Free Republic

By Burt Prelutsky It seems to me that when it comes to foreign policy, the U.S. has two separate problems. To begin with, there are those two billion foreigners in places like China, Russia, North Korea, and all the various Islamic nations that give America and much of the rest of the world non-stop migraines. But compounding the problem for us are the millions of illegal aliens who have been flooding across our southern border for the past 25 years or so. It’s bad enough that they’ve placed a terrible burden on our schools, our prisons, and our health care...

Three good men are dead thanks largely to San Francisco’s outrageous sanctuary-city policy, which forbids city authorities from notifying federal immigration authorities when they arrest illegal aliens for crimes they commit, and it’s time for President Bush to crack down on all the cities in the United States that follow this absurd policy. On June 22, Anthony Bologna and his sons Michael and Matthew were shot to death by Edwin Ramos, 21, after a brief traffic incident when Anthony Bologna allegedly briefly blocked Ramos' car from making a left turn, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Ramos, an alleged member...

The owner of a downtown Los Angeles sushi restaurant facing wage payment claims by two alleged undocumented workers has launched a novel counterattack by filing a class-action lawsuit against the California labor commissioner for defying federal immigration law. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- July 24, 2008 California Employer Sues State Over Wage Claims for Illegal Workers The owner of a downtown Los Angeles sushi restaurant facing wage payment claims by two alleged undocumented workers has launched a novel counterattack by filing a class-action lawsuit against the California labor commissioner for defying federal immigration law. Masayoshi Kaji of Sushi Sharin argues that the commissioner’s policy...

It is not often that undocumented immigrants sneak into the United States and then alert authorities to their whereabouts, but three men trapped in a sweltering rail car had little choice and used a cell phone to call 911. Smugglers had stashed two Mexicans and a Guatemalan in a grain hopper in the Rio Grande Valley and told them they would ride further north, said Daniel Doty, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's McAllen Sector. As the temperature climbed Tuesday, the dehydrating men feared for their lives and reached for the phone. "It gets hot very fast in those places,"...

New Haven (WTNH) -- The New Haven program that sparked protests and gained national attention is entering its second year. To date, about 6,000 people have signed up for the Elm City Residents Card program. With a snap of the camera Luis Pagan is on his way to getting a New Haven city Resident card. "I think it's good. The city is helping us ID ourselves, who we are," Pagan said. Hundreds lined up last year when the Elm City Residents Card program was launched. The card was controversial from the beginning because it allows illegal immigrants to get a...

SAN FRANCISCO — The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday called on Mayor Gavin Newsom to allow the federal agency full access to information about local inmates, saying the city should rescind its policy that prohibits ICE agents from reviewing jail logs and records. A letter sent to Newsom from ICE director Julie Myers urging more access to inmate records was the latest flare-up following accusations that a San Francisco policy to shield undocumented immigrants also caused the city to shelter felons charged with serious crimes. Eileen Hirst, chief of staff for San Francisco County Sheriff Michael Hennessey,...

American officials in Belgrade have delivered a diplomatic note to the Serbian government, demanding that the towering fugitive charged with pummeling a college classmate be returned to the U.S. within 10 days. The note, excerpts of which were obtained by the Daily News, represents the first time the U.S. government has set a deadline for the return of Miladin Kovacevic, 21. The U.S. has been pressing the Serbian government to hand over Kovacevic after he fled the country last month with a passport issued by a consulate member, Igor Milosevic. "It is imperative that the [Serbian government] remedy these outrageous...

For nearly two years, the South Florida middle school art teacher forced the boy to have sex in a classroom supply closet. Sometimes, Aaron Mohanlal would call in sick to work, take the boy to his home for sex and drop the seventh-grader back off at school at the end of the day. To keep the abuse secret, Mohanlal bought the 13-year-old a cell phone and created nicknames for their genitalia. When police arrested him, the teacher was caught on hidden video trying to destroy letters threatening the boy if he ever told. Last summer, a Broward County jury convicted...

An alleged gang member accused of triple murder in the slayings of a San Francisco father and two sons pleaded not guilty Wednesday at a hearing in which the judge refused to issue a blanket gag order in the high-profile case. Edwin Ramos, 21, is accused of the June 22 shooting deaths of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, ....... Ramos spoke softly and slowly in denying each of the allegations. The defense sought the gag order after The Chronicle revealed that Ramos was an illegal immigrant who was found to have committed two felonies...

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo sent an open letter to Sen. John McCain criticizing his recent meeting with Hispanic leaders where he reportedly pushed his amnesty agenda.

“Dr. Q” has a theory about how to cure cancer that he can’t wait to tell me. I look around at his lab assistants, their faces a rainbow of colors — intense, smart, listening. Their parents come from many parts of the world. Dr. Q has chosen them to test his theory: that a team of scientists from a diversity of backgrounds might find a cure for cancer more quickly, because each would see the problem differently. The lab at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore we’re all gathered in belongs to Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa — “Dr. Q.” He is...

“Dr. Q” has a theory about how to cure cancer that he can’t wait to tell me. I look around at his lab assistants, their faces a rainbow of colors — intense, smart, listening. Their parents come from many parts of the world. Dr. Q has chosen them to test his theory: that a team of scientists from a diversity of backgrounds might find a cure for cancer more quickly, because each would see the problem differently. The lab at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore we’re all gathered in belongs to Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa — “Dr. Q.” He is...

The Castorena Family Organization is a large-scale criminal organization with more than 100 key members who oversee cells of 10 to 20 individuals in cities across the United States, according to public court documents filed by the US government in Colorado and in other judicial districts around the country. Several of the senior leaders of the organization are believed to be based in Mexico, although they enter the US occasionally to oversee the operations of lieutenants of the crime family. The organization is alleged to be involved in the manufacture and distribution of high-quality counterfeit identity documents, including social security...

North Carolina sheriff's deputies left the children of an arrested illegal immigrant woman on the side of a highway overnight stranded in a car, attorneys say. Lawyers for Maria Chavira Ventura say she was stopped June 14 for a traffic violation along Interstate 85 in Alamance County, N.C. Deputies arrested her for driving without a license, leaving her three children, ages 14, 10 and 6, alone in the car with a man they barely knew, the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer reported Wednesday. The man, a church acquaintance who was catching a ride with Ventura, abandoned the children in the...

HONOLULU -- Federal officials said they netted 43 illegal aliens in an immigration raid on O`ahu. (snip) Agents said the aliens were employed by a company called The Farms which does agricultural work. The 43 men were all citizens of Mexico.

Myles Gladstone is the vice president of Human Resources at Miller & Long Co., a Maryland-based concrete subcontractor that has programs in place to help immigrants integrate into the workplace.(CNSNews.com) – Deported criminals are more violent after learning how to use semi-automatic weapons while in the United States, said an official from a Maryland company with a workforce that is 60 percent Hispanic. Myles Gladstone, vice president of human resources at Miller & Long, a concrete construction firm with headquarters in Bethesda, Md., was speaking at a roundtable discussion hosted by the Americans Society and Council of the Americas (ASCA)...

Mexican officials say a concrete barrier constructed by the U.S. Border Patrol in a storm-water tunnel beneath Nogales appears to be on Mexican soil and was the main cause of serious flooding July 12 in Nogales, Sonora. The flooding caused about $8 million in damage in Nogales, Sonora, the officials say. The 5-foot-high wall on the floor of the tunnel in front of a gate was put in without notifying the International Boundary and Water Commission, said Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the U.S. section of the commission. The commission requests that any agency doing work on the border that could...

Agency says getting all people, legal and illegal, to safety is its top priority The U.S. Border Patrol said today it is not checking the documents of individuals who are fleeing Hurricane Dolly, and it has no intention of using natural disasters as a pretext for rounding up and deporting illegal immigrants, 1200 WOAI news reports. Officials in the Rio Grande Valley have been worried about Border Patrol actions ever since a reporter spotted a Border Patrol official conducting a document check during a hurricane evacuation drill in McAllen in May. Some officials had expressed concern that Rio Grande Valley...

A study published on the July 22 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association called for more aggressive action against tuberculosis, after it had discovered an increase in the number of foreigners in the US infected with TB. Although TB cases in the US dropped 45 percent between 1996 and 2006 (from more than 25,000 to less than 14,000), according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s statistics, there was a five percent increase in TB cases among immigrant populations living in the US during the same period, Dr. Kevin P. Cain head of the CDC’s...

EL PASO -- Police have hot filed charges against a Northeast resident who allegedly shot a man in self-defense. The police department's Drive-by-Shooting Response Team (DSRT) was called to assist with a "shots fired" call at the 9500 block of Iris at about one Saturday morning. Officers discovered a 19-year-old man had been shot in the ankle and forearm at a residence in the area. An investigation revealed the victim went to a party at the residence and engaged in an argument that escalated into a physical confrontation, police officials said. Police said a resident of the home grabbed a...

GAINESVILLE, Mo. -- A man living in Ozark County is charged with second-degree murder after a shooting during a family outing Sunday near Mammoth. The victim was a man from Mountain Home, Ark. The shooting was next to Lick Creek near Mammoth, south of Gainesville, on private property near Big Rock swimming hole. A family of about 10 from Mountain Home was enjoying their Sunday, swimming and cooking hot dogs, when the owners came down to confront them. “There was an argument, push came to shove, a gun was drawn,” said Sheriff Raymond Pace. Pace says that's when Jesus Sesena-Murrieta,...

"As Congress heads into a critical week of votes on how to relieve America's home-foreclosure crisis, one of the toughest issues will be how to deal with the racial and ethnic dimensions of the problem. Minorities will be watching closely to see who gets the help."..... ......"Black and Hispanic families have gotten a disproportionate share of subprime lending, and subprime loans are the driving force behind the foreclosures," says Katheen Day, spokeswoman for the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit research and policy group based in Durham, N.C. "We know that black and Hispanic communities are hardest hit.".....

In yesterday's Post, we criticized Barack Obama's plan to "give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage." We raised the question: "Are they Americans?" - noting that the 47 million statistic includes those who've come here illegally and are subject to deportation. The Obama campaign complains that the senator has no such plan. Indeed, he's said his plan "does not" cover illegals: "We've got limited resources. And it is important for us that, when we've got millions of US citizens that aren't yet covered, it's important for us to make sure that they are provided coverage."...

HERE IS A PLACE TO START FReepers, we need a master thread to which we can refer and to which we can post additional illegal alien crime information. Please bookmark this thread. Bring in your stories and your links. Let's make this a great wealth of reference material. Laura Ingraham may be able to use it as she goes after Gavin Newsome and the sanctuary city of San Francisco. Laura vowed today on her show to help get justice for Danielle Bologna, whose husband and two sons were gunned down by a Salvadoran felon who was protected by San...

The last illegal immigrant juvenile offender who had been in a $7,000-a-month group home as part of San Francisco's now-abandoned effort to shield young immigrants from deportation has bolted, authorities said Tuesday. The youth walked away from the unlocked center in Atascadero (San Luis Obispo County) on Sunday, bringing to 12 the number of illegal immigrant offenders in the past month who have walked away from youth homes hundreds of miles from the city. Ten of the 12, all of them from Honduras and all detained for dealing drugs, are still at large, including the youth who disappeared early Monday....

A 41-hour manhunt ended Friday with the arrest of a man suspected of gunning down his cousin’s wife in her east Rogers home. Sergio Morales-Carrera, 23, was arrested in a vehicle in Fayetteville about 2: 10 p. m. by members of the Rogers Police Department’s criminal investigation division, said Lt. Mike Johnson, department spokesman. Morales-Carrera was arrested “without incident,” Johnson said. He was taken to the Rogers jail and later to the Benton County jail, Johnson said. A bond hearing is scheduled for 9 a. m. Monday, he said.Two other men also were arrested on charges of hindering apprehension: Ramiro...

Democrats' single most important domestic proposal — universal health insurance — may blow up in Barack Obama's face when voters are exposed to the deadly details. Obama has said, proudly and often, "I am going to give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage." But are they "Americans?" That 47 million statistic includes illegal immigrants, who virtually all lack insurance. In fact, about one in four of those lacking insurance is here illegally. And they are, by far, the group most in need of health insurance. About 15 million of the remaining uninsured are eligible for...

SERBIA (WABC) -- Serbia will not extradite a Serb student wanted in the United States on assault charges, the foreign minister said Monday. Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said Miladin Kovacevic would not be sent to the U.S. to face charges of severely beating a fellow university student because Serbian law does not allow extradition of its citizens. "Kovacevic will not be extradited," Jeremic told independent B-92 television. "Serbia is a sovereign and democratic country with an independent judiciary," Jeremic said, suggesting U.S. authorities should hand over the case file so Kovacevic could be prosecuted in Serbia. Kovacevic, 20, had been...

Laura Ingraham interviewed Danielle Bologna this morning. It was a tear-filled, emotional, gut-wrenching interview. Danielle was widowed on June 22 when Edwin Ramos, 21, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, allegedly gunned down her husband, Anthony, and two sons, Matthew and Michael, in a road rage incident when her family was returning from a picnic. Ramos was a felon. He was protected by Mayor Gavin Newsome and his San Francisco sanctuary policy and not reported to ICE for deportation. He was out walking free and was able to murder three Americans. The mayor, who is the champion of gay marriage,...

PALMETTO – An 18-year-old Palmetto man is accused of having sex with a 12-year-old girl who he picked up after she ran away from home around noon Sunday. Gavino Guitierez, of 4003 3rd Ave. Blvd. E., told authorities he had sex with the girl three times. He also admitted that he is an illegal immigrant from Mexico, according to a Manatee County Sheriff’s report.The girl returned home at about 6 p.m. Sunday and deputies were waiting to question her about where she had been. The girl said she was with Guitierez and had sex with him, according to a report.Guitierez...

The government watchdog group known as Judicial Watch recently filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department, for that agency’s failure to turn over certain documents related to the prosecution of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean… The suit comes after the government refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request for documents which detailed the agreement made between the governments of Mexico and the United States, which allowed drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila to return to this country to actually testify against Ramos and Compean. The FOIA request was filed by Judicial Watch on April 17, 2008. The...

MERCEDES - An illegal immigrant tasked with guarding a convenience store shot and killed a teenager who attempted to burglarize it, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said Monday. Silvestre Delgadillo, 28, remained on the run and authorities had "no idea" whether he fled to Mexico, Treviño said. Delgadillo, who was convicted in 2005 on a felony drug charge, has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, a third-degree felony. But the actual homicide is complicated by Texas' castle law, which allows people to use lethal force to defend themselves and their property. Delgadillo is accused of...

CESAR TORRES, right, spoke Monday in support of a proposed ordinance that would prohibit Hartford police and other city agencies from inquiring about a resident's immigration status. Torres, an illegal immigrant in 2002, was forced to return to Peru after he reported a crime he had witnessed. (RICHARD MESSINA / HARTFORD COURANT / July 21, 2008)

Stuck in Tijuana traffic, Heather Suarez fixes her strawberry blond hair, applies her makeup and listens to country music on the car radio. This morning, she sings along. Life ain't always beautiful You think you're on your way And it's just a dead end road at the end of the day. But the struggles make you stronger And the changes make you wise And happiness has its own way of takin' its sweet time. For Heather, 29, every day is a struggle. The native of rural Kentucky didn't know how drastically her life would change after she fell in love...

The man charged with killing a father and two sons on a San Francisco street was one of the youths who benefited from the city's long-standing practice of shielding illegal immigrant juveniles from possible deportation. Edwin Ramos, 21, is being held on three counts of murder. Ramos is a member of a violent street gang and was found guilty of two felonies as a juvenile. In neither instance did the city's Juvenile Probation Department alert federal immigration authorities, because it was the agency's policy not to consider immigration status when deciding how to deal with an offender. Three months before...

Cesar Torres was having a good time at a late-night party at a Hartford apartment in 2002 when suddenly things turned horribly wrong. Before he knew what was happening, his friend Julio Caesar Unocc lay on the floor mortally wounded with seven stab wounds. Torres immediately called 911, setting in motion a series of events that changed his life. "I kept thinking, 'They have to get those guys,'" Torres said. "Instead, they got me.'" Torres, 33, said Monday he didn't hesitate to tell the police everything he knew. When they learned he was in the country illegally, they called immigration...

Mexico will soon bestow its highest honor upon liberal Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) for his work in “defending the rights of immigrants.” The Mexican government announced last Friday that it intends to present Kennedy with the Order of the Aztec Eagle. Ricardo Alday, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., told Cybercast News Service that the award, the highest that Mexico gives to foreigners, will be presented “at a time that is convenient to the senator.” The presentation will laud Kennedy for his work on immigration, and “for (promoting) full political participation and increased access to health and...

California-based immigration reform activist Rick Oltman says he is continually amazed that both presidential candidates continue to pander to Hispanic voters as if they are one huge monolithic voting bloc. ...Oltman, national spokesman for Californians for Population Stabilization, says most voters vote based on income level. "The average wage for Hispanic Americans in California is at the poverty level. People who are low income workers, when they vote, tend to vote Democrat," Oltman contends. "So all of this pandering for the Hispanic American vote over the fact that somebody is going to offer an amnesty that allows illegal aliens to...

When Lupita Sanchez applied for a passport, she didn't expect her U.S. citizenship would be called into question. But three months after completing her application - 38 years after she was born in Brownsville - Sanchez received a shocking letter from the U.S. State Department...explaining that her application had been closed, "Once you obtain U.S. citizenship, you may execute another application for a U.S. passport." Sanchez...has been voting and paying taxes in the U.S. for 20 years. But along with hundreds of other South Texans delivered by midwives, the validity of Sanchez's birth certificate, and her citizenship, is being called...

Prison escape here in Huntsville, TX. Illegal Alien 5'7", 200 pounds, tattooed.

I am a supporter of President Bush's policies domestic and international. However, I struggle GREATLY with the topic of amnesty or any formal recognition of illegal aliens status as a fair response. Many immigrants have chosen to be legally complaint with United States law remaining years in refugee camps and are still waiting There is an interesting precedent in our U.S. history: My maternal grandfather escaped from Russia at the turn of the last century. His father had played an instrument in the Czar's band. As children, he and his brother and their father worked in the NY coal mines...

Her husband? Dead. Two sons? Dead. The suspect? Convicted of two felonies as a juvenile and accused earlier this year of gang membership and weapons possession (the case was never prosecuted), with ICE blissfully unaware thanks to San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy. There’s nothing else I can say to prepare you for it so I won’t try. Except this: The next time you see our pal Spitty or one of his amnesty fellow travelers sniffing at the barest attempts to deport criminal illegal aliens, remember that this is the price he’s willing to pay in the interests of racial solidarity....

SAN FRANCISCO -- The attorney for a reputed gang member charged with murdering a San Francisco man and his two sons said today he will seek a gag order in the case, claiming media coverage has damaged his client's right to a fair trial. The comments by defense attorney Robert Amparan came after he appeared with his client, Edwin Ramos, during a brief court appearance in connection with the June 22 triple slaying."False information is being placed out there, his rights are being violated - in terms of the disclosure of alleged juvenile records" said Amparan. On Sunday, The Chronicle...

Birthright Citizenship and Dual Citizenship: Harbingers of Administrative Tyranny by Edward J. Erler, Professor of Political Science, California State University, San Bernardino The following is adapted from a speech delivered at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar on February 12, 2008, in Phoenix, Arizona. Edward J. Erler is professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and a senior fellow of the Claremont Institute. He earned his B.A. from San Jose State University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in government from Claremont Graduate School. He has published numerous articles on constitutional topics in journals such as Interpretation, the...

Immigration and National Security by Michelle Malkin The following is excerpted from a speech delivered at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar on May 20, 2008, in New York City. Michelle Malkin, a columnist for Creators Syndicate since 1999, has also worked at the Los Angeles Daily News and the Seattle Times. A graduate of Oberlin College, she blogs on michellemalkin.com and is founder and co-editor of hotair.com. In 2002, she published Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores. WE ALL KNOW what happened on September 11, 2001. But how many of us...

The Sen. John McCain campaign launched a new Web video titled "Obama Love" that takes a swipe at the perceived media bias towards Barack Obama. According to the campaign e-mail, the video "highlights the media's love affair with Barack Obama -- or as MSNBC's Chris Matthews says, that thrill going up my leg." Played to the tune of Frankie Valli's "Can't take my eyes off of you" -- one of Valli's most popular songs. Perhaps, it will turn out to be a hit for McCain as well.

San Francisco's "sanctuary city" policy - as it was implemented until recently - put the welfare of juvenile gang-bangers and drug dealers, who also were illegal immigrants, before the safety of law-abiding residents who are victimized by gangs and thugs. As The Chronicle reported Sunday in a story by reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken, one beneficiary of that policy is Edwin Ramos, 21, who is charged with killing Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16 in a spectacularly senseless shooting spree on June 22. If Ramos is guilty, San Francisco political correctness and a federal immigration screw-up...

The number of foreigners landing in Los Angeles Immigration Court has surged in recent years, while the number of judges has remained about the same, causing crushing caseloads and lengthy delays. Expanded immigration enforcement, including the ongoing search for illegal immigrants in county jails, is causing much of the rise, according to judges, attorneys and experts.

Tonight ABC aired their interview with Sen. Barack Obama with correspondent Terry Moran conducting; here is a clip of the segment that ran on ABC's World News Tonight: Moran: If you had to do it over again, knowing what you know now, would you support the surge? Obama: No. Because, keep in mind that -- Moran: You wouldn't?

The New York Times really has a peculiar relationship with Sen. John McCain. They began the year by endorsing him for the Republican nomination but the love didn't last long -- weeks later they headlined with a controversial story saying that McCain had engaged in an extra-martial affair with a lobbyist. What made that story worse is that they led it with the premise that McCain had an inappropriate affair with lobbyist Vicki Iseman nine years ago but they failed to back that up in the story. The story was loaded with innuendo, unnamed sources and a resurrection of the...