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Mexican Latinos make up more than two thirds of all Latinos in the United States, according to a new Pew Hispanic report. Of the 51.9 million Latinos living in the United States in 2011, more than 33.5 million trace their family back to Mexico. The report also found Mexican-Americans to be of the lowest average age (25), while Cuban Americans were the oldest, at 40. Argentineans had the highest average household income in 2011, at $55,000 and Hondurans the lowest at $31,000 also giving Hondurans the highest poverty rate among U.S. Hispanics, at 33 percent. Mexicans averaged $38,000, with a...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Remember Senator Graham, Lindsey Graham? I forget the exact words. We played the sound bite yesterday.  But he basically said -- correct me if I'm wrong, but he essentially said -- that we have to do this because Hispanics hate us and we've gotta show them that we don't hate them.  It's a paraphrase, but his motivation was that. It was on one of the Sunday shows.  His declared motivation for this was the fact that Hispanics hate us. They think we're racists and bigots who don't like them. We hate them, don't want them here. They don't...

A trio of Republicans in the so-called Gang of Eight huddled with leading figures at Fox News Channel on the bipartisan effort in the Senate to reform the nation's immigration system, according to a piece published in this week's issue of The New Yorker. The story, written by Ryan Lizza, indicated that Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had discussions with "top hosts" at the conservative cable news network, including Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Neil Cavuto, all of whom are " now relatively sympathetic to the Gang’s proposed bill."

WASHINGTON, June 17 (by Karin Zeitvogel for RIA Novosti) – Mexicans in the thousands have pledged their support for a political candidate with a different outlook in next month’s mayoral election in Xalapa: a black and white cat called Morris who’s vowing to rid the university city of rats. “Tired of voting for rats? Vote for a cat. Only a cat can restore order in the face of all the rats who go after political posts,” reads the slogan on the Facebook page of “El Candigato,” which is a play on the words “candidate” and “cat” in Spanish. Morris is...

KANSAS CITY, KS - Police are investigating a protest at Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's home as he said Monday he is prepared to use lethal force if necessary.The KCK Police Department issued a statement Monday afternoon about the protest on Saturday at Kobach's home. "We are reviewing (sic) matter to determine if protestors violated any laws or ordinances," according to the brief news release... "I was just appalled," he said. "They have a right to protect at my office or at my public places, that's fine. But they don't have the right to enter someone's private property and...

WASHINGTON — The director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said on Monday he will step down at the end of July to go to the private sector after heading the agency for four years. "I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished together during that time and look with awe on the incredible progress ICE has made as an agency," ICE Director John Morton said in making the announcement in an internal message to employees that was made available to Reuters. "ICE has truly come of age and become an innovative, leading force in federal law...

This mayoral hopeful in Mexico promises to eat, sleep most of the day and donate his leftover litter to fill potholes. Morris, a black-and-white kitten with orange eyes, is running for mayor of Xalapa in eastern Mexico with the campaign slogan "Tired of Voting for Rats? Vote for a Cat." And he is attracting tens of thousands of politician-weary, two-legged supporters on social media. "He sleeps almost all day and does nothing, and that fits the profile of a politician," said 35-year-old office worker Sergio Chamorro, who adopted the 10-month-old feline last year.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who helped draft the immigration reform bill currently being discussed in the Senate, says he will walk away from the negotiations if it includes a controversial amendment to provide immigration benefits for gay couples. "If this bill has in it something that gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth, it kills the bill. I'm done," said Rubio during an interview on the Andrea Tantaros Show on Thursday. "I'm off it, and I've said that repeatedly. I don't think that's going to happen and it shouldn't happen. This is already a difficult enough issue as it...

The university's Stritch School of Medicine not only intends to waive legal residency as an admissions requirement for applicants but aims to offer a financing plan through a state agency

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Folks, I can't tell you, I don't even want to have to say this.  This is painful.  Did you hear what Senator Rubio said?  We need to bring the illegals here so that they will pay for the border security that we need.  I know.  I can't tell you, this is painful for me. I'm paraphrasing because I don't have the exact quote, but the immigrants that we legalize, we have to have 'em because they are going to pay for border security, to pay for the fence.  I guess what is meant by that is that...

While attempting to attack an amendment to the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill that would require a fence be built along Mexico’s border with the U.S. before legalization, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) made a significant geographical gaffe. Landrieu, who represents Louisiana in the U.S. Senate, was trying to undermine the amendment Sen. John Thune (R-SD) offered. In doing so, she tried to argue Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was more qualified to talk about border issues than Thune because McCain represents Arizona. “A smart fence, which is what Senator McCain and I want to build--since he’s from Arizona, I think he...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: We go to immigration. In a remarkable turn of events, all eight Gang of Eight members voted to table the Grassley amendment, to have control of the border for six months before the amnesty kicks in. And, by the way, don't call it amnesty. It isn't amnesty. That's the latest claim from the powers that be. The Grassley amendment to the Gang of Eight bill simply said we would gain control of the border for six months before any other aspect of the bill -- which is exactly what we were told was supported from the get-go....

CORPUS CHRISTI - A Guatemalan national, who had been in the custody since May 12, died Tuesday at a Corpus Christi hospital. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said the man, Federico Mendez Hernandez, 28, was diagnosed with rabies. Health experts believe he contracted the virus prior to crossing into the United States. Border Patrol agents arrested Mendez on May 9 on the Rio Grande near Hidalgo. He was transferred to ICE custody three days later. On May 18, Mendez was transported to Christus Spohn Hospital Kleberg in Kingsville after he reported symptoms compatible with rabies. The following day, he...

Fuerza del Valle Workers' Center is raising awareness about wage theft among undocumented immigrants. “Most people do not know you can call police after they try to get their pay from an employer and the police have a duty to follow criminal law and investigate the employer," Hector Guzman Lopez, Fuerza del Valle Workers' Center coordinator, said. Under Texas Penal Code it is illegal for employers to not pay for labor regardless of the person's legal status. Basilio Castro, an undocumented immigrant, was working at an Alamo apartment complex painting and doing construction. “They liked the job so they were...

Documents Reveal that ‘Dreamers’ Order Opened Door to Relatives of Illegal Immigrants, “Inundating” Border Towns with Petitions for AdmissionJudicial Watch announced today that documents obtained recently through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) abandoned required background checks late last year, adopting, instead, costly “lean and lite” procedures in effort to keep up with the flood of amnesty applications spurred by President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) directive, which grants illegal aliens a two-year deferment from deportation. Acting on a tip from a whistleblower...

As political animals go, this one hopes he will be grinning like a Cheshire Cat come election day. A feline by the name of Morris is in the running to be mayor of Veracruz state capital Xalapa, in Mexico. Armed with a paw-ful of policies, he has been put forward as the citizen’s candidate in the July 7 election. With the campaign slogan ‘Xalapa Without Rats’, he promises to do pretty much the same as other politicians – which is not a lot except sleep and take it easy. Morris the cat wants your votes as he bids to become...

MEXICO CITY — Mexican soldiers have rescued 165 people kidnapped by a drug cartel and held for as long as three weeks in a one-story home alongside the U.S. border. National security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez says 150 victims were U.S.-bound migrants from Central America. Fourteen were Mexicans and one was from India.

Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) will have access to a credit line of $1 billion from China's Export-Import Bank to buy vessels and offshore oilfield equipment, the company announced Tuesday after signing the agreement with the bank. PEMEX stated that this loan is an important financing option for the renewal of its fleet and the modernization of its marine equipment in its exploration and production division. The loan is valid for three years. The agreement will back about $1.2 billion in the U.S. exports for projects that include the Cantarell oil field, new exploration and production development, and a new gas development...

The FBI is asking for help finding leads on a Rio Grande Valley Marine kidnapped at gunpoint in Mexico, the agency said Monday. Armando Torres III, 25, crossed over the Progreso International Bridge on May 14 to visit his father on a ranch near Los Indios, according to an agency news release. There, investigators believe armed intruders took Torres, his father Armando Torres II and uncle Salvador Torres shortly after they arrived. The younger Torres’ sister Cristina Torres, 24, who lives in Virginia, said she got a call from her cousin minutes after the gunmen raced away. “She saw a...

EARLIER this week, I spotted, among the job listings in the newspaper Reforma, an ad from a restaurant in Mexico City looking to hire dishwashers. The requirement: a secondary school diploma. Years ago, school was not for everyone. Classrooms were places for discipline, study. Teachers were respected figures. Parents actually gave them permission to punish their children by slapping them or tugging their ears. But at least in those days, schools aimed to offer a more dignified life. Nowadays more children attend school than ever before, but they learn much less. They learn almost nothing. The proportion of the Mexican...

As if there were not already enough scandals plaguing the Obama administration, the federal “Fast and Furious” operation that armed Mexican drug cartels is back in the news after the Justice Department Inspector General released a report blasting a government leak intended to smear a key ATF whistleblower.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Eleven young people were brazenly kidnapped in broad daylight from an after-hours bar in Mexico City's Zona Rosa, a normally calm district of offices, restaurants, drinking spots and dance clubs, anguished relatives said Thursday. The apparent mass abduction purportedly happened sometime between 10 a.m. and noon on Sunday morning just off the Paseo de la Reforma, the city's main boulevard, near the Angel of Independence monument and only about 1½ blocks from the U.S. Embassy. ... City prosecutors said they had received 11 missing-person reports, but Garcia said residents of the tough downtown neighborhood of Tepito...

The Arizona mother imprisoned in Mexico on a drug-smuggling charge was released from prison late Thursday, a family spokesman tells Fox News. Yanira Maldonado walked out of the jail late Thursday night, after court officials reviewed security footage that showed her and her husband boarding a bus in Mexico with only blankets, bottles of water and her purse in hand. Maldonado hugged her husband Gary and was greeted by well-wishers after she left the lockup and officials closed the jail doors behind her. Gary Maldonado said earlier Thursday he was confident the charges would be dropped after court officials reviewed...

by John HillStand With ArizonaAnother day brings yet another exposé that which reminds us how illegal immigration is literally bankrupting this nation - and which will no doubt be totally ignored by the mainstream media in their coordinated effort to shove amnesty down our throats. Illegal alien and mother of seven, Florida resident Marita Nelson, receives $240 in food stamps, monthly medications, $700 in Social Security and a housing allowance. And she has been receiving government assistance for over 20 YEARS - ever since she illegally entered the U.S. by swimming the Rio Grande.She celebrates it...and is on a crusade to...

An American woman who went to Mexico for a family funeral has been stuck there for nearly a week, accused of smuggling drugs and facing a potential 10-year prison sentence. But Yanira Maldonado's family says she is a victim of Mexican corruption, and is hopeful a judge may free her in the coming days. A hearing in her case that started on Tuesday concluded for the day without a decision on her freedom. Six days earlier, Maldonado and her husband, Gary, were on a bus home to Goodyear, Ariz., after going to her aunt's funeral in Mexico. The bus was...

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Rising American output of shale oil is rewriting global trade patterns and deepening fault lines within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, limiting its ability to mount a collective response. A crucial OPEC meeting in Vienna on Friday will mark the first stage of a debate on shale’s oil’s impact. The meeting is unlikely to lead to a change in production levels, several OPEC delegates said — but inaction would set the stage for a future showdown. “We are heading toward some problems,” a delegate from a Persian Gulf OPEC member said. Oil output from...

An Arizona mother of seven will be back in court on Wednesday as a judge weighs whether she will go free or remain behind bars in Mexico, her family said. It's a situation Yanira Maldonado's family said she never imagined when she boarded a bus to head back to the United States last week after attending a family funeral in Mexico. Now she's facing drug-smuggling charges after authorities said they found 12 pounds of marijuana under her bus seat. Her family vehemently denies the charges and accuses Mexican authorities of arresting her to get bribe money. A Mexican state official...

For the first time ever, actor Charlie Sheen is keeping it real—in a credit sequence, that is. The Hollywood veteran best known for Two and a Half Men and perennial personal-life mayhem will be credited as "Carlos Estevez," his birth name, in the upcoming action flick Machete Kills, according to Splash News. TMZ has obtained a screen capture of Sheen's appearance in the film's credit sequence (seen above), which cheekily states, "And Introducing Carlos Estevez." Sheen took a stage name in the same style as his father Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez, better known as Martin Sheen, by the time of...

Mexico's top security officials promised Tuesday that a new federal offensive to rescue towns besieged by the Knights Templar drug cartel in western Michoacan state would stay "until there is security and peace for all state residents." Interior Secretary Miguel Osorio Chong and his national security team met with local officials in the state capital of Morelia at a time of escalating tensions in Michoacan, where communities mistrustful of state authorities have been creating their own vigilante forces for protection against the cartels. Michoacan is the Mexican state most visibly dominated by a drug cartel. Gunmen in vehicles marked only...

At first I thought the IRS scandal was leaked to distract from the Benghazi scandal. But that didn't make sense because the IRS scandal is a more obvious abuse of power than the White House lying about the murder of four Americans in Libya. Before I had resolved which scandal was distracting from which, we found out the Department of Justice was spying on The Associated Press -- not to protect national security, but to prevent the AP from scooping the White House. Then, this week, it broke that the Department of Justice was also spying on Fox News for...

The Knights Templar cartel is extorting protection payments from cattlemen, lime growers and businesses such as butchers, prompting some communities to fight back, taking up arms in vigilante patrols. Lime picker Alejandro Ayala chose to seek help from the law instead. After the cartel forced him out of work by shutting down fruit warehouses, he and several dozen co-workers, escorted by Federal Police, met on April 10 with then-state Interior Secretary Jesus Reyna, now the acting governor of the state in western Mexico. The 41-year-old father of two only wanted to get back to work, said his wife, Martha Elena...

It was a high-dollar human smuggling scheme that spanned the globe. Immigrants from the Fujian Province of China were smuggled to Mexico and then to Rio Grande Valley and on to Houston. Each immigrant paid tens of thousands of dollars all of it that lined the pockets of at least four smugglers from Harlingen. It’s not clear how much the group made during their five years of operation but an undercover operation by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents shut them down in May 2012. Three members of a Harlingen family have now been sent to federal prison for their...

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) backed down from a previous promise his spokeswoman made to Breitbart News that he would consider voting in favor of amendments to the Senate's immigration bill that would close a loophole allowing illegal immigrants immediate access to state and local welfare.

The former U.S. Attorney for Arizona could be disbarred, after an investigation found he lied to the Justice Department about his role in trying to discredit the federal whistle-blower who exposed the botched gun-running scheme known as Fast and Furious. An Office of Inspector General report showed that Dennis Burke -- the former chief of staff for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano appointed as U.S. Attorney for Arizona by President Obama in September 2009 -- lied when asked if he leaked sensitive documents to the press meant to undermine the credibility of ATF whistle-blower John Dodson. The IG report also...

A dramatic rupture in Mexico’s main opposition political party has aired the group’s dirty laundry and also could trip up President Enrique Peña Nieto’s ambitious agenda of reform. The political fireworks riveted Mexicans on Monday, dominating airwaves and social media as leaders of the National Action Party, or PAN, bickered openly. On one level, citizens were viewing another chapter in the agony of a party that ruled for the last 12 years but has been corroded by infighting and a bitter power struggle. Also at stake, potentially, was the ease with which Peña Nieto has been getting legislation through a...

A hot microphone caught Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) coordinating which way members of the “Gang of Eight” who serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee would vote on immigration bill amendments, Breitbart News has learned. “Do our Republicans have a pass on this one if they want?” the microphone caught Schumer saying.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General published a new report Monday that confirms former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke leaked a document intended to smear Operation Fast and Furious scandal whistleblower John Dodson. The DOJ IG said it found “Burke’s conduct in disclosing the Dodson memorandum to be inappropriate for a Department employee and wholly unbefitting a U.S. Attorney.” “We are referring to OPR our finding that Burke violated Department policy in disclosing the Dodson memorandum to a member of the media for a determination of whether Burke’s conduct violated the Rules of Professional Conduct for the state...

State-owned Petroleos Mexicanos admits that "serious" corruption exists in some areas of the company and that contracting processes in particular have been plagued by "interference from organized crime," a leading Mexican daily said Friday. In a front-page story, El Universal said Pemex representatives and members of the Mexican Construction Industry Chamber drew that conclusion at a meeting in late April. Pemex executives acknowledged that corruption is fueled "by the elevated potential economic benefit of illegal acts, impunity and the spaces opened up due to unnecessary flexibility," the newspaper reported. El Universal's story was published just days after rival daily Reforma...

Mexican state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos said it detected the presence of oil at a deep-water field in the Gulf of Mexico. "There are clear signs of the presence of hydrocarbons in Maximino, but final tests are still needed to fully confirm it," Pemex announced on Twitter. It said exploration work was continuing at the field, which is located on Mexico's side of the Perdido basin in a zone very near U.S. territorial waters. Pemex has previously found crude at other deep-water fields in the Perdido area. The Mexican company added that it hopes "to have definitive results shortly on...

by John HillStand With Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is facing an unprecedented campaign to recall him from office. This follows a re-election campaign last year which saw unprecedented amounts spent on both sides, as George Soros committed $10 million to oust "America's Sheriff". Joe was forced to spend his entire 'war chest' of $8 million to (barely) hold onto office - the closest race of his career. Why?Why is the Left in America so focused on a single county's Sheriff, and willing to spend Congressional-level funds to defeat him? Well for starters, Sheriff Joe is the biggest national symbol in...

The Homeland Security Department has granted legal status to 99.2 percent of all illegal immigrants who have applied under President Obama’s new non-deportation policy for young adults, according to the latest numbers released Friday. That’s a slight drop from the 99.5 percent approval rate reported last month. The policy, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, grants legal status to most illegal immigrants under the age of 31 who came to the U.S. before age 16 ... DACA is seen as a test-run should Congress pass a broad legalization for the 11 million illegal immigrants estimated to be in the...

Richmond judge gives babysitter maximum term in abuse case Copyright..refer to link..............http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local/crime/article_e9864e31-0d33-54ea-bdb3-eeeba4c11908.html

Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume warned Friday that the “Gang of Eight” efforts to pass immigration reform could be in trouble not only in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, but also in the Democratic-controlled Senate as well. Hume said by rejecting all efforts to beef up border enforcement, the bill was being condemned to “a death sentence.” “I think the bill is in trouble,” he said on Laura Ingraham’s radio program, “And it would in trouble whether they had a gang in the House or not, and will continue to be in trouble unless or until the enforcement...

A bipartisan group in the House working on an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws reached a deal in principle Thursday evening, aides said. The group plans to introduce its bill in June. Details of the compromise were not released, but, much like a bill introduced in the Senate, the House legislation will include a path to legalization for the 11 million undocumented workers already in the country, as well as increased border security measures. The House version, though, is expected to be more conservative in its approach to granting illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, among a number of...

Crude oil exports anchor the energy trade between Mexico and the United States. In 2012 Mexico was the world's ninth largest oil producer. The value of crude oil exports from Mexico to the United States reached $35.7 billion in 2012, having more than doubled since 2004. However, Mexico's crude oil production and exports to the United States have both fallen, with exports down to 0.96 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2012 from 1.48 million bbl/d in 2004. Last year was the first time since 1994 that annual exports of Mexican crude oil to the United States fell below 1...

he grandson of US political activist Malcolm X has died in Mexico City following a fight in a bar, say Mexican officials. Malcolm Shabazz, 29, succumbed in hospital to multiple injuries he suffered on Thursday. Mexico's attorney general's office said an investigation into the incident was under way. The US state department said that it was in contact with the family and offering appropriate assistance. Shabazz was discovered with fatal wounds at Plaza Garibaldi, a popular tourist area packed with bars and restaurants, in the early hours of Thursday, officials said. Miguel Suarez, a union activist who was travelling with...

Chris Crane, president of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers union, spoke to Mark Levin on The Mark Levin Show Thursday evening. Crane recently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the immigration bill working through Congress. Crane explained how President Obama and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano have, since the administration’s start, “attempted to shut down” border enforcement and “absolutely” tied law enforcement’s hands.

Family members have confirmed his death and that he was in Mexico but have not confirmed the exact location or circumstances of how Malcolm Shabazz died.

Royal Dutch/Shell will build the world's deepest offshore oil and gas facility, pushing the boundaries of industry technology to search three kilometres (1.9 miles) underwater in the Gulf of Mexico. The project go-ahead demonstrates Shell's confidence in pricey offshore projects despite a recent downturn in oil prices. Last month, BP decided to delay development of its biggest new Gulf of Mexico project, Mad Dog Phase 2, citing tough market conditions and fast-rising costs. Shell's 100 percent-owned Stones field was discovered in 2005 some 200 miles southwest of New Orleans and encompasses eight lease blocks in the Gulf of Mexico's Lower...

President Barack Obama has to be the most partisan and most ideological president we've seen in a long, long time. He cannot or will not refrain from injecting his partisan politics into almost every occasion. Did he go to Mexico last week to improve our relationship with our southern neighbor or to use Mexico, as he does anything else he can find, as a political prop to bash Republicans and as a platform to criticize the United States? What other American president has so often sidled up to foreign countries on the backs of his own countrymen? Obama's defenders deny,...