Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- If you're a criminal and you're not entitled to be in the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wants you out of the country. Napolitano wants what she calls "criminal aliens" off American streets. She is looking at existing immigration enforcement programs to see if taxpayers are getting the most bang for their buck. "That sounds very simple, but it's historically not been done," Napolitano said, speaking to reporters and senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials Thursday. About 113,000 criminals who were in the U.S. illegally were deported last year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. The agency...

** EXCERPT ** ST. PAUL, MINN. (AP) - Republican presidential nominee John McCain began his final drive for the White House on Thursday with a boost from running mate Sarah Palin while Democratic opponent Joe Biden declared her family "off limits" and suggested that some news media coverage of her had been sexist. Palin and her husband, Todd, announced this week that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter was pregnant and would be marrying her boyfriend, saying they were making a private matter public because of Internet rumors. Biden said the Democratic campaign was not attacking Palin over her family. "It is...

In the post-Civil War Era, inspired by Abraham Lincoln and Union victory, those Blacks who could overcome State requirements aimed at preventing their voting usually voted Republican. President Dwight D. Eisenhower overwhelmingly was supported by Blacks when he ran for re-election in 1956. Then came Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA) in the 1960 Presidential race. Blacks switched and voted for JFK. They helped him win that squeaker election against Vice President Richard M. Nixon. What happened? At the time I just had begun my broadcasting career and was working at WLIP in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Working along side me on weekends...

SAN DIEGO – The Bush administration said Wednesday it will fortify the westernmost stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border over the objections of environmentalists and California regulators, who feared the project would harm a refuge for endangered birds. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff signed an environmental waiver Tuesday night that expedites the Border Patrol's long-standing plans to fill in canyons and erect additional fencing along the final 3 1/2 miles of the border before it meets the Pacific Ocean. The move sets up the latest clash between the Bush administration and the state's Coastal Commission, which has denied the Border Patrol...

Angered by unending waves of illegal immigration, some Americans have taken matters into their own hands by forming "Minuteman" patrols that they plan to expand from Arizona to Texas this fall. A Houston congressman is pushing for creation of militias of armed volunteers to augment Border Patrol forces. Gov. Rick Perry is mulling a border neighborhood watch-style program. And in recent days, the governors of Arizona and New Mexico – fed up with the failure of the federal government to control the border – have declared state emergencies in counties struggling with rising immigrant smuggling and violence. "It's a scream...

Why Do Conservatives Continue To Support The Republican Party? By Chuck Baldwin August 1, 2003 It should be obvious to every rational person that the Republican Party has totally lost whatever conservative moorings it had. Since seizing control of the federal government and many state governments, Republicans have consistently promoted bigger and bigger government, have betrayed virtually every conservative cause, and have broken virtually every conservative promise. Even columnist George Will observed that under President Bush, conservatism has developed "an identity crisis." However, the greater crisis is the willingness of grassroots conservatives to continue to support such a party. Since...