Free Republic

TOPEKA — With protesters chanting and pounding drums outside the Capitol, Secretary of State Kris Kobach, one of the nation’s most prominent advocates of illegal immigration crackdowns, urged lawmakers Wednesday to force employers and law enforcement officers to help chase off illegal immigrants. “There’s no question that if a state passes laws to discourage illegal immigration … then you will see some self-deportation,” Kobach told the House State and Federal Affairs Committee. The protesters outside said those laws are more likely to produce discrimination, worker shortages and costly lawsuits. “If Mr. Kobach, who is promoting, not only here in Kansas...

OKLAHOMA CITY — An amendment that would ban Oklahoma courts from considering international or Islamic law discriminates against religions and a Muslim community leader has the right to challenge its constitutionality, a federal appeals court said Tuesday. The court in Denver upheld U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange’s order blocking implementation of the amendment shortly after it was approved by 70 percent of Oklahoma voters in November 2010. Muneer Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma, sued to block the law from taking effect, arguing that the Save Our State Amendment violated his First Amendment rights....

I missed tonight’s CBS debate, mainly because I spent a great evening with some of my blogging friends here at FreedomWorks’ BlogCon2011. When I returned, though, I got a few messages about one particular moment in the debate, where CBS moderator attempted to lecture Newt Gingrich on the “rule of law” regarding American citizens who join the enemy to wage war against the US. Big mistake. The two worst aspects of this exchange? The smug look on Pelley’s face when he challenged Gingrich on this point, and the “no” you can hear him utter just as Gingrich started his smackdown...

For version with links, see Source URLIf you’re one of the many Americans—including both Tea Partiers and Occupiers—angry at privileged people who seem to make private profits on socialized risks, you may feel a certain schadenfreude at the news that Rajat Gupta has been charged with a felony: Gupta is being prosecuted for his alleged conduct during the period when Goldman Sachs, of whose board he was a member, received a massive bailout from the United States Treasury, whose secretary, one of the leading advocates of bailing out financial businesses like Goldman, was a former CEO of Goldman. No doubt...

Lawyers representing about 800 Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested in the past month demand that prosecutors drop the charges. If not, they say they won't deal and will insist on going to trial - putting pressure on the already overloaded Manhattan criminal courts. "I'd like to suggest to the DA's office the appropriate way to deal with these cases is outright dismissal," said defense lawyer Martin Stolar. "The leverage is, we take them all to trial." [Snip] Court officials had a different take. "Is it a strain on the system? Yes," said courts spokesman David Bookstaver. "But the reality is...

A great speech by Cong. Paul Ryan at last week's Constitution Day Celebration, hosted by Hillsdale College and its Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C.

The most important inquiry conservatives must posit in every policy debate: "What does our Constitution authorize and mandate?" "The Constitution which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People is sacredly obligatory upon all." --George Washington The most vital debate of the 2012 political cycle, indeed the essential question in any political debate, is one that you will not hear much about unless you are represented by one of the authentic conservatives who have carried the banner of the Reagan Revolution into the 21st century, or you are represented by one of...

Republicans accused the Obama administration of instituting "backdoor amnesty" after officials announced they would launch a case-by-case review of illegal immigrants slated for deportation in an effort to thin the list and focus resources on kicking out criminals. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, one of the president's toughest critics on border security, said the move amounts to the administration implementing an immigration overhaul "via executive fiat." "The plan amounts to backdoor amnesty for hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of illegal aliens," the Republican governor said in a written statement.

First, the Arms Export Control Act, 22 USC §2778.. It authorizes the President to define defense articles and regulate their export. In so doing, he must consider the possibility that export could "support international terrorism, increase the possibility of outbreak or escalation of conflict..." Those defense articles may not be exported without a permit, issued by the Secretary of State ( Department of State guidelines here), "except that no license shall be required for exports or imports made by or for an agency of the United States Government (A) for official use by a department or agency of the United...

The state is a collective of men. Going back to the beginning there was only one family, the family of God. There was only one government, the government of God. In the beginning it was God ruling over man. It was only after Cain’s rebellion that the division of kingdoms came into being. Cain refused to be governed by God and left to build the first city-state of man ruling over man secular government. Because man wants to be a god, determining good and evil for themselves, lawlessness in society increases as the god-man rebels against the “rule of law”....

Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Arizona's mandatory E-Verify law, we at NumbersUSA have heard a modest but steady stream of comments from people questioning if it wouldn't be better to skip having a national E-Verify law and stick with state laws to push illegal aliens out of U.S. jobs. Certainly, we have to acknowledge that we would not right now have the possibility of a national E-Verify law passing if it weren't for the valiant efforts of many state legislators across the nation who -- often with the help of attorney, and now Kansas Secretary...

History is threatening to re peat itself. Twenty-five years ago, Congress passed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act (...illegal-alien amnesty), which gave a path to citizenship to illegal aliens already here in exchange for prohibiting the hiring of illegal workers -- a provision that has been enforced only sporadically. It was a raw deal for conservatives. Tuesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith introduced a bill (HR 2164) to require nationwide use of the E-Verify system. While the Smith bill sounds good, in fact, it hobbles immigration enforcement. Negotiated with the pro-amnesty US Chamber of Commerce, the bill would establish a fairly toothless...

The humanitarian group No More Deaths has begun a campaign to halt the deportation of 21 undocumented Mexican immigrants across the Texas and New Mexico borders arguing that they could fall into the hands of the drug cartels that dominate parts of northern Mexico. The organization said it had received four letters signed by 21 people who are being held at the detention center in Torrance, New Mexico, after they were apprehended crossing the Arizona desert illegally.The undocumented migrants expressed the fear that they might be kidnapped or murdered if they are deported into the Mexican border states of Chihuahua,...

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) warned President Barack Obama on Tuesday that Latinos will not regard as “acceptable” a move to make the E-Verify system of checking prospective employees’ immigration status mandatory for all U.S. firms, as urged by Republicans. Gutierrez, the Chicago-born son of Puerto Rican parents, gave the warning at a telephone press conference ahead of Wednesday’s hearing of the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement about a bill to impose E-Verify nationwide. That bill is being pushed by the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Texas Republican Lamar Smith, and Immigration Subcommittee Chair Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.). E-Verify,...

To honor local sanctuary policies the top law enforcement official in a major U.S. county is releasing jailed illegal immigrants, including those flagged by federal authorities for deportation. San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey began freeing illegal alien prisoners a few weeks ago to protest against a federal program (Secure Communities) that requires local authorities to check the immigration status of arrestees. The idea is to deport dangerous criminals, many of whom have fallen through the cracks over the years. Last month Hennessey, California’s longest-serving sheriff, announced that he would ignore federal detainer orders on illegal immigrants arrested for low-level crimes...

Horne acknowledged that a brief filed by the Department of Justice in a case to be heard next month by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals centers around the agency’s argument that Arizona’s law requiring proof of citizenship to register is pre-empted by federal law. But Horne, a Republican, told Capitol Media Services he sees something more sinister. “I think the motive is that the more illegals that vote, the better the Obama administration thinks it will do,’’ he said. As proof, Horne pointed out that the Department of Justice did not file its friend of the court brief...

Mexicans on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border are protesting the upcoming execution of a criminal alien rapist and murderer scheduled for July 7, 2011, in Texas. Because the convicted killer is a Mexican citizen, the Calderon government is questioning the procedures that were utilized in sentencing the death row prisoner, Humberto Leal Garcia. The Mexican ambassador to the United States requested this week that Texas Governor Rick Perry delay the execution until a review is completed of the sentencing procedures. The 38-year old Garcia faces the death penalty for the rape and murder of 16-year-old Adra Sauceda in San...

A humanitarian group said on Tuesday it has given emergency GPS location devices to Mexican human smugglers in a controversial bid to save immigrants' lives as they break into increasingly remote desert stretches of the U.S. border this summer. Rev. Robin Hoover, founder of Tucson-based Humane Borders, said he gave five cell-phone sized location beacons to a church group in Mexico's northern Sonora state earlier this month to distribute to human smugglers, known as "coyotes." The aim is for the coyotes to use the devices to summon rescue if they get into trouble as they guide migrants on the dangerous...

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General plans an investigation of an immigration enforcement program that purports to target "serious convicted felons" for deportation but has ensnared many illegal immigrants who were arrested but not subsequently convicted of crimes or who committed minor offenses, a letter obtained Wednesday shows. The letter from acting Inspector General Charles K. Edwards to Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), who requested an investigation late last month, said the watchdog agency had already scheduled a review of the program, known as Secure Communities. Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency launched the program in...

DENVER – An immigrant suspected of being in the country illegally could receive $90,000 to settle a lawsuit claiming he was unlawfully held in a suburban Denver jail for 47 days, the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday. Luis Quezada, 37, agreed to a $40,000 settlement with the Jefferson County sheriff's office, which held him at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in May 2009, according to the lawsuit. Earlier this month, ICE reached a $50,000 settlement with Quezada, but the agency acknowledged no wrongdoing in the case...Sheriff's spokesman Mark Techmeyer said his office couldn't comment because the case...

The shocking discovery Tuesday of 513 migrants --many of them from India and other Asian countries -- in Chiapas, Mexico headed for the U.S. border, lays bare an illegal pipeline that funnels people from South Asia to the United States. Fox News Latino takes an exclusive look at this traffic. Guatemala City --The house was in a residential section of Guatemala City, just an ordinary structure that blended into the landscape. But what Guatemalan immigration authorities found inside in February was anything but ordinary: 27 males, including two minors, who had not eaten or bathed for days. Even more intriguing,...

Two federal court filings Monday in the criminal case of the man accused in the January shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others in Tucson, Ariz., strongly suggest that two health professionals who evaluated his mental state have determined he isn't competent to stand trial, according to legal experts. The filings, one by the defense and one by the prosecution, indicate that a competency hearing for Jared Loughner scheduled in a Tucson federal court for May 25 could largely be a formality. Both filings agreed that the two doctors who evaluated Mr. Loughner wouldn't need to testify. The filings...

Legendary rock guitarist Carlos Santana, in town to be honored for a “Beacon of Change” award at Sunday’s MLB Civil Rights Game at Turner Field, called the state's new immigration law "anti-American. "Santana took his turn at the podium on the field in a pre-game ceremony before the Braves-Phillies game to criticize the immigration bill just signed into law by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal Friday. “I represent the human race,” the Mexican-born Carlos Santana said. “The people of Arizona, the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourselves.” The Georgia immigration law, HB 87, cracks down on illegal...

His name is Rafael Anchia, and he is the elected state Rep. from district 103 in the Dallas area. He is also said to have his eye on one of Texas’ new seats in Congress. Speaking in the Texas House to oppose an Arizona-style immigration reform bill in the Texas legislature (House Bill 12), Anchia openly says that he represents illegal aliens.“The immigrant population in district 103 includes some of the finest and most hard working people in the state of Texas. They’re people that you’re gonna find on roofs, or in construction crews, in the middle of the summer...

While America's kids prepare for their college graduation events, Pres. Obama laid out an immigration blueprint in El Paso for making it much more difficult for them to find jobs. When it comes to unemployed Americans, Pres. Obama always gives higher priority to foreign workers. Can you imagine forcing the college grads to compete for jobs with 400,000 additional college grads from around the world? Our President can. Along with his speech, he issued his "Building a 21st Century Immigration System" report that primarily calls for increasing U.S. work permits for foreign workers of all kinds by massive amounts. The...

President Obama plans to unveil a “blueprint” on Tuesday of what he wants Congress to include in a comprehensive immigration reform bill, according to senior administration officials. Obama is scheduled to visit El Paso, Texas, with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano as part of the White House’s increased efforts to return immigration reform to the national spotlight. A senior administration official told reporters in a conference call Monday evening that Obama’s renewed push for an immigration bill was not merely a political move attempting to paint Congress as the inhibitor and the White House as the doer in the eyes...

WASHINGTON – Focusing his first solo legislative effort on an issue that gained him and Hazleton national attention, Republican Rep. Lou Barletta today said he will introduce a bill seeking to strip all federal funding from “sanctuary” cities that fail to enforce federal immigration laws. The former Hazleton mayor and freshman member of Congress also said he is forming an “Immigration Reform Caucus” that he hopes other freshmen lawmakers will join. Barletta said ... that his bill, which he expects to formally introduce within a few weeks, will be designed to “crack down on cities whose elected officials have willfully...

Is Ron Paul the next "pro-immigration libertarian" to bedevil conservatives? VDare's Washington Watcher columnist surveys Liberty Defined, Paul's latest book, and finds a "tragic turnaround on immigration." In an email to supporters, Tom Tancredo accused his former congressional colleague and fellow 2008 Republican presidential candidate of doing a "180 turn" on immigration and "standing with La Raza and the Chamber of Commerce." ... "While we have differed very publicly on issues such as the threat of Radical Islam, he had generally been an ally on immigration in Congress. He was a solid vote against amnesty, a leader in ending birthright...

Los Angeles -- Elvira Sosa left Mexico for the United States more than 30 years ago, but last year was the first time she'd been counted as part of the U.S. Census. Sosa was among thousands of illegal immigrants in Los Angeles who filled out a census form last year, and city officials said the response, especially among Latinos, might have saved the area money and congressional representation. The increased count was purposeful: A Census Bureau outreach program...included Spanish call centers that would field questions about the census, plus billboards, bus advertisements and fliers with information... The response: The 2010...

Juan Jose Gutierrez, the president of an immigration activist group called Vamos Unidos, predicts that hundreds of thousands of people will march in Los Angeles on May Day, demanding legalization for illegal immigrants. In an appearance Sunday on the Univision program "Al Punto", Gutierrez said that legalization is the only way out of the current policy stalemate. Expressing alarm that federal authorities have deported more than 800,000 illegal immigrants during the Obama administration, he warned that unless Congress passes immigration reform, mounting frustrations with enforcement of immigration laws could lead to violence. Here is an excerpt from his comments: What...

HELENA – A proposed referendum to require proof of citizenship to receive some state services in Montana has drawn the attention of a national immigration organization. On Thursday the Immigration Policy Center, a research and policy center in Washington, D.C., issued a media release that said such a move would be “costly and unworkable.” “The true costs associated are unknown because the damage to the state’s reputation and economy through lost tourism and business aren’t calculable until after the fact,” according to the release. House Bill 638 is sponsored by Rep. David Howard, R-Park City. Howard said the measure is...

Texas House members Paul Workman and Jim Murphy, both Republicans, have submitted HB 2886, to establish “a work program for certain persons not legally authorized to be in the United States…” State Rep. Workman filed the bill on March 10. On page 2 of their draft is this interesting clause: “Sec. 54.003. ELIGIBILITY. (a) A foreign national who is not lawfully present in this state may apply for a Texas resident alien card.” In other words, they want to make it easier for non-residents to come to Texas to fill jobs, when our official unemployment rate stands at 8.2%, and...

Numerous arguments have been advanced by advocates of illegal immigrants in recent years. Although they fervently adhere to the rationale they put forth, their arguments are transparently hollow...One argument is, actually, a deception that has, unfortunately, taken root among U.S. citizens of Hispanic origin — that illegal immigration is an ethnic issue and those who oppose a borderless policy are anti-Hispanic racists. This argument has been raised primarily by the national media and the propaganda has been effective. When one has the perception that his ethnic group is being attacked, the automatic response is defensive. Unfortunately, this is a con...

...Census Bureau data reveals that most U.S. families headed by illegal immigrants use taxpayer-funded welfare programs on behalf of their American-born anchor babies. Even before the recession, immigrant households with children used welfare programs at consistently higher rates than natives, according to the extensive census data collected and analyzed by a nonpartisan Washington D.C. group dedicated to researching legal and illegal immigration in the U.S...The majority of households across the country benefitting from publicly-funded welfare programs are headed by immigrants, both legal and illegal. States where immigrant households with children have the highest welfare use rates are Arizona (62%), Texas,...

An Organization of American States panel on Thursday said that the detention of undocumented immigrants in the United States has become a general rule when it should be the exception, adding that many of the detainees were being held under "unacceptable" conditions. That is one of the conclusions presented in the "Report on Immigration in the United States: Detention and Due Process" released by the OAS's Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, or IACHR... One of the IACHR's main concerns is the "increasing use of detention based on a presumption of its necessity, when in fact detention should be the exception."...

On February 10, 2011, Prince William County police arrested Jose Oswaldo Reyes Alfaro, 37, after he allegedly went on a shooting and stabbing spree which left three people dead and three others wounded. When he was taken into custody, the Salvadoran national had in his possession, a machete as well as a .38 caliber revolver...According to Manassas Police Chief Doug Keen, the suspect was ordered deported in 2002, but was never detained by federal immigration authorities and never left, despite two more arrests after his deportation order.... After only a brief mention the day after the attacks occurred, this case...

The influential Mexican La Raza group that’s received millions of federal tax dollars to promote its leftist, open-borders agenda has added several new branches to its growing network of community organizations dedicated to serving Latinos. Among them is yet another public “charter” school that pushes a radical Chicano movement, known as “reconquista,” with a custom-designed curriculum financed by U.S. taxpayers. The plan is to conquer the American southwest, return it to Mexico and perform ethnic cleansing of Americans, Europeans, Africans and Asians. The politically-connected, Washington D.C. group National Council of La Raza (NCLR) has helped further this agenda by expanding...

Immigrants from most Latin American countries sent home substantially more money at the beginning of 2011 than they did a year earlier, signaling the economic recovery in the U.S. and other developed countries has improved prospects for foreign workers. Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico received between 6% and 16% more revenue from remittances in January than in the same month last year, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development... The January figures, coupled with 2010 data to be released Monday...confirms the end of a downward trend in remittance flows, which had tumbled 15% between 2008 and 2009... Remittances...

Mexican authorities claim to have arrested another alleged drug cartel suspect tied to the killing of a U.S. immigration agent in February. The Mexican Public Safety Department said that federal police detained Mario Jimenez Perez and 16 other suspects on March 5. Jimenez Perez, also known as “Mayito”, is an alleged financier of the Zetas drug cartel. A statement by the Mexican Security Minister said that Jimenez Perez was captured Sunday in the central San Luis Potosi state and that he “has been linked to the murder of a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.” The murder of ICE...

A proposed immigration law being cast in jest across the country as a way for Texans to rid the work force of illegal immigrants while protecting their low-paid nannies and gardeners drew serious concern Thursday from advocates who fear the bill could have a chilling effect across the state. Rep. Debbie Riddle's House Bill 1202 calls for two years in jail and up to $10,000 fines for people who "intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly" hire unauthorized immigrants. Specifically exempted: Laborers relegated to "work to be performed exclusively or primarily at a single-family residence." "House Bill 1202 has just really created an...

Rule of law or anarchy? Will anarchy and chaos prevail, or will the rule of law ultimately be respected? The answer to that question very well could decide whether this nation stands or slips closer to the abyss of tyranny. ........ Here is one method. "Class, when representative democracy isn't producing the results you want, you have to make government conform to your rules. Here are some tactics you should use: Fail to show up for work so you can attend a rally in protest. Make sure to obtain an excuse from a fraudulent doctor so you won't miss any...

MARTINEZ -- The federal immigration agency has finally linked all California police agencies to reveal immigrants -- legal or not -- arrested for violating laws and subject to deportation. The action, to be announced Friday morning in Southern California, enables U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to tag arrests and travel to all of the state's county jails to pick up immigrants accused of committing crimes. In essence, local police, willingly or not, have become an arm of the federal immigration agency. The fingerprints of everyone arrested by local police are now sent automatically to an electronic database reviewed...

Two months after the shooting death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office remain silent. But family members, and others, are speaking out. Key developments include: 3 out of 4 suspects arrested at the shooting scene have been released for deportation. Terry family members fear a government cover-up means their son's killer will never be caught. Sen. Charles Grassley has launched a Senate Judiciary investigation saying the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives "may have become careless, if not negligent," in handling "Project Gunrunner," errors that may have contributed to Terry's death... The...

PHOENIX - The president of the state Senate introduced legislation Monday to ban illegal immigrants from state universities and community colleges, make it a crime for them to drive in Arizona and include new public-school reporting requirements that could prompt the parents of children not here legally to keep them home. SB 1611, set for hearing this afternoon, also would put companies that do not use a federal database to check the status of new workers out of business. And it would require cities to evict anyone in public housing who cannot prove legal presence in this country. Senate President...

While they've made strides in arresting illegals and building a fence along the U.S.-Mexico line, the Border Patrol only has "operational control" of 44 percent of the southern border, and of that only 15 percent is air tight, according to new General Accountability Office report. The GAO said that the Mexican border with Texas has the most holes, especially between Fort Hancock and Brownsville, where 70 percent to 90 percent of the state line is at the two lowest levels of protection...The GAO said that efforts to detector stop illegal immigrants from crossing there were poor. "Border Patrol reported that...

Later this week, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) will introduce the Strengthening Our Commitment to Legal Immigration and America's Security Act that would eliminate the Visa Lottery, strengthen interior enforcement, and require the implementation of an exit procedure for foreign visitors to the United States. Sen. Hatch unveiled the details of his bill on Friday while addressing the Heritage Foundation in Washington. "I continue to believe that we must do everything to properly and finally secure our border," Sen. Hatch said. "Many of our nationÂ’s problems result from a residual effect of a porous border and a breakdown of our immigration...

WASHINGTON — Responding to Republican criticism about border security, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is asking congressional leaders to temper their comments intended for political gain and take a tour of communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. "The situation on the border continues to be mischaracterized, and I am concerned that this is hurting the morale of our law enforcement personnel and the local economies of border towns," Napolitano said... Napolitano sent invitations to GOP and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate saying it was important to "forge a constructive dialogue" on border security. Her invitation comes as Texas Gov....

Governor Jan Brewer just announced ....on behalf of the State of Arizona, she is suing the Federal Government. There are 5 counts....1/ failure to achieve operational control over the Mexico/Arizona border...2/ failure to protect Arizona from invasion...to enforce immigration laws...

MANASSAS, Va. — Authorities say a 37-year-old man has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder following a series of shootings in a Virginia suburb of Washington. Manassas Police Chief Doug Keen says Jose Oswaldo Reyes Alfaro is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who was ordered deported a decade ago but never left...Two people were fatally shot and two others were hurt about 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Georgetown South neighborhood of Manassas, city police spokesman Sgt. Tim Neumann said. About 20 minutes later, police were called to another home about a quarter-mile away where one person had...

Sending dozens of illegal immigrants to jail for using stolen identities to work is a “travesty,” according to the Clinton-appointed federal judge who reluctantly approved the plea agreements of Mexican and Guatemalan employees arrested during a raid at an Iowa meatpacking plant. The 2008 case received national media coverage because hundreds of suspected illegal aliens were apprehended during a massive federal raid at the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant, Agriprocessing Co. Many used fake identities and stolen Social Security numbers to work at the facility in the northeast Iowa community of Postville and dozens were criminally charged. Now the judge...