Free Republic

MUCH OF the criticism of the health-care measure before the House of Representatives is overwrought. Another part is simply wrong. Unfortunately, that does not mean that this is a good bill. As we have said, it does not do enough to control costs, and it is not funded in a sustainable way... As an example of the hyperbole, take the ludicrous assertion by Minority Leader John A. Boehner that the Democratic measure "is the greatest threat to freedom that I've seen in the 19 years I've been in Washington." Come on. The proposal has been endorsed by the American Medical...

Italians reacted with outrage on Tuesday after a European court ruled that displaying crucifixes in the country's schools violated the principle of secular education. Italy's education minister condemned the judgment by the European Court of Human Rights, saying that the Christian cross was a symbol of the country's Roman Catholic religion and cultural identity. Mariastella Gelmini, a member of the conservative government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, argued that "no one, and certainly not an ideological European court, will succeed in erasing our identity," Other ministers said they were appalled by the ruling, calling it "absurd," "shameful" and "offensive." Generations...

Sources: FBI Investigating Joe Arpaio Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Actions 'Absolutely Unacceptable,' Former US Attorney Says POSTED: 5:58 pm MST October 29, 2009 UPDATED: 12:12 pm MST October 30, 2009 PHOENIX -- The FBI is looking into accusations that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is using his position to settle political vendettas. Watch: Sheriff Joe Arpaio Abuses Power, Sources Claim Over the past year, 5 Investigates examined more than two dozen complaints against the sheriff from business owners, government workers, mayors and law-enforcement officials.They claim they spoke out against Arpaio, and shortly after, deputies paid them unwelcome visits. Mayor:...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A new charge has been issued against a man police describe as a suspected serial rapist. Mauricio Morales is already in jail and charged with raping two Nashville women in separate cases. Metro police believe Morales is the man behind the rape of a 10-year-old girl in her own South Nashville home near Old Hickory Boulevard and Nolensville Pike. The alleged incident happened back in April. Crime Scene investigators collected evidence from her room and the TBI crime lab determined the DNA matched Mauricio Morales. A Grand Jury indicted him Friday on the new charges. Morales had...

As immigrants’ rights groups are pressing President Barack Obama to step up efforts at comprehensive reform this year, one prominent member of Obama’s cabinet is acknowledging that the economic downturn has made legalization of illegal immigrants tougher to sell to the American public. “When unemployment is up, anything that looks like you’re taking jobs away from …people who are lawfully here—citizens of the United States—is going to meet a lot of resistance,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said during an exchange with reporters Tuesday morning. The homeland security chief and former Arizona governor said the economic slump may also have...

San Francisco has long prided itself on being a “sanctuary city” that refuses to work with federal authorities to identify and deport illegal immigrants. But now city officials are arguing over how far that policy should go when some of those illegal immigrants are charged with murder and other serious crimes. New Rasmussen Reports national telephone polling finds that most Americans oppose sanctuary cities and think their policies lead to an increase in crime. A solid plurality say such cities, including New York, Washington, D.C. and many others, should lose government funding because of their sanctuary policies. Given consistent findings...

The CBO score on the latest Pelosi bill says: In 2019 there would be “about 18 million nonelderly residents uninsured (nearly one third of whom would be unauthorized immigrants).” CBO score of H.R. 3200: In 2019 there would be “about 17 million nonelderly residents uninsured (nearly half of whom would be unauthorized immigrants).” In other words, the number of projected uninsured who are also undocumented immigrants declined from about 8 million under H.R. 3200 to 6 million under the latest Pelosi bill. Why? (Full text of post - but see post for links to source docs)

NAUGATUCK, Conn. (AP) — Naugatuck police say they’re searching for a woman who was running an illegal dentist’s practice in her apartment. Police say they found used syringes and other unsanitary medical items in the woman’s one-room apartment, but they haven’t received any complaints from her patients. Authorities say the suspect is a Brazilian woman, but they’re not releasing her name. They’re asking her patients to call the police department. Police are working with state health officials to determine whether criminal or civil charges are warranted. They say the woman was apparently serving illegal immigrants who didn’t have insurance and...

Police Probe Shot Fired at Home of CNN's Lou Dobbs Thursday , October 29, 2009 By Joshua Rhett Miller A gunshot was fired at the New Jersey home of CNN's Lou Dobbs after a series of threatening phone calls earlier this month, the host told listeners on his nationally syndicated radio show. Dobbs, a fervent proponent of U.S. border enforcement, told listeners of "The Lou Dobbs Show" on Monday that the incident is part of an ongoing assault against anyone who opposes amnesty or leniency toward illegal immigrants.

SAN YSIDRO — With the San Ysidro border fence as her backdrop, Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman spoke out on immigration policy issues yesterday, saying it is “simply not practical” to deport the estimated 12.5 million illegal immigrants living and working in the United States. The candidate, 53, said the solution is to find a mechanism that allows them to live here legally. “Can we get a fair program where people stand at the back of the line, they pay a fine, they do some things that would ultimately allow a path to legalization?” she asked. Whitman also urged tougher...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday vetoed the Board of Supervisors' legislation changing the city's sanctuary city policy. The letter is a formality on two counts: the supervisors have the votes to override Newsom's veto, and the mayor has said he'll ignore the legislation anyway. At issue is legislation, written by Supervisor David Campos, requiring that undocumented youth be reported to federal immigration officials for possible deportation after they're convicted of a felony, not when they're first arrested, as is the current policy. Newsom, has said the legislation must be ignored because it violates federal law.

THE promise of immigration reform benefiting the undocumented Irish in America took a quiet but very important step forward in Washington, D.C. last week with a pivotal meeting between Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Ciaran Staunton, president of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) and South Carolina Ancient Order of Hibernians board member Jim Lawracy. The meeting, also attended by ILIR consultant Bruce Morrison, discussed immigration reform proposals and their impact on the Irish American community. Graham was very interested to learn of the Irish dimension to the immigration reform debate and urged Irish and Irish American...

In 2003, several counties in Northern Virginia banded together to form a joint task force to crack down on illegals and gangs. Then in March of last year, Prince William County made national headlines by upping the ante even further. They passed an ordinance that required County police to verify the immigration status of any criminal or traffic suspects when there was probable cause to think they were in the country illegally. The suspects were held and transferred to ICE, irrespective of the disposition of the underlying charge.

In 2003, several counties in Northern Virginia banded together to form a joint task force to crack down on illegals and gangs. Then in March of last year, Prince William County made national headlines by upping the ante even further. They passed an ordinance that required County police to verify the immigration status of any criminal or traffic suspects when there was probable cause to think they were in the country illegally. The suspects were held and transferred to ICE, irrespective of the disposition of the underlying charge.

San Francisco (AP) -- This famously liberal city, known for tackling thorny issues from gay marriage to universal health care, is wrestling with another divisive issue. The Board of Supervisors gave final approval Tuesday to a measure that would keep law enforcement from turning over minors to immigration authorities unless they have been found guilty of a felony. The move pits the panel against Mayor Gavin Newsom and law enforcement by reversing his policy of turning over youths to Immigration and Customs Enforcement after their arrest. Newsom took the stance in 2008 after the city was accused of protecting young...

The Vitter amendment would require the Census Bureau to ask questions about citizenship and immigration status as part of the 2010 decennial census, brining with it serious implications about a variety of issues. Census data will be used to “apportion” Congressional seats to each state. If non-citizens are used for purposes of Congressional apportionment, nine states with lower illegal immigration and lower foreign-born populations would end up losing a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, while four states would pick those seats up.The implications are that the inclusion of non-citizens for purposes of House apportionment would reduce, or dilute,...

Call it sanctuary on wheels: San Francisco is about to give a big break to people, many of them illegal immigrants, who are caught driving without a license. Beginning Sunday, cops will no longer impound cars the first time drivers are pulled over without a license. The reason: Many such drivers are in the United States illegally - and thus unable to get a license - and the officials pushing the change think that impounding their cars is an unfair hardship.

California is a mess, but I love it all the same--especially the Bay Area, where I lived for 15 years. I went to Berkeley in 1962--a refugee from Amherst College, which at that time was dominated by frat boys with high SAT scores. I didn't go to Berkeley to go to school, but to be a bus ride away from North Beach and the Jazz Workshop. In a broader sense, I went to California for the same reason that other émigrés had been going since the 1840s. I was knocking on the Golden Door. Immigrants from Europe had come to...

Geraldo Rivera on Thursday lambasted Lou Dobbs for the outspoken CNN host's views concerning illegal immigration. Speaking at a luncheon sponsored by El Diario La Prensa NY, Rivera disgracefully said, "Lou Dobbs is almost single-handedly responsible for creating, for being the architect of the young-Latino-as-scapegoat for everything that ails this country." Rivera also told the audience that he had spoken to his boss, and was assured Dobbs was not coming to Fox (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript): CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO "One of the aspects of our reality in the United States now is the...

Federal authorities say the temp agency that supplied an East Stroudsburg factory with undocumented workers in 2007 is involved in an extensive and complicated web of fraud. They say, in court papers, that H&T Staffing Services, operating under that and other, similar names in Pennsylvania, fraudulently raked in nearly $2.5 million in one year. • Pocono Record: Coverage of the Iridium Illegal Immigrant Raid People involved in the staffing company have been brought through United States Middle District Court of Pennsylvania ever since the June 2007 raid of Iridium Industries in East Stroudsburg. During the raid at the plastic-container plant,...

Turns out more than four-year olds were getting checks. Seems like everyone was in on this deal. Even Americans who shouldn't have been. Even those who weren't…Americans. And the government all but saying, you want the candy, you got the candy!! the fraud was so rampant, so widespread, so un-checked, and so under-reported that ... Fraud on such a massive scale, that if Mr. George is right, had IRS agents themselves, among the abusers. And this is about a lending program that was supposed to help first-time buyers get a home. and administered by a bureaucrats clearly far from even...

Two new polls reveal that Americans favor lower immigration numbers, stronger border and interior enforcement, and oppose giving amnesty to the 12-18 million illegal aliens currently living in the United States. While Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) works on a “comprehensive immigration reform” bill that would provide a mass amnesty to illegal aliens and increase America’s overly generous immigration numbers, Americans want a very different solution. Over the past several months, the Department of Homeland Security has shifted workplace enforcement efforts from illegal workers to the employers that hire them. They’ve also weakened the 287(g) program that allows local and state...

Bigotry isn't funny, said Cesar Baldelomar in Sojourners. But Forum Novelties Inc. is trying to cash in on racist stereotypes by selling—through Walgreens, Target, and other major retailers—an "illegal alien" Halloween costume, featuring a space alien mask, an orange prison jumpsuit, and an oversize green card. Maybe the joke would be funny if undocumented immigrants weren't still being beaten to death by young men raised on xenophobic hatred. (Watch reactions to the costume) What "absurd outrage," said commentator Debbie Schlussel in her blog. "You can sell Nazi memorabilia on eBay," but let a secure borders group, Americans for Legal Immigration,...

coalition of black, Latino and Asian lawmakers on Thursday expressed opposition to a proposal that would require next year's census forms to ask about the status of a person's citizenship. The House lawmakers criticized a proposal by Sens. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican, and Robert F. Bennett, Utah Republican, as a political ploy designed to discourage immigrants from participating in the high-stakes count, which begins April 1. They also echoed warnings from the Census Bureau that making a last-minute change to the census would add burdensome costs to print new forms and prevent the head count from being completed on time,...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom says the Board of Supervisors’ recent change to the city’s sanctuary laws is a violation of federal law and he will ignore it. The Board of Supervisors voted 8-to-2 yesterday to overturn a policy enacted last summer by Mayor Gavin Newsom that rolled back the city’s sanctuary policy as it relates to contacting immigration authorities when a juvenile is arrested on felony charges. The new rule would require the city to contact immigration authorities only after a juvenile has been convicted of a felony. In City Hall, it’s been cast as a bit of political...

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to bar law enforcement officials from handing juvenile illegal immigrants over to the federal government unless they have been convicted of a felony. Twenty years ago, San Francisco enacted a "sanctuary city" ordinance requiring, in part, that local agencies not consider immigration status when dealing with young offenders. But Mayor Gavin Newsom changed the policy in the summer of 2008, after published reports revealed that the ordinance was protecting young undocumented offenders from deportation. Afterward, all juvenile illegal immigrants charged with felonies were referred to federal officials. The June 2008 shooting deaths...

James Carville is leading a charge for retail locations in the United States to ban a controversial Halloween costume. The costume depicts an “illegal alien” carrying a super-sized green card in his hand while wearing an orange prison jumpsuit with the words “illegal alien” stenciled across the front. According to Carville the garb is “insensitive and offensive” to “hardworking humanoid life-forms just because they happen to be from another planet.” Carville also advised The Vitamin Press that this issue is extremely important to him because “both of my parents came from Uranus.” E.T., head of the Society Humanely Integrating Alien...

Alien Halloween Costume Spooks Immigrants Some retailers, including Target and Walgreens, have pulled the item Oct. 20: A Halloween costume featuring an alien mask and fake green card is being criticized by immigration rights groups. Msnbc.com's Keva Andersen reports. MIAMI - Immigrant advocates are urging retailers to pull a Halloween costume depicting a space creature in orange prison garb emblazoned with the words "illegal alien," while a group that supports strict immigration laws says such a move impinges on freedom of speech. Beyond the holiday uproar, the dispute highlights the controversial nature of the phrase illegal alien — still the...

On his segment of today's CNN Newsroom, anchor Rick Sanchez went for the hat trick, likening Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to the infamous Theophilus “Bull” Connor, Birmingham, Alabama’s late segregationist police commissioner who ruthlessly used police attack dogs and fire hoses to thwart 1963 civil rights demonstrators, no fewer than three times. Sanchez prefaced his interview with the Arizona sheriff: Well, perhaps not since Bull Connor whose aggressive police tactics against blacks in the South sparked civil rights legislation in 1964 has our country seen a showdown like the one going on right now between Maricopa County sheriff Joe...

Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) has released the “core principles” of the amnesty bill he is planning to introduce in Congress later this year. The bill will be similar to other pieces of amnesty legislation from previous sessions of Congress, including (1) several different amnesty programs aimed at legalizing the 12 million illegal aliens currently living in the United States and (2) empty promises of enforcement. The three amnesty programs included in Rep. Gutierrez’s proposal are: • An amnesty for illegal alien “workers.” In Gutierrez’ own words: “We need a bill that says if you come here to hurt our communities,...

President Obama’s commitment to peace through diplomacy (surrender if necessary), is being put to that test that Joe Biden forecast about ten months ago. However, it is not Obama’s Afghanistan war, or the mess in Pakistan, or even Kim Jong Il and his “Fireworks over the Pacific” show of shows that is tweaking our reluctant warrior in the Oval Office. True enough, concerns about Russia, Iran, and the 5,000-year war between the Palestinians and the Jews disrupt the president’s sleep occasionally, but all pale in comparison to the individual that really chafes Barack Obama’s ultra-sensitive skin and psyche. That would...

DALLAS — For just $39.99, you can now dress up as an "illegal alien" for Halloween. Target is selling the costume made up of an orange jumpsuit with the words "illegal alien" written across the chest. The costume even comes with a mask of a space invader with big eyes, and a green card. It's not a funny matter to some leaders with LULAC, one of the largest Latino civil rights organizations in the country. Immediate National LULAC President Hector Flores says the costume is racist in nature. Flores adds, "The costume, while clearly depicting a supposed visitor from space,...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Immigrant rights activists are calling on U.S. retailers to stop selling two controversial "Illegal Alien" costumes that have surfaced for Halloween, saying the outfits are a broadside attack on illegal immigrants. The "Illegal Alien Adult Costume," manufactured by Forum novelties, includes an orange jumpsuit, similar to prison garb, with "Illegal Alien" stamped in black across the chest; a space alien mask; and a fake Green Card. The "Illegal Alien Mask with Hat" also includes a space alien mask, this time with a dark handlebar mustache and a baseball cap

SURPRISE, Ariz. — An Arizona sheriff known for cracking down on people who are in the country illegally launched a crime and immigration sweep in northwestern metro Phoenix on Friday, a half day after officials in Washington limited his powers to make federal immigration arrests.

LOS ANGELES — A Southern California immigrant rights group on Friday asked the Target store chain and a costume company to stop selling an "illegal alien" Halloween costume it said is offensive to immigrants.

A Southern California immigrant rights group has asked Target stores to stop selling an "illegal alien" Halloween costume it says is offensive to immigrants. The costume, posted on Target's web site, features the mask of an alien with a green card and an orange jumpsuit with "illegal alien" written across the front. Target spokesman Joshua Thomas says the company is removing the costume from the site after receiving several complaints. He says the store never intended to sell the outfit but included it in its online offerings by mistake. Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights...

LOS ANGELES — A Southern California immigrant rights group on Friday asked the Target store chain and a costume company to stop selling an "illegal alien" Halloween costume it said is offensive to immigrants. The costume features the mask of an alien with a green card and an orange jumpsuit with "illegal alien" written across the front.

PHOENIX — An Arizona sheriff known for cracking down on people who are in the country illegally launched a crime and immigration sweep in northwestern metro Phoenix on Friday, a half day after officials in Washington limited his powers to make federal immigration arrests. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose sweeps have led to allegations of racial profiling, said the rebuff from Washington won't stop him. He said he can still arrest immigrants under a state smuggling law and a federal law that gives all local police agencies more limited power to detain suspected illegal immigrants.

A controversial federal program that deputizes state and local law enforcement agents to catch illegal immigrants is expanding under the Obama administration, despite changes intended to curb alleged racial profiling and other police abuses. The Department of Homeland Security is expected to report Friday that a small number of the 66 participating agencies have dropped out because of the new federal requirements. And those losses are offset by applications from 13 additional police and sheriff's departments... Nationwide, the program identified about 60,000 illegal immigrants for deportation over the past year, the highest number since the program was expanded nationwide in...

Although Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) vowed this week to introduce comprehensive immigration reform next month, his Senate counterparts expected to take the lead on the issue aren’t heeding a similar timeline. “That’s new to me,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said of Gutierrez’s announcement, made Tuesday at an immigration rally on Capitol Hill. “I’ve been talking to Sen. Schumer, and we hope to get something done that’s comprehensive,” Graham added. “We just don’t know when yet.”Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security, has been meeting periodically with Graham to discuss ideas on immigration,...

Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has held a series of meetings in Washington with leading Democrats and Republicans on the issue of US immigration reform. Senior Republican Senator John McCain said he was still committed to a comprehensive deal. He said he hoped Congress would address the issue early next year. Senator McCain also said he was particularly anxious to resolve the difficulties facing up to 50,000 undocumented Irish in the US.

Colorado Democrats plan to take another run at a bill that would provide reduced tuition to the children of illegal immigrants by creating a new class of tuition that would not require state subsidies. Sen. Paula Sandoval, D-Denver, said the measure, billed as the "Workforce Development and Unsubsidized Tuition Act," is a compromise that would avoid the pitfalls of the four or five previous failed attempts at passing legislation by creating a new, third tuition rate. Miklosi said the act would create educational opportunities for 200 to 500 children of illegal immigrants the first year and thousands more over the...

The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia on Monday released a report documenting the stories of 10 people who say they experienced racial profiling by Cobb County law enforcement. A spokesperson for the organization said the report shows the human impact of the 287(g) program at the Cobb County jail, a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security which allows deputies to check the immigration status of inmates. Inmates who are in the country illegally are turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin deportation proceedings. "Cobb police have abused the power granted to them under 287(g)," Azadeh Shahshahani,...

On the website of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) from Obama's U.S. Census Bureau Director, Robert Groves, can be found. That press release appears to make obvious that the Bureau plans to count illegal aliens in our census. The press release was issued to America's Hispanic organizations to urge them to help with the coming census. In that press release, Groves says the following (my bold): We have the enormous challenge of convincing everyone in the country to participate in the national count - regardless of race, ethnicity or citizenship status. To reach the Latino community, we are counting...

Why We Are Going to Hell – Part 3,995 Conservative Protestants Condone Law-Breaking Has the Christian Church Gone Crazy??? byPaul L. Williams, Ph.D. thelastcrusade.org Evangelical Christians this week offered the Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and members of the U.S. Senate Immigration Reform Committee their ringing endorsement of full amnesty for the 20 to 30 million illegal aliens within the country. Open borders and high immigration, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) proclaimed, increases membership in evangelical churches and is good for the economy. Rev. Leith Anderson, president of the NAE, said there was no dissent among the members of...

DALLAS — Eight years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and despite repeated mandates from Congress, the United States still has no reliable system for verifying that foreign visitors have left the country. New concern was focused on that security loophole last week, when Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian who had overstayed his tourist visa, was accused in court of plotting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper. Last year alone, 2.9 million foreign visitors on temporary visas like Mr. Smadi’s checked in to the country but never officially checked out, immigration officials said... ...officials said, about 40 percent...

The decision by Herndon's mayor and several Town Council members to protest a Democratic fundraiser last month and a fiery community meeting that followed have ignited a free-speech debate and opened old wounds about the town's tough anti-illegal immigration policies. The hubbub started Sept. 16 in downtown Herndon...Mayor Stephen J. DeBenedettis and council members Dennis D. Husch, William B. Tirrell Sr. and Charlie D. Waddell, Republicans, joined a handful of sign-holding protesters outside a fundraiser where Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) was speaking... Republicans used it as a chance to hold a "tea party" to protest policies of President...

Over the weekend, Gov. Quinn signed a bill that would require Illinois schools to teach that there was "a forceful removal and illegal deportation of almost 2,000,000 Mexican-American U.S. citizens" during the Great Depression. The bill by itself is revisionist history. During the 1930's, then President Hoover ordered tougher enforcement of illegal immigration laws and nearly 2,000,000 ILLEGAL Mexican Nationals, with a very small percentage of U.S. Citizens (mainly children born in the US to Mexican Nationals that were being deported and did not want to leave behind). It wasn't the "forceful removal and illegal deportation" that the bill states.

NATIONAL EVANGELICALS PRESIDENT SAYS PRO-AMNESTY SUPPORT WAS UNANIMOUS Rev. Leith Anderson, president of the NAE, was invited by Sen. Shumer (D-N.Y.) to testify in favor of the Senate immigration chairman's push to create amnesty legislation this fall. Sen. Shumer asked Rev. Anderson if many of his colleagues agree with his support for legalizing 12-20 million illegal aliens and increasing the legal immigration far higher than the 1 million a year current level (the two key components of "comprehensive immigration reform"). Rev. Anderson answered that there was no dissent in adopting the pro-amnesty resolution on the 75-member NAE board of directors....

Angered by President Obama's lack of success in legalizing illegal immigrants, some Hispanic activists are urging all Hispanics to boycott the 2010 census as a sign of displeasure. Other groups have asked the federal government to suspend immigration raids while census takers are in the field, hoping that will make illegal immigrants more likely to respond to questions. It's just the latest trouble in what's turning into a rocky run-up to the census next year. During a congressional hearing last week, a Democratic senator told Census Bureau Director Robert M. Groves that the American Community Survey - a yearly survey...