Free Republic

In one case, an innocent man died in gang’s 3 tries to kill target It was not the first time a rival tried to kill Mexican drug cartel-connected gangster Santiago “Chago” Salinas, but it would be the last. When 28-year-old Salinas was shot in the head at point-blank range three years ago at the Baymont Inn & Suites hotel on the Gulf Freeway, it was the latest round in a deadly feud that has played out here and in Mexico. Just a few weeks before, Salinas' brother-in-law who also had lived in Houston, was found dead, charred in a barrel...

This just in from Yahoo: LAPD William Bratton is stepping down as chief of the LAPD. Bratton is part of the problem with big city policing these days. There was a time when Los Angeles had one of the best and toughest big city police departments in the entire nation. The legendary police chief, William Parker, molded the LAPD into a tough, no nonsense crime fighting machine, and apolitical at that. Parker was followed by some very able and professional chiefs as well including Ed Davis and Daryl Gates who worked to keep the department highly professional and independent of...

The city's plans to step up cooperation with federal authorities in efforts to deport illegal immigrants is garnering new debate in the 2009 mayoral contest. Latino advocates have pressed candidates to distance themselves from Mayor Bill White's request that Houston be allowed to participate in two federal programs that, at least within the confines of the city's jails, would put police officers in the immigration enforcement business. While each of the four major candidates generally opposes diverting too many resources to immigration enforcement, they all support the thrust of the city's new effort to screen jail inmates and turn over...

But the plan troubles immigrants' advocates The Houston Police Department has been approved to participate in a controversial federal program that would train a cadre of city jailers to help detain suspected illegal immigrants, immigration officials announced Friday. The announcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials comes nearly four months after Mayor Bill White requested that federal officials expedite training for city jailers. White made the request within days of the March 5 shooting of Houston police officer Rick Salter, who was critically injured by an illegal immigrant with a criminal record. Salter is recovering. HPD and White have faced...

Illegal Immigration: As California issues IOUs to its citizens, another ballot proposition may be brewing to cut off benefits that are draining the state budget. From education to welfare to crime, the cupboard is bare.California is a leader in both government debt and the sanctuary city movement. But as its citizens seek shelter from the economic storm, the question has arisen anew whether its non-citizens and the better life they want takes precedence over its citizens and the better life they are entitled to. In this mother of all recessions, it's getting harder to argue that illegal aliens are here...

The older brother of the man who allegedly shot and killed an undercover Houston police officer last week is wanted in a gang-related slaying last year of a South Carolina man, authorities said. Juan Pedroza Carrillo, 40, was one of three men linked to the November 2 fatal shooting of Jorge Alberto Vindel Ramos, 51, in Lexington County, S.C., authorities said. Ramos was shot in the head and chest with a .380 semi-automatic pistol as he was working on his car outside his home, officials said. While the motive for the killing remains under investigation, federal immigration officials confirmed that...

  Third Officer Shot By Illegal Alien In Sancutary City Last Updated: Mon, 06/29/2009 - 3:52pmA third law enforcement officer in one of the nation’s biggest sanctuary cities has been shot by an illegal immigrant who was protected by a don’t-ask-don’t-tell immigration policy during previous police encounters.The Houston Police Department’s longtime rule prohibiting officers from questioning suspects about immigration status has cost the department dearly in the last few years. Two officers have been murdered and one shot in the face by illegal immigrants with previous records. The latest shooting occurred just last week when an illegal alien from Mexico killed...

Policeman's killer, suspected accomplices appear to be illegal immigrants The gunman who fatally shot a Houston police officer in the back before being gunned down by another officer during an undercover sting late Tuesday is believed to have been an illegal immigrant from Mexico, law enforcement officials said Wednesday. Robert Rutt, agent in charge of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement office of criminal investigations in Houston, confirmed that Houston police had asked for assistance in determining the immigration status of the gunman shot to death in a drug store parking lot after officer Henry Canales, 42, was fatally wounded....

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris' office on Monday defended allowing about a half dozen first-time drug offenders to clear their records by going through a job-training program, even after prosecutors learned they were deportable as undocumented immigrants. The L.A. Times first reported Monday that illegal immigrants had been enrolled in the program and that Harris' office had let several graduate and go free even after learning of their status. Harris was quoted in the Times as saying that enforcing federal immigration law was not the job of local authorities. The district attorney was explaining how her office handled the...

San Francisco at Crossroads Over Immigration By JESSE McKINLEY Published: June 12, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO — In the debate over illegal immigration, San Francisco has proudly played the role of liberal enclave, a so-called sanctuary city where local officials have refused to cooperate with enforcement of federal immigration law and undocumented residents have mostly lived without fear of consequence. But over the last year, buffeted by several high-profile crimes by illegal immigrants and revelations of mismanagement of the city’s sanctuary policy, San Francisco has become less like its self-image and more like many other cities in the United States: deeply...

Tempers Flare Over Potentially Making Bellingham A Sanctuary City For AWOL Soldiers BELLINGHAM - A heated community meeting was held tonight at the Bellingham Municipal Building over whether the City should become a sanctuary for AWOL soldiers. Bellingham City Council Chambers was jam-packed and at times raucous Monday night, as supporters and opponents of a plan that would allow AWOL soldiers to seek refuge in Bellingham gathered for a public forum. Students from Western Washington University and local military veterans who started G.I. Sanctuary City Movement asked the city for the meeting. Gulf War Veteran Matt Bambara says war objectors...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has made it official—he's running to become California's next governor. The 41-year-old mayor used the social networking sites Twitter and Facebook to announce on Tuesday that he was seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Texas and Arizona are considering bills to ban cities from enacting "sanctuary policies" that discourage them from enforcing federal immigration laws. Witnesses testified Wednesday before a Texas Senate committee for a bill aimed at "sanctuary cities" like Austin and Houston that tell police officers to avoid determining the immigration status of those they deal with, the Houston Chronicle reported

The family of a father and two sons slain last year in San Francisco filed a lawsuit Friday, blaming the city's sanctuary policy for illegally shielding the suspected gunman from earlier deportation despite his record of "extreme violence." The suit - lodged in San Francisco Superior Court - asserts that the city sanctuary policy was a "substantial factor" in the June 22, 2008, slayings of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16. The city attorney's office declined to comment. Lawyers for Bologna's wife and his two surviving children assert in the suit that the alleged gunman,...

The two cities of El Paso and Denver are 800 miles apart, but they both exist in the rarified world of "sanctuary cities," where mayors and city officials love to proclaim, "We welcome all immigrants, regardless of immigration status." This is PC code for welcoming illegal aliens, but it also means they welcome the prosecution of Border Patrol agents and immigration enforcement agents who take their jobs too seriously. The prosecution, imprisonment and eventual release of El Paso Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean made headlines for two years, but few Americans outside Denver have ever heard of...

How does 76,000 become >20,000? Well that's what petitioners in Los Angeles want to know. Earlier this week 76 thousand signatures were turned in, more than enough to place an initiative on the ballot for the next election, that would require the LAPD to identify and deport gang members who are illegal aliens (in other words require the LAPD to obey enforce the law). Maybe it was some sort of strange black magic or something because when when the LA Officials counted the names there were less than 20 thousand. Mmm does the name Rose Mary Woods ring a bell?...

By David Paulin It was one of the strangest hit-and-runs police had ever seen in Austin, Texas. Early last September, officers answering a call at 4:19 a.m. found a young man dead along a highway. They surmised he was a motorcyclist. He was, after all, wearing motorcycle garb – a helmet, black-leather jacket, boots. A few hundred feet away, officers spotted a single skid mark running down the highway, and disappearing from sight. Oddly, no motorcycle could be found. A check of the victim's driver's license revealed his name: Eric M. Laufer. Laufer, 25, was a highly-regarded musician and...

AURORA — As new questions arose about the man police say is responsible for the tragedy, several hundred friends and relatives gathered Saturday night outside an ice cream shop to mourn three lives suddenly lost. "It hurts now," said Vito Kudlis, surrounded by friends as he and his wife, Enely, wept for their 3-year-old son, Marten. "It is freaky. It is crazy." Marten, Patricia Guntharp, 49, of Centennial and Debra Serecky, 51, of Aurora all died when a Thursday night collision caused vehicles to careen into the Baskin-Robbins at the corner of South Havana Street and East Mississippi Avenue. Saturday...

For years, Gerardo Salazar played the Romeo in dusty Mexican villages, trolling town squares and schoolyards for women and girls he could seduce with declarations of love and, ultimately, sell in seedy Houston cantinas. Salazar, who called himself El Gallo — the Rooster — could have been arrested three years ago after a federal indictment named him leader of an international human trafficking ring. Instead, he escaped to Mexico, where his hometown is a notorious center for kidnapping. But the cantina sex trade Salazar helped build in Houston continues to flourish. Despite enforcement efforts, human traffickers and prostitution operators have...

91 percent of readers think S.F. mayor should be charged VICTORVILLE — Local leaders are condemning the San Francisco mayor’s decision to dump illegal alien probationers in the San Bernardino Group homes, and some believe he should be criminally charged. “The actions of Mayor (Gavin) Newsom are unconscionable and a violation of this oath of office where he swore to; uphold and defend the constitution of the United States,” said Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Santa Clarita. “As to whether he should be charged with obstruction of justice, that’s a legal question better answered by the United States Attorney General.” Rep....

History records that Paul Weyrich, one of the founders of the Moral Majority, the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups, used to present himself as a soul-brother to the American worker. In his heyday he railed against the "elitist upper class" and established his bona fides by saying, "I come from a poor district of working-class people." Writing in the Washington Times last week, Mr. Weyrich was back in his old rhetorical neighborhood. The subject was Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, and Mr. Weyrich was writing to celebrate "the best record of accomplishment of anyone in the Bush administration." Read closely,...

SAN FRANCISCO -- About a dozen members of the Minutemen, a group that patrols the U.S.-Mexican border in an effort to keep illegal immigrants out, stood on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall today to decry the city's sanctuary policy and demand that Mayor Gavin Newsom resign. They waved signs calling Newsom, District Attorney Kamala Harris and William Siffermann, head of the city's Juvenile Probation Department, "accessories to murder" for the city's now-reversed policy of not turning over illegal immigrant youths arrested for felonies to federal authorities for possible deportation. One Salvadoran immigrant who benefited from the policy, Edwin...

By Michelle Malkin  •  July 29, 2008 03:26 PM Nancy Pelosi may not care about San Francisco’s inhumane and reckless illegal alien sanctuary policies. But a growing number of Bay Area residents have had enough.There’s a protest tomorrow on the steps of SF’s city hall. Reader David sends details. Make your voice heard: Hi Michelle!Could you please publicize this upcoming protest on your site…Protest to demand the resignation of Mayor Newsom and the end of SF’s criminal alien shield (otherwise known as the Sanctuary City Policy).San Francisco City Hall Wednesday, July 30th 11 A.M.The call was put out by the Minuteman...

The fatal shootings of a father and two sons in San Francisco's Excelsior district June 22 were not road-rage killings and instead were motivated by the killer's belief that his targets were in a rival gang, the head of the police homicide unit said Monday. "We know it is gang related," Lt. Mike Stasko told the Board of Supervisors' Public Safety Committee. Stasko said the victims, Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons, Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, were attacked because of their appearance. "Apparently, the people in the car were similar to Hispanic males, and they were targeted because of...

By Michelle Malkin  •  July 28, 2008 03:16 PM Just how out of touch is Nancy Pelosi? Go look at her defense of San Francisco values, if you must.See what’s missing?Not a word about the San Francisco values that led to illegal alien Honduran crack dealers getting subsidized escort shuttle service back home to escape deportation and proseuction.Not a word about the San Francisco values that led to illegal alien drug lords getting sent down and dumped on San Bernardino group homes– only to walk out of them scot-free. Not a word about the San Francisco values that gave bloody sanctuary...

Mayors Villaraigosa of Los Angeles and Newsome of San Francisco both want to become California's next governor. Both men, moreover, have granted "sanctuary" to all illegal aliens -- even gang members like those who shattered the lives of the Shaw Family, the Bologna Family, and Heaven only knows how many other families. Should these two Mayors be elected governor, or should they instead be indicted for aiding and abetting illegal immigration? Let's look at the law: Entering the country illegally is a crime, punishable by up to six months' imprisonment. (8 U.S.C. 1325.) Aiding and abetting illegal immigration, moreover, is...

LISTEN ONLINE to KABC RADIO IN LOS ANGELES.This is a replay from this morning. Don't miss it!

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...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Three more juvenile illegal immigrant drug dealers sent by San Francisco to group homes hundreds of miles from the city have escaped... The three were among the offenders previously protected from possible deportation under a long-standing city policy against handing over juvenile illegal immigrants to federal authorities, even those convicted of felonies. Chronicle stories about the policy prompted a national outcry, and Mayor Gavin Newsom rescinded it earlier this month. Newsom acted shortly after eight Honduran juveniles convicted of dealing crack on the city's streets walked away from unlocked group homes in San Bernardino County, where the...

San Francisco will shift course and start turning over juvenile illegal immigrants convicted of felonies to federal authorities for possible deportation, Mayor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday as he took the blame for what he conceded was a costly and misguided effort to shield the youths. Newsom said he hadn't known until recently that the city was keeping the juvenile offenders from being deported as part of its sanctuary-city policy, but he added that "ignorance is no defense." "All I can say is, I can't explain away the past," Newsom said. "I take responsibility, I take it. We are moving in...

SAN FRANCISCO -- California's best-known sanctuary city -- a haven for illegal immigrants -- has been escorting convicted juvenile offenders back to their home countries at city expense for nearly a generation and shielding them from federal officials in the process But after several recent embarrassing incidents, this famously liberal enclave has been forced to reconsider how it deals with young undocumented criminals. Ever since a city juvenile probation officer was detained by federal immigration authorities in Houston nearly seven weeks ago and questioned about two offenders he was escorting back to Honduras, the city has stopped flying such people...

San Francisco juvenile probation officials - citing the city's immigrant sanctuary status - are protecting Honduran youths caught dealing crack cocaine from possible federal deportation and have given some offenders a city-paid flight home with carte blanche to return. The city's practices recently prompted a federal criminal investigation into whether San Francisco has been systematically circumventing U.S. immigration law, according to officials with knowledge of the matter.City officials say they are trying to balance their obligations under federal and state law with local court orders and San Francisco's policies aimed at protecting the rights of the young immigrants, who they...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Comments from bloggers that say, "Hartford is a piece-of-scum city populated by animals," and, "It is the African/ Latino people that have ruined our country,” are the kind that Mayor Eddie Perez said he no longer wants to see on www.hartford.com. Perez and community leaders held a rally Friday afternoon in front of the Broad Street headquarters of the state's largest newspaper, the Hartford Courant. Perez said he's asked the Courant to better monitor comment from readers

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota lawmaker Willie Dominguez was mugged Wednesday night outside of his Minneapolis home. The state representative says he was "scared to death" when two young men stole $40 from him while he was in the driveway of his home, shortly after he returned from the state Capitol. Dominguez says one of the robbers threatened him with a gun. Police have no suspects in custody.

The TERRY ANDERSON SHOW.. Articulating the Popular Rage! Sundays - 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 - Phoenix "If You Ain't Mad, You Ain't Payin' Attention!" Call-In Number - (866) 870-5752 Don't miss Terry's April 20th show with guest ... BUDDY WITHERSPOON, Candidate for US Senator against Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. http://buddywitherspoon.com/ Can you guess WHO the most Horriblest Clown of the Week is? Listen to Terry online ... http://krla870.townhall.com/ http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/index.php?cmd=listenlive

ANITA Shaw says, "My country let me down." It's hard to argue with her. Not only did America let Anita Shaw down, so did California and Los Angeles. Truth be told, Anita Shaw is being diplomatic, if not generous, by not lashing out in righteous indignation at the massive tragedy she has suffered at the hands of an indifferent government. Our government: federal, state and local. Who is Anita Shaw and why should you care what she says? Pull up a chair. Anita Shaw is a sergeant in the United States Army. On March 2, little more than a month...

The city of San Francisco has started an advertising push with a very specific target market: illegal immigrants. And while the advertisements will come in a bundle of languages — English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese — they all carry the same message: you are safe here. In what may be the first such campaign of its kind, the city plans to publish multilanguage brochures and fill the airwaves with advertisements relaying assurance that San Francisco will not report them to federal immigration authorities. Mayor Gavin Newsom said the campaign was simply an amplification of a longstanding position of not cooperating...

By Vic Lee SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco is launching a new campaign tonight to tell illegal immigrants they're welcome in the city. San Francisco is a so-called sanctuary city. What that means exactly-- and how officials are getting the word out. The city's message will appear on TV, radio, posters and brochures in five languages. The extensive outreach campaign will be directed at undocumented workers and their families in San Francisco. "We're going to spend resources, time and energy to do PSA's, to do campaign outreach into community clinics, into public schools, into our police stations to let...

The US Dept of Justice wants San Francisco to repay $5.4M in grant money earmarked to help fight the war on drugs in states bordering Mexico because federal auditors found the city was not eligible for the funding. San Francisco had sought the grant under the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative, which compensates law enforcement agencies in California and other border states for the costs of handling prosecutions in lieu of federal authorities. As of March of last year, the city claimed it had handled more than 2,241 such cases, but a federal audit released this week found that none of...

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco is launching a new campaign tonight to tell illegal immigrants they're welcome in the city. San Francisco is a so-called sanctuary city. What that means exactly-- and how officials are getting the word out. The city's message will appear on TV, radio, posters and brochures in five languages. The extensive outreach campaign will be directed at undocumented workers and their families in San Francisco. "We're going to spend resources, time and energy to do PSA's, to do campaign outreach into community clinics, into public schools, into our police stations to let people know what...

A young convict and alleged gang member had been released from jail a little more than a day before he shot and killed Los Angeles High School football star Jamiel Shaw Jr., LAPD Chief William J. Bratton said Tuesday. On the same day mourners attended the 17-year-old's funeral in the Crenshaw district, authorities announced that the alleged gunman, Pedro Espinoza, 19, had been formally charged with Shaw's death. Espinoza, according to officials, is a member of the 18th Street gang and had spent nearly four months in a Los Angeles County jail for exhibiting a firearm and resisting arrest before...

From WTNH, Channel 8 New Haven: Thief damages New Haven fountain Posted Mar. 18, 2008 6:02 AM New Haven (WTNH) _ A thief targeted the fountain on the New Haven Green and caused thousands of dollars in damage. Someone stole 32 bronze nozzles and eight bronze light fixtures from the fountain that sits across from city hall. Police think it has to do with the record-high value of scrap metal, the New Haven Register reported. The city thinks it will cost about $20,000 to repair the fountain, which is also a war memorial. http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=8031761

Hurtt says HPD won't train to help ICE enforce federal policy While a growing number of police agencies across the country have received federal training to enforce immigration laws, Houston's police chief maintained a strong stance Thursday against joining this trend. At least 28 state, county and local law enforcement departments have taken training to make immigration arrests and process illegal immigrants for deportation. More than 70 others are on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement waiting list for training. But Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt made it clear Thursday that his department won't be taking on ICE duties any time...

The open border Democrats have been successful in transferring much of the Mexican and Central American poverty into U.S. urban cities. Sanctuary city policies separate Americans from jobs and tax payers from benefits that U.S. citizens should reap. The Democrats support of sanctuary city policies has had a devastating effect on the poor and working class individuals because illegals have undercut wages on every job. The Hispanic community that has moved into the Democratic strongholds like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco are destined to a life of poverty because of the failed urban schools.

MERIDEN (CT) — A New Haven man was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison for the vehicular manslaughter of West Haven minister Alan B. Broome in a wrong-way drunken driving crash on Interstate 91 last year, according Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the victim’s widow. Israel Quintero, 30, of 981 Ella T. Grasso Blvd., was sentenced in Superior Court in Meriden. Effie Cotto, a victim advocate with MADD, and Broome’s widow, Renee Broome, said Quintero must serve eight years and would then be subject to deportation, because he is an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Cotto and Broome attended the...

After months of protesting Columbia’s smoking ordinance and spearheading a failed campaign to have it repealed, Joel Thiel, co-owner of Otto’s Corner Bar & Grill, said he decided this week to close doors for good. Julia Robinson photos Above, Brett Wisman, left, and Kristal Allen smoke cigarettes after dinner last night at Otto’s Corner Bar & Grill in downtown Columbia. Below, Otto’s co-owner Joel Thiel works yesterday in the restaurant. Otto’s will close next week, a move Thiel blamed on the city’s smoking ban. He said sales have been down 30 percent since the ban took effect in January. "Our...

New Haven (WTNH) _ Veterans are outraged that a war memorial in New Haven has been vandalized. The Vietnam War Memorial at Long Wharf was spray painted with the threatening words "Kill whites MS 13." Seeing this just crushed the veterans we spoke to. The names on that wall that are covered in paint, are the names of those who fought and died for this country in the Vietnam War. Tonight, police are investigating whether this is the work of a violent street gang, but the veterans we spoke to, say whoever they are, aren't as tough as they might...

Horn shooting renews debate, but not all agree on what the label actually means Just when Houston Mayor Bill White figured he had put the long-standing "sanctuary city" debate behind him, Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly brought it back with a vengeance. Earlier this month, O'Reilly blamed White and Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt for the actions of Pasadena resident Joe Horn, who shot to death two illegal immigrants from Colombia who had burglarized his neighbor's home. "These two illegal aliens are dead because of Houston's sanctuary city policies," O'Reilly said during an interview segment on his cable TV show....

WASHINGTON - Rudy Giuliani, under fire for protecting illegal immigrants as mayor, insists that New York was not a refuge for people in the U.S. illegally. "New York City was not a sanctuary city," Giuliani said — twice — during Wednesday night's GOP presidential debate. In reality, while it has never adopted the moniker, New York offers protections similar to those in cities that label themselves sanctuary cities. The pugnacious Giuliani managed to deflect some of the criticism in the debate, pointing out that his rival Mitt Romney had illegal immigrants work on his lawn. "So I would say he...