Free Republic

Roughly 1,000 Latinos and immigrants packed into a church near uptown on Wednesday to hear from the Illinois congressman one supporter calls "Moses of the Latinos." People clapped and cheered as U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez entered the church. Later, a chant arose: "Si se puede. Si se puede. Yes we can. Yes we can." Gutierrez listened as people told stories of families broken up by deportation. When the immigration-reform leader took the stage, he urged the crowd to play an active role in seeking change. "The system is not working, and we need to change it," he said. He also...

...In her first major speech on the overhaul, Ms. Napolitano dispelled any suggestion that the administration — with health care, energy and other major issues crowding its agenda — would postpone the most contentious piece of immigration legislation until after midterm elections next November...

...Gutierrez said the president intends to use the speech to outline details of his proposal for addressing the nation’s estimated 10.8 million undocumented immigrants, which is expected to include some form of a conditional path to legal residency...

Report From Gadget Dan During rainy day Friday (Dec.11, 2009), a few Border Watchers from the Campo,CA area, decided to leave the wet dirt roads near the Border, for the Border Patrol to monitor/watch in their four wheeled drive vehicles. A few of us moved Watch operations to I-8 and Sunrise Hwy. Right off the bat, (upon arriving), one of the Border Watcher's spotted a load vehicle on the East side of Sunrise Hwy., across from Old Hwy.80 (North side of I-8). The load vehicle had just completed a load up of suspected illegal Border Intruders, with one (Intruder), not...

Settlement Opens Door For Hundreds Of Legal Immigrants To Become U.S. Citizens November 9, 2009 Hundreds of legal immigrants in Southern California who have been waiting years for citizenship will have their cases resolved as a result of a settlement with the federal government, attorneys announced today. The immigrants were stuck in lengthy delays as they waited for the FBI to complete their security name checks and for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to approve their citizenship applications. The settlement, approved Friday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, sets a six-month deadline for the government to decide on hundreds...

Raza Studies. Like the rest of you, I’ve been wondering how the lead organization lobbying on behalf of special privileges for Mexicans in the U.S.A. manages to get away with calling itself “National Council of La Raza.” Those last two words, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, mean “the race.” The idea, as I had it explained to me, is that by blending the European race with the Mesoamerican, Mexico has brought forth a new race, the mestizo or bronze race, which is claimed to be superior to both the contributing races, I suppose by dint of hybrid...

They’re taking the scofflaws to court. This time, it’s not just a meat-packing plant or a construction contractor, or some small business hiring illegal aliens. This time, it’s the whole blooming state of Illinois, which has one of the worst records of looking the other way when illegals take jobs. Taking the amnesty approach to a new low, Illinois passed a law banning employers from participating in the Basic Pilot Program (aka E-Verify), the successful federal system used to track down phony Social Security numbers and thus detect illegal workers. Other states, such as Arizona, are mandating that employers use...

In the aftermath of the immigration bill’s defeat, supporters on both the left and the right have wondered how compromise legislation, containing so many proposals that Americans seemed to back in polls, could have won so little public support. Many of the bill’s backers seem to be missing the point: what killed it was not opposition to any single proposal, but rather the public’s overall cynicism on immigration. Ordinary citizens simply don’t trust our leaders on this subject any longer, and until the president—some president—and the Congress gain back their trust, it’s unlikely that we’ll have any “comprehensive” reform.

A leading member of an extremist Islamic group is working as a senior official at the Home Office, it emerged. Abid Javaid is a 'senior executive officer' in the IT department at the scandal-hit Immigration and Nationality Directorate which processes tens of thousands of asylum and visa applications every day.

Australia will demand new citizens pass an English language test and sign up to undefined Australian values, Prime Minister John Howard said on Friday, but denied any racist overtones in the coming policy. Howard said the conservative government was also considering lifting to four years from three the wait for new immigrants to become an Australian and imposing a "fairly firm" test on knowledge of Australian history. "It won't become more difficult if you're fair dinkum, and most people who come to this country are fair dinkum about becoming part of the community," Howard told Australian radio, falling back on...

Look, I’m not asking for any special treatment. I just want to be treated like an illegal alien. All I ask for is a free ride, no questions asked. I want to go through life belting out those famous lyrics from “West Side Story”: “Everything free in America!” The latest evidence of the double standard benefiting illegals comes from the state’s Office of Medicaid. It’s a memo instructing the welfare bureaucracy how to handle illegals applying for Mass Health, which is, like everything else for the aliens, free. “Documentation supplied by non-citizens should still be logged onto the MA21 QAC...

It didn't take long for the veneer to wear off. Moments after Mexican President Vicente Fox's motorcade passed by, some in the group let loose. "Go home, Fox!" a protester shouted. "And take them with you!" another screamed. By "them," the protesters were referring to illegal immigrants, one of the nation's hottest hot-buttons in recent memory. The protesters, which Yakima police said numbered about 80, jeered the motorcade from a carefully restricted rally site. They held aloft a wide variety of signs with messages including "Fine Those Who Hire Illegals" and "Don't export your poverty to America." Many waved American...

WASHINGTON — President Bush drew fresh criticism from House Republicans today for endorsing eventual citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. On the morning after a prime time speech, the White House sought to emphasize efforts to strengthen border security. "This is going to be a tremendous enforcement support partnership," U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar told reporters at the White House, anticipating the deployment of up to 6,000 National Guard troops to states along the Mexican border. "We can certainly do what is asked by our commander in chief," added Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, National Guard Army Bureau Chief. Blum,...

Several Ennis High School seniors have been barred from their school prom tonight for protesting Thursday against proposed federal immigration legislation. School officials suspended 120 to 130 students from classes Friday and barred them from school events this weekend, including sporting events and the prom. The students attend Ennis High School, Ennis Junior High and the Sixth Grade Center. "We got suspended, and we're not allowed to go to prom for standing up for something that we believe is right," said senior Araceli Garcia, 18.

Dear Congressman, This column was sent to you by a constituent who voted for President Bush, but who thinks he’s wrong about illegal immigrants. The person who sent you this hopes you’ll stop his amnesty plan. He’s not calling it that, but that’s what it is. And there’s no way that an amnesty for illegal aliens is good for America. For too long, protecting America’s borders has gotten nothing but lip service. We’ve gone through the motions, but not solved the problem. While the politicians have pranced and posed, thousands and millions of illegals have streamed into our country. And...

E-mail Author Send to a Friend <% printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%> Print Version September 01, 2004, 12:40 a.m. Open Borders, Closed DebateThe White House would lose an intramural debate. By Timothy P. Carney New York, N.Y. — If you read the New York Times on Tuesday, the only story at the platform hearings was that Republicans for Choice and the Log Cabin Republicans had trouble adding even modest changes to the Republican platform. Largely ignored was how advocates of tight border control and opponents of amnesty for illegal immigrants were repeatedly and swiftly blocked in their efforts. Last Tuesday night,...