail. Mr. Garcia-Paz was staying the night at the girl's house, where a relative of his also lived. In an interview with...

Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the Senate's only Hispanic member, pledged Wednesday to introduce a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the chamber. Sources familiar with the announcement said the bill would be introduced before the Nov. 2 midterm elections, and would closely resemble the reform framework proposed by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) earlier this year.

".....agents chased a vehicle to the river's edge near Anzalduas Park this morning. The driver swam to Mexico leaving behind his vehicle loaded with drugs. As agents were removing over a thousand pounds of marijuana armed men in Mexico began shooting at agents patrolling on boats."

Turin, 27 August(AKI) - A 19-year-old Moroccan woman suffered second and third degree burns over 20 percent over her body following an late Thursday in the northern industrial city of Turin when attackers threw acid over her. According to a police official, at around 9:00 pm Hasna Beniliha was approached from behind by a man who poured the contents of a bottle on her before escaping on foot. Another three people who were standing near the victim were treated for burns from drops of the acid and released early from hospital. The police official said investigators are working on the...

He came to the United States from Cuba, and since he's been here, he's racked up an extensive criminal record, police say. When he suffered a stroke following a recent arrest, his medical bills hit $400,000. Now, he's paralyzed and in a wheelchair. He needs to be in a nursing home. So what's next for the suspected criminal that's in the country illegally? It's tough to say. But one thing's for sure. Douglas County cannot afford to spend any more money on the man, whose last arrest was for cocaine trafficking. The sheriff's office had to ask the county commission...

NOTE The following text is a quote: August 06, 2010 ICE removes man after investigating a terroristic threat on Metro in January Convicted murder who escaped from jail abroad returned to Panamanian law enforcement WASHINGTON, D.C. - A Panama man convicted of murder in his native country was returned Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Juan Alberto Barrera-Candelaria, 36, illegally entered the United States in 2008 after he escaped from a Panama detention center where he was being held to serve a more than 13 year sentence for murder. In January 2010, ICE special agents assigned to the FBI's...

A 29-page list of 1,300 people accused of being in Utah and the US illegally was mailed anonymously to media outlets and law enforcement agencies last week. It included Latino names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and private health information such as the due dates of babies. Two state employees – identified within the Utah Department of Workforce Services and already placed on administrative leave – could face criminal charges in connection with the list’s release. And state Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says his office is still investigating further leaks. Intentionally releasing a private record in Utah is a...

For a little girl who spent this weekend lying in a Massachusetts hospital, the debate over illegal immigration isn’t... Springfield police have charged 22-year-old Edlizar Mazariegos with aggravated rape of a child with force. Mazariegos, who regularly traveled up and down the East Coast without a driver’s license, is an illegal immigrant. As of this writing, he is on the run from Massachusetts police - likely for the first time ever. He’s certainly had no need to run before. This is, after all, “Welcoming Massachusetts,” where liberal Democrats openly support benefits for criminal immigrants and oppose immigration law enforcement. Gov....

For a little girl who spent this weekend lying in a Massachusetts hospital, the debate over illegal immigration isn’t... Springfield police have charged 22-year-old Edlizar Mazariegos with aggravated rape of a child with force. Mazariegos, who regularly traveled up and down the East Coast without a driver’s license, is an illegal immigrant. As of this writing, he is on the run from Massachusetts police - likely for the first time ever. He’s certainly had no need to run before. This is, after all, “Welcoming Massachusetts,” where liberal Democrats openly support benefits for criminal immigrants and oppose immigration law enforcement. Gov....

The Governor's Office and the state's Children, Youth and Families Department were acting at cross-purposes in May after a high-profile case in which an illegal Mexican immigrant was accused of molesting a 6-year-old girl at an Albuquerque gym. Juan Gonzalez, now 21, had been accused of similar crimes when he was younger, but no one had notified immigration authorities. Enter Gov. Bill Richardson, who announced on May 17 that he was ordering CYFD to start notifying federal immigration authorities when a young illegal immigrant in its care commits a violent crime. At about the same time, though, CYFD was scrapping...