Free Republic

The illegal immigration issue is emerging as the biggest threat to passing healthcare reform in the House. Congressional Hispanics have threatened to vote against the bill because of a last-minute threat from within the Democratic Caucus to bolster the House bill’s immigration restrictions to match those included in the Senate Finance bill. And they’re also fighting President Barack Obama, the original sponsor of the language prohibiting illegal immigrants from accessing the public health insurance exchange. On Thursday afternoon, four leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) traveled to the White House to meet with Obama on behalf of the entire...

STOCKTON - The suspicions of deputies delivering a court order in east Stockton on Wednesday afternoon led them to a haul of Border Patrol uniforms, a missing Sheriff's Office badge and a 36-year-old man with an outstanding warrant for forgery. According to the Sheriff's Office, deputies were serving a protective order at a residence at East Cherokee and North Wilcox roads when they spotted a vehicle nearby with expired registration tags. It appeared unoccupied, but the front driver's side window was down. When deputies approached, they saw a man in the driver's seat, which had been fully reclined. He appeared...

In a stunning example of history repeating itself, an invasion of Chinese illegal immigrants is underway in the American Southwest and the authorities are doing everything they can to stop it. In the Nogales Sector of Arizona, 78 Chinese nationals were apprehended while trying to enter the US illegally through Mexico in October of this year alone. Between October 2008 and the end of August 2009, the Tucson Sector arrested 261 Chinese nationals according to Patrol Agent Colleen Agle. In the previous year only 30 had been captured. That is an 1100% increase in one year for Arizona. Texas has...

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats have blocked a GOP attempt to require next year's census forms to ask people whether they are a U.S. citizen. The proposal by Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter was aimed at excluding immigrants from the population totals that are used to figure the number of congressional representatives for each state. Critics said Vitter's plan would discourage immigrants from responding to the census and would be hugely expensive. They also said that it's long been settled law that the apportionment of congressional seats is determined by the number of people living in each state

Sen. David Vitter's bid to require the 2010 Census to ask all respondents about their citizenship was killed today when the Senate voted to invoke cloture and end debate on the Commerce spending bill without having to consider the Louisiana Republican's amendment. The Democratic leadership, which had been trying to block the Vitter amendment since early October, eked out a victory with the bare number of votes needed to invoke cloture, prevailing 60 to 39. Vitter's Democratic colleague, Sen. Mary Landrieu, who had been caustic in her criticism of Vitter's measure, voted with the majority. Vitter intended the citizenship count...

Health Care Reform Legislation Becomes Vehicle for Reshaping Immigration Policy .Weak Verification and Loosening of Welfare Reform Rules Alter Longstanding System of Enforcement and Incentives WASHINGTON, .PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Current versions of both the House and Senate health care reform bills contain inadequate verification measures that will fail to prevent millions of illegal aliens from accessing taxpayer funded health benefits, charges the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). And in a radical change from current law, both versions of the bill grant immediate health care benefits to immigrants currently subject to a 5-year waiting period before they may access most federal...

Levon Tebelekian is accused of falsifying the results of medical exams and lab tests. A Los Angeles doctor has allegedly found a creative way to speed up his workflow. Levon Tebelekian, 72, is accused of giving medical clearance to immigrants applying for U.S. visas by allegedly falsifying the results of medical exams and lab tests, the Los Angeles Times reported. In one case, he allegedly told an undercover ICE agent that he was not going to "disturb his blood" and that he "did not look like he had AIDS," according to an affidavit. Authorities are unsure how many other patients...

Sen. Durbin (D-Ill.) last night and today is once again using his leadership position to make (false claims about E-Verify's reliability) and to project the absolutely foolish notion that unemployment and immigration have no relationship. But while he laments the 125,000 who have recently lost their unemployment benefits (I do, too), he ignores the fact that HIS immigration policies now in place have given out 125,000 brand new work permits to foreign workers during the last month. Sadly, Sen. Durbin is Exhibit A of the intellectual hypocrisy that is pervasive in Congress. He gives speeches as a champion of (unemployed...

El Salvadoran leaders of the MS-13 gang allegedly put out a contract on the federal agent responsible for a crackdown on its New York factions, the Daily News has learned. The brazen plot to assassinate the unidentified Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was revealed in an arrest warrant for reputed gang member Walter (Duke) Torres. Torres tipped authorities to the plan after he and four other MS-13 members were stopped by NYPD detectives for hassling passersby on Northern Blvd. in Queens last month. He told cops he had information to pass on, and was debriefed Oct. 22 at Rikers Island,...

Many thanks to Jim Robinson and Hildy who encouraged me to post here. I don't do much blogging or posting other than Facebook so you can go over there to learn more about me and my platform. I am running for the U.S. Senate in Arizona. I will be a primary challenger to John McCain. I am a Constitutional conservative. I need your support in our effort to right the wrongs of how our federal government operates and repeal bad laws, regulations and protect states. Thanks for taking the time to read all this and yes I look forward to...

The debate over health care for illegal immigrants continues to percolate in Congress despite the Obama administration’s efforts to put it to rest, with lawmakers in both houses also wrangling over how much coverage to provide for immigrants who have settled in the country legally. Some Republicans favor excluding immigrants who have been legal permanent residents for less than five years, as well as all illegal immigrants. Democrats broadly agree that illegal immigrants should be excluded, but many want all legal permanent residents to be able to participate in proposed health insurance exchanges and receive subsidized coverage if they qualify....

NEW YORK — Five immigrant men who were detained in roundups and eventually deported following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 have reached a $1.26 million settlement with the U.S. government. The men were part of a lawsuit against the government over the roundups that put them in federal detention and the abuse they say they suffered while they were there.

A group of illegal immigrants from two East African nations and and two Asian nations are expected to face a federal judge Monday morning. Border Patrol agents caught the eight immigrants near Brownsville over the Halloween weekend. Court records show Border Patrol agents caught three Eritrean immigrants after they allegedly crossed the Rio Grande on Friday. Another group of immigrants from Nepal, China and Ethiopia was caught early Sunday morning after they waded across the Rio Grande late Saturday night. Court records identified the immigrants as: Goitom Messazgi-Araya (Eritrea) Tedros Ghide-Ketema (Eritrea) Merhawi Zemichael-Gebremedhn (Eritrea) Salikram Bishwokarma (Nepal) Yu Gao...

Underprivileged Mexican immigrants – legal or otherwise – are everywhere in Huntington Beach. At car washes, behind the mowers, in kitchens and in strawberry fields, they toil at jobs we won't do for wages we can't live on. And, yet, many people resent their being here at all. Some of those whom I know are here legally; many are not. And, frankly, I don't care. Those who took horrendous risks to get into our country and who live in constant fear of deportation are here to build a better life for themselves and their children... Unfortunately, it is politically expedient...

El Salvadoran leaders of the MS-13 gang allegedly put out a contract on the federal agent responsible for a crackdown on its New York factions, the Daily News has learned. * * * Federal prosecutors have indicted numerous MS-13 gang members on racketeering, murder and drug trafficking charges. The targeted agent was the lead investigator on many of the cases. puts_out_hit_on_fbi_agent_assigned_to_crackdown.html#ixzz0Vtl5KNTj

DOUGLAS — Federal authorities say they have seized nearly 700 pounds of marijuana at the Douglas Port of Entry. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers were screening travelers and vehicles Sunday night when they came in contact with a 20-year-old Douglas man driving a truck. The vehicle was inspected and authorities discovered that the bed of the F-150 had been completely altered to accommodate the concealment of nearly 700 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $1.1 million, authorities said. Officers seized the vehicle and marijuana and the man was turned over to the custody of Immigration and...

There is still confusion over whether Govenor Palin supports amnesty for illegal aliens. In this article read at Newsbusters, Palin does support a "pathway to citizenship" for illegal aliens. But what is not clear is if she supports a pathway to citizenship only "after" they return to their country of origin. And then, get in the back of the line to come to America "legally" for citizenship. Or, if she supports a pathway to citizenship while illegals are still here. Without first requiring them to return to there country of origin. Does anyone have an answer to that question? Excerpt...

House Democratic leaders have unveiled their health reform bill. The new bill, H.R. 3962, represents the latest iteration, and combines three separate House committees' bills. The combo mega-bill comes in at nearly 2,000 pages. And the legislation includes one eligibility verification provision — proving Joe Wilson was right. The trouble is, the immigration status check (starting on p. 228 of the bill) only applies to applicants for the taxpayer-funded insurance premium subsidy. The rest of the loopholes previously identified — assumed eligibility at enrollment in Medicaid, S-CHIP, or the so-called "public option," for instance — that will allow illegal aliens...

A former Virginia Beach police officer pleaded guilty Monday to a federal conspiracy charge, admitting that he played a central role in a marriage-fraud case and then lied to his fellow officers and the FBI about it. Andrey Savelyev, a native of Russia, resigned from the force in August just before he was indicted in U.S. District Court. He became a Beach police officer in 1999 and most recently had been a detective in the 3rd Precinct property crimes unit. His arrest stems from an ongoing investigation into marriage fraud, mainly between Navy sailors and Eastern European women, and a...

Note: The following text is a quote: Man Admits Using Alias for Immigration Status COLUMBIA, SC—United States Attorney W. Walter Wilkins stated today that Sohail Feroz Ali Dossani, a/k/a Sohail Muhammad Jamal, age 29, a Pakistani national located in Florence, pled guilty to filing false statements to gain entry and citizenship, a violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1306(c). United States Magistrate Judge Thomas E. Rogers, III, accepted the plea and will impose sentence after he has reviewed the presentence report which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office. Evidence presented at the guilty plea hearing established...

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...

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:...

On Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Fernando Campoamor told a judge in D.C Superior Court that accused murderer and gang member Ingmar Guandique, 28, along with members of the MS-13 gang threatened to kill a witness and his family, if he testifies at Guandique’s January trial.A Salvadoran national in this country illegally, Guandique was arrested last April for the murder of missing intern Chandra Levy, who disappeared in 2001. Her skeletal remains were discovered a year later in D.C.’s Rock Creek Park.At the time of his arrest for the Levy murder, he was already in prison for the assault of two...

I'm writing this in West Africa where I have spent eleven of the last fourteen months working with compassionate, dedicated, and brave people on humanitarian programs designed to save lives and alleviate human suffering. During the past five years, I have traveled to the Eastern Congo where the deaths of millions of people have gone largely unnoticed by the rest of the world, been to Darfur, responded to famines in Ethiopia, helped end a measles epidemic in Burkina Faso, and been deployed to Guinea Bissau in response to a cholera epidemic. I am currently focused on helping people affected by...

The Wall Street Journal has a front page story today on that portrays a sharp decline in the number of H-1B visas. The paper reports that "only 46,700" applications had been made for 65,000 H-1B visas available. Intel's director of work-force policy and manager of the firm's immigration policies, Jenifer Verdery, proclaims that, "The fact that the 65,000-visa cap hasn't been reached this year shows that the market will temper demand when necessary" The spin here is that the worst economy since the Great Depression has caused industry to reduce its use of H-1B visa from every last visa possible...

“To explore, enjoy, and protect the planet. To practice and promote the responsible use of the Earth’s ecosystems and resources; to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out those objectives.” — Sierra Club mission statement. Strategic Ignorance: Why the Bush Administration Is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress — 2004 book by Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. “The raging monster upon the land is population growth. In its presence, sustainability is but a fragile theoretical concept.” – Edward O. Wilson,...

News that the state will cancel the car registrations of possibly thousands of undocumented immigrants has caused panic and created rumors among those living in central Ohio. Before Aug. 24, a loophole in the state Bureau of Motor Vehicle's policy allowed illegal immigrants to register cars in their names by using a power-of-attorney form, even if they didn't have a driver's license. The Ohio Department of Public Safety closed the loophole after delaying a crackdown on possibly fraudulent registrations for more than a year. After The Dispatch reported on the delay, the bureau sent letters at the beginning of October...

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...

Hoffman's immigration stance - all three sentences of it - is here: Where do you stand on illegal immigration? There is no question that our immigration policies are flawed. The answer, though, is not to put up a wall and stop all immigration. The answer is to create an easier path for immigrants to enter the United States - and to work here - while at the same time getting tough on illegal immigrants who commit crimes. For those who don't follow this issue that closely, the above is Bush-like boilerplate. For instance, compare what Hoffman says to what Bush...

Immigration activists and Hispanic groups are demanding that President Obama deliver on his promised comprehensive package of immigration reform. Already, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has derided federal sweeps of illegal aliens as "un-American." And recently the Obama administration stripped the federal authority of Arizona's controversial Maricopa County sheriff, Joe Arpaio, to make immigration arrests. Yet expect the public to oppose any so-called comprehensive immigration reform even more vehemently than it did George W. Bush's 2007 doomed proposals. Why? Conditions on the ground have changed drastically in the last two years. First, the nation's unemployment is now over 9%. It...

Por Esto (Merida, Yucatan) 10/28/09 “Mordida”, a favorite extortion and bribe in Mexico In Cancun, Mexico, police stopped a driver, a visiting tourist, for an alleged “administrative violation.” Then they asked the tourist for up to $300 dollars so she could proceed without having a penalty issued to her. It turned out that the victim of this extortion was Michelle Fischbach, a state senator from Minnesota, who later presented a written complaint to the local authorities regarding the episode. Five Cancun “Tourist Police” officers are now under investigation for their personal attempt at extortion. “Mordida” (a “bite”) is a common...

The TERRY ANDERSON SHOW.. Articulating the Popular Rage! A warrior in the fight against illegal immigration and those who promote it for over a decade! From the streets of Los Angeles to the halls of congress, Terry has been there. No one has the passion and common sense of Terry Anderson...He is A MUST listen! The BEST one hour of radio you'll find anywhere. Sunday Nights- Listen on the radio! 12-1 AM EDT, 11-12 PM CDT, 10-11 PM MDT, 9-10 PM PDT KRLA - 870 AM - Los Angeles -- KDWN - 720 - Las Vegas -- KFNX - 1100...

thelastcrusade.orgA soft-spoken and sedate Staten Island Muslim woman tried to slit her husband's throat as he lay sleeping in the middle of the night. Rabia Sarwar, 37, was enraged that her husband Sheikh Naseem, 41, asked her to eat pork and to wear non-Islamic attire, officials said. "It's time for you to die!" the Muslim woman screamed as she pounced on hubby and hacked at his neck with a butcher knife, sources said. He woke early Wednesday to find her straddling his chest and hacking at his neck with a knife. Naseem, a burly teacher at Susan Wagner High...

A document from the House ethics committee lists an examination into whether the chamber's rules were violated when Rep. Linda T. Sanchez put three legislative aides to her fellow-congresswoman sister on her payroll after an embezzlement scheme had left Rep. Loretta Sanchez's office short of funds. The document, a July tracking report obtained by The Washington Post, says that the sisters, both California Democrats, "shared transferred staff from one office to another after embezzlement," and that a meeting between lawyers for the ethics committee and the congresswomen had taken place June 1. The document also says that lawyers for the...

Dear Immigrant, Welcome to the greatest nation the world has ever known, The United States of America, that is if you're here legally. If you're not here legally, go back across whatever border you crossed and try coming back the way you're supposed to, otherwise when you entered this country you are a criminal. To you who have done the honorable thing and taken the time and trouble to become a citizen of this great nation, welcome! We're all in the same boat, with the exception of the Indians who were here when we first came here, we all came...

Sen. Durbin (D-Ill.) last night [10/26/2009] and today [10/27/2009] is once again using his leadership position to make false claims about E-Verify's reliability and to project the absolutely foolish notion that unemployment and immigration have no relationship. But while he laments the 125,000 who have recently lost their unemployment benefits (I do, too), he ignores the fact that HIS immigration policies now in place have given out 125,000 brand new work permits to foreign workers during the last month. Sadly, Sen. Durbin is Exhibit A of the intellectual hypocrisy that is pervasive in Congress. He gives speeches as a champion of unemployed...

(CNSNews.com) – The Department of Homeland Security is gagging local law enforcement agencies around the country to protect the privacy of illegal aliens. Under "revised" 287(g) agreements between the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division and state and local law enforcement agencies, any information about local police efforts to enforce federal immigration law must be cleared through ICE before it can be released to the media or the public. DHS says it is doing this to protect the privacy of illegal aliens.

LOS ANGELES—More than a quarter of English learners don't make it into mainstream classes by the eighth grade in Los Angeles and most of those who don't were born in the United States, according to a study released Wednesday. The study by Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California showed 29 percent of English learners in the Los Angeles Unified School District were still in these classes in the eighth grade. More than half of these students were born in the United States and were in classes for English learners for more than eight years. "They're staying...

Thursday, October 29, 2009 More Census: While Dems Block Citizenship Question, the Mexican Government Urges Mexicans To Participate   [Andy McCarthy] I recounted earlier this morning that Democrats are trying to block a requirement that the census inquire whether respondents are American citizens.  At the same time, the Mexican government is interfering in our census by urging Mexican nationals to get themselves counted so they can grab bigger slices of hundreds of billions in social welfare spending — i.e., the redistribution of wealth from taxpaying American citizens to Mexican immigrants — legal and illegal.Check out this story in the Spanish...

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...

Arpaio for governor? New poll says he has the support Email: dbiscobing@abc15.com Arpaio for governor? Polls say he has the support PHOENIX - Sheriff Joe Arpaio rarely keeps a low profile. Never afraid of attention or controversy and always outspoken, he leaves little unsaid. And that includes a race for governor. "There's an old saying in politics: Never say never," Arpaio said. "I know I would make an excellent governor." Arpaio has not officially announced his candidacy, and he never may. But in recent weeks, he's teased and hinted. It's not the first time. "Twice I've looked into it and...

Recently a lot of hubbub had been made about the possibility that the peaceful tea party protests and some conservative voices would stir up emotions that could lead to violence. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was even one of those sounding that alarm. But what has gone unsaid by those same voices has been the possibility of violence against those who might take a position antithetical to that of the left. Case and point: CNN's Lou Dobbs. Dobbs, who has been the target of a smear campaign by the left-wing noise machine, told his radio audience on Oct. 26...

The lawsuit filed Wednesday by the 10 immigrants marks a major turning point in a two-year-old saga that shook the city and the nation. But how it will all turn out is still anyone’s guess. Six experts interviewed expressed divided opinions over the federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, which claims that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents of various ranks violated the Fourth, Fifth and 10th amendments by arresting 29 people in New Haven on June 6, 2007. “I think they have a good [case] from the perspective of something you want to feel good about fighting for justice,” Douglas Penn,...

A forthcoming study on Hispanic children’s cognitive skills underlines the challenges the country faces in aspiring to close the achievement gap between these children and their white and Asian counterparts. Hispanic “children fall behind their peers in mental development by the time they reach grade school, and the gap tends to widen as they get older,” reports the New York Times. “The drop-off in the cognitive scores of Hispanic toddlers, especially those from Mexican backgrounds, was steeper than for other [low-income] groups and could not be explained by economic status alone. . . . From 24 to 36 months, the...

A Texas emergency room doctor has a message for the rest of the country: illegal aliens are destroying the medical care delivery system in his part of south Texas. Dr. Antonio Falcon cited diseases and conditions such as tuberculosis diabetes obesity and swine flu, brought by illegals, as major threats to America’s border hospitals because illegals refuse to pay for medical care. Dr. Falcon says the problem started with the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), the federal law compelling hospitals to treat anyone in medical emergencies without regard to the patient’s ability to pay. Falcon started...

Lou Dobbs describes his home being shot at.

New Haven (AP) - Ten New Haven residents have filed a lawsuit accusing federal authorities of violating their rights by conducting an immigration raid in retaliation for a New Haven program that provided ID cards to foreigners in the country illegally. The sweeps in New Haven on June 6, 2007, came two days after the city approved issuing identification cards to all city residents, regardless of immigration status. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials deny the early morning raids were retaliatory, saying planning began the year before. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, cites e-mails between federal officials that...

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...

Harris County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to continue screening jail prisoners for immigration status and referring those in the country illegally to federal authorities. County Judge Ed Emmett and three commissioners voted for a three-year extension of the controversial 287(g) program expected to cost local taxpayers nearly $1 million a year. Since the county began participating in the program, more than 10,650 inmates have been referred to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The court was undeterred by pastors, civil libertarians, civil rights leaders and immigration activists who insisted the program is a drain on local resources, spawns racial profiling...

Laredo Community College got a visit from a Mexican congressman today who talked about Mexico’s stance on the United States immigration reform. Congressman Jose Medina says the immigration crisis is a human problem that begs a human solution and that the U.S., Mexico and other nations should work together to become one America on one continent. Medina also stated his own views on immigration reform. "I think legalization is the solution for people asking for permission to work legally in this country." Medina was elected as a member in Mexico’s lower house of congress in 2000.