Free Republic

In a backroom deal just prior to the Christmas break, Congress passed the omnibus Appropriations bill which included the Hutchison Amendment that gutted the Secure Fence Act. Her amendment essentially guaranteed that the DHS didn't have to build the fence! After Grassfire broke the "Secure Fence Hoax," key members of Congress took action in an effort to undo what the Hutchison amendment did, by restoring deadlines and double fence mandate for the entire 854 miles of border. Two bills have been introduced which Grassfire is supporting. Each of these bills demands Congress make good on their original promise to build...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) responded to reports that a Border Patrol agent was held at gunpoint by members of the Mexican military in Arizona by reaffirming the necessity for border fencing and other infrastructure. According to a State Department Spokesman, the encounter “stemmed from a momentary misunderstanding as to the exact location of the U.S.-Mexican border.” "I disagree with the State Department’s characterization of this incident," said Congressman Hunter. "The fact that members of the Mexican military are routinely operating in such close proximity to the border, with no identifiable purpose, raises serious questions about their...

The open borders of the United States amount to a national security exposure. This is a fact that cannot be debated. One has only to look at the number of foreign nationals attempting to illegally enter the U.S. through Mexico over the last several years. Since 2005, the Department of Homeland Security reports that more than 331,000 people from countries other than Mexico have been apprehended trying to cross the Southern land border. These individuals came from virtually every country in the world, including some with whom we have an adversarial relationship, such as Communist China, Iran and North Korea....

For those of you in the Baylor University area, tonight is your chance to ask Juan Hernandez about his radical, open-borders agenda and his role in the McCain campaign. The event is free and open to the public. Bring your video camera: Dr. Juan Hernandez, author of The New American Pioneers, will speak at 6 p.m. Thursday in Kayser Auditorium on Mexican immigration. His lecture will be based on his notes, “Why are We Afraid of Mexican Immigrants?”Hernandez, a member of former Mexican President Vicente Fox’s cabinet, will be the final speaker for The Academy for Leader Development and Civic...

Secretary Chertoff is riding into the sunset—dragging the fence behind him. As mentioned in yesterday’s immigration blog by Steve Elliott the Sun Sets on the Border Fence On 12/31/08. This sunset provision of the Omnibus bill H.R. 2764 declares that the Secretary of Homeland Security loses all authority to build the fence—even if he wants to. However, even with the authority to build the fence, the Secretary has been lazy in using it. In a February 22, press release he claims that the Department of Homeland Security has built 302.4 miles of combination pedestrian and vehicle fencing and well on...

BISBEE — A local man is organizing an effort to clean up trash left behind by illegal immigrants in the Huachuca Mountains on April 5. The cleanup will focus on Bear Saddle and areas west along the Crest Trail. This section of Crest Trail is part of the Arizona Trail that extends from the Mexico border to the Utah border. The event’s organizer, Steve Roark of Hereford, competes in 100-mile long-distance races and he trains in the Huachucas. “I have been running around here for about 1 1/2 years and right away I noticed there are some areas that are...

SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS, Arizona (Reuters) - Jaguar biologist Emil McCain stoops over a remote-sensing camera attached to a tree in these rugged mountains a few miles to the north of the Arizona-Mexico border. The researcher is checking for images of a handful of extremely rare jaguars that prowl up from Mexico over mountain trails in some of the wildest country in the southwest, although they are now under threat. Scrolling through images of bobcats and deer snapped by the camera, he explains how the habitat for one of the United States' most elusive predators is being pressured by illegal immigration...

When Woodrow Wilson went to Congress to ask for a declaration of war in 1917, the U.S. Army was ranked 17th in the world, behind Portugal. On Armistice Day, 19 months later, there were 2 million doughboys in France, where they had helped to break the back of Gen. Ludendorff's theretofore invincible army in its final offensive, and 2 million more in the United States ready to march on Berlin. No other nation could have done that. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, FDR demanded that a disarmed America "build 50,000 planes" -- a seemingly impossible number, but one...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday decried anti-immigrant perceptions in the United States and argued that Mexican immigrants complement American workers. On his first trip to the U.S. as Mexico's president, Calderon said he is working to combat anti-Americanism in Mexico and to improve job prospects there to reduce migration. He said he hopes that Americans resist anti-Mexican sentiments. "The worst thing that happened in this country is this anti-Mexican or anti-immigrant perception of people. We need to contain this," Calderon said after a speech at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "I need to change...

Digger’s Realm did a terrific job compiling this clip reel of open borders zealot/McCain Hispanic outreach director Juan Hernandez’s greatest hits. He considers Canada, the U.S., and Mexico “a bloc, not one nation.” He puts “Mexico first.” He doesn’t believe there are any criminals among the 12-20 million illegal aliens he thinks should be legalized. He’s been saying all of this for a long time. The McCain campaign knew what it was getting. So should Republican voters: VIDEO at michellemalkin.com

McCain's love of amnesty will be a key issue. He supported amnesty in 2003 by name, proposed it in 2006 and 2007 without calling it amnesty, and says that anyone who says that he ever supported amnesty is a liar. He has insulted Americans who advocate border security and has cursed at the thought of building a border fence. The presence of Juan Hernandez in the background of the McCain campaign tells us that John McCain is as weak on border security now as he ever was. Dr. Juan Hernandez, a dual citizen of the US and Mexico, and past...

Leaders in a small Texas border city said Wednesday that they felt blindsided after learning that a judge had ordered public land turned over temporarily to the federal government as it works on a fence along the border with Mexico. U.S. District Judge Alia Moses Ludlum ordered Eagle Pass to surrender 233 acres of city-owned land. The Justice Department had sued for access to the land Monday. Ludlum's ruling came the same day, before the city could muster a challenge. The Homeland Security Department is trying to build 370 miles of border fence by the end of the year. A...

A constitutional crisis is developing between Congress and the Department of Transportation over the federal government's decision to continue its project allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. roads, in defiance of new legislation. "The DOT response is both arrogant and wrong!" Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., wrote in a letter yesterday to Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officials told the San Diego Union Tribune the cross-border Mexican truck demonstration project would continue because the program was established in September and the amendment allows programs that have already begun to continue. But Dorgan insisted a provision in the...

In a quiet act of defiance, the Senate approved a $555 billion omnibus spending bill that removed legal requirements mandating the federal government fund 854 miles of a double layer border fence spanning America's southwestern border. The funding requirement was codified into law when Congress passed, and President George W. Bush signed, the Secure Fence Act (SFA) in 2006. When the spending bill, which combines appropriations for a number of federal agencies, reached the Senate, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) attached S.Amdt. 2466 to the measure in order to silently gut the SFA's spending requirement. The Hutchison amendment reads, "Nothing...

Power Line hits us to a Reuters report that says illegal immigrants are going back to Mexico. A] growing number of illegal immigrants across the United States … are starting to pack their bags and move on as a crackdown on undocumented immigrants widens and the U.S. economy slows, turning a traditional Christmas trek home into a one-way trip. *** There is no tally of the number of illegal immigrants who have already left the United States, many of whom simply head south over the border with their belongings packed into a car during the annual Christmas exodus, or board...

Do you know the story of the Incredible Disappearing Border Fence? It's an object lesson in gesture politics and homeland insecurity. It's a tale of hollow rhetoric, meaningless legislation and bipartisan betrayal. And in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, it's a helpful learning tool as you assess the promises of immigration enforcement converts now running for president. Last fall, Democrats and Republicans in Washington responded to continued public outrage over border chaos by passing the "Secure Fence Act." Did you question the timing? You should have. It's no coincidence they finally got off their duffs to respond just before...

I'll admit it. I underestimated Tom Tancredo. I underestimated the impact he could make as a presidential candidate, particularly as a candidate who was polling, as many of us had predicted, around 2 percent. And yet, I had no idea he could take one issue and, with it, help make the Republican presidential race - and the country itself - an uglier, nastier and more mean-spirited place to be. He didn't do it by himself, of course. He wasn't even the lead player. You have to give that role to Lou Dobbs and the huge audience on his team. Still,...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 18, 2007 CONTACT: Gary Becks (619) 334-1655, dlhunter08@yahoo.com Washington, D.C.–Presidential candidate Congressman Duncan Hunter returned to Washington this morning to immediately begin his efforts to overturn provisions contained in a Democratic spending bill that eliminates current legal requirements for double-layered border fencing. Congress last year passed legislation authored by Hunter, the Secure Fence Act, mandating double-layered fencing and related infrastructure at strategic entry points along the Southwest border. “Now is the time when those who take the threat to our nation’s borders seriously stand up and be counted,” said Hunter. “Last year, Congress successfully passed legislation...

There is, in fact, a dime's worth of difference between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Why, on immigration, the difference can get into real money. The Democratic candidates were sitting around a big table in a radio studio the other day participating in an altogether civil and restrained debate on National Public Radio. There were no rallying supporters in the room to rile partisan passions and agitate competitive energy. The long-form format by which only three topics were discussed, those being Iran, China and immigration, served thoughtfulness over rancor. The moderator asked the hopefuls if they believed they should...

Mike Huckabee’s just-announced plan to stop illegal immigration is about as tough as Fred Thompson’s. It includes the border fence and the employer verification measures that are important to pro-borders voters like me. NumbersUSA now gives Huckabee’s promises scores that are almost as good as the ones it gives Thompson’s. It’s heartening to see Huckabee move so far on this issue; as a governor, he was much more sympathetic to illegal aliens, even supporting special scholarships for them that were not available to US citizens. With Republican presidential candidates endorsing strong pro-borders measures, our prospects of getting the SAVE Act...

New Iowa Leader Criticized by for Indecision on Federal Student Aid. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who backed in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, hedged Sunday on whether illegal immigrants who have gone to school in the United States should become eligible for federal student aid such as Pell grants and subsidized federal student loans. "I'm not sure that I would support that," Huckabee told ABC News, "it was a different program in Arkansas." Huckabee's failure to take a clear position on federal student aid while appearing on ABC News' "This Week with George...

If the Republican Party really wanted to hold on to the White House in 2009, it's pretty clear what it would do. It would grit its teeth, swallow its doubts and nominate a ticket of John McCain for president and Mike Huckabee for vice president — and president-in-waiting. Those two are far from front-runners. They trail Mitt Romney in Iowa and New Hampshire and lag behind Rudy Giuliani in national surveys of Republican voters. But, in a series of debates, including last week's CNN/YouTube extravaganza. McCain and Huckabee have been notable for their clarity, character and, yes, simple humanity. From...

Here’s something for the really hardcore, political geeks. Fred’s first Iowa mailer. http://bp1.blogger.com/_5d_fpdUHmxc/R0MC_gjyK1I/AAAAAAAAAhw/ep7W574fYPc/s1600-h/dont+compromise.jpg Much talk is about campaigns’ tv commercials but in Iowa mailers are very important. Disclaimer: I work for Friends of Fred Thompson, Inc.

In politics, the surest path to irrelevance and powerlessness is to be taken for granted by one party and written off by another. That's the road Latinos are on, thanks to major blunders by the Republicans campaigning for president. In June, all but California's Duncan Hunter blew off an invitation to address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. In September, a debate on Spanish-language television had to be postponed after all but Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to commit. After taking criticism for the snub, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney have committed to taking part...

MEXICO CITY President Felipe Calderon decried Wednesday what he called "the growing harassment" of Mexicans in the United States and said his government will work to counter it by funding a media campaign to show migrant success stories. Mexican officials have expressed concern over a recent wave of immigration raids and a U.S. political climate perceived as anti-migrant. Calderon said U.S. presidential candidates were using migrants as "symbolic hostages" on the immigration issue. "I am especially worried about the growing harassment and frank persecution of Mexicans in the United States in recent days," Calderon said at a meeting of the...

<p>It's a big day for political TV ads, and in the case of Fred Thompson, he's got great timing. On the same day Rudy Giuliani releases his first TV ad, and the day Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-N.Y.) decides to withdraw his plan to give illegal immigrants access to driver's licenses, the former Tennessee senator releases a 30-second spot called, "No Amnesty." It starts airing across Iowa today.</p>

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- At a campaign event Monday, Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson rejected the idea of allowing illegal immigrants to earn U.S. citizenship through military service. Anna Castaner, an Indianola resident, posed the question to Thompson during an event inside a coffee shop. Thompson drew applause from the crowd when he said he wouldn't support it. "They need to go back and abide by the law," Thompson said. The former U.S. senator from Tennessee said the country could have "enforcement by attrition." He called for securing the American border and stopping so-called sanctuary cities from blocking the enforcement of...

America needs a gun ban. Yes, a ban that denies possession, transfer and ownership of firearms. I say that as a gun owner myself. I say this as a strong defender of the Second Amendment to the Constitution. I say it with the belief the Second Amendment empowers American citizens to defend their sacred honor, their homes and families and to help “defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.” It is the phrase “all enemies foreign and domestic” that leads me to endorse a gun ban. The Second Amendment is clear: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to...

<p>The rapid escalation of the U.S. anti-immigration hysteria fueled by ratings-hungry cable-television hotheads and leading Republican presidential hopefuls is a dangerous trend: It may lead to a Hispanic intifada that may rock this nation in the not-so-distant future.</p>

Here's your chance to make a cameo appearance in Fred's Presidential campaign. Make a video telling us why you support Fred Thompson for President and upload it using the form below. We'll share these videos with all of our supporters on Fred08.com, and allow you, and them, to pick the best one. Here's your chance to be a star. Submit your video now. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sure, Fred Thompson is an accomplished lawyer, prosecuting criminals in Tennessee before serving as counsel on the Watergate hearings. And yes, he served the people of Tennessee as a common sense, conservative Senator for eight years....

DES MOINES, Iowa - Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson is endorsing a tough immigration measure being pushed by Iowa Congressman Steve King. Under King's measure, businesses would not get a tax deduction for wages paid to an illegal immigrant. King says Thompson's endorsement means he understands that Internal Revenue Service regulations can be as important as Homeland Security procedures in enforcing immigration laws. King, who represents western Iowa's 5th District, has been a vocal critic of the nation's immigration policies. The issue is an important one in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination, and King's call for tougher laws...

The USCCB Committee on Migration sent a delegation to the U.S./Mexico border region to study the plight of unaccompanied minors and human trafficking victims. The ever-growing problems with these populations are some of the gravest and many times most overlooked symptoms of the broken and out-dated immigration system currently employed by the United States. The delegation met with a broad cross-section of agencies and individuals involved with or knowledgeable of these populations to gain critical insights and to understand their needs. The delegation also met with Church officials, government officials, community-based organization, and other with important perspectives. Programs established to...

Bedford – Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson yesterday said America should not be a global policeman, but it must remain the world's leader. Thompson, a former actor and U.S. senator from Tennessee, said America is facing a global war on terror that transcends the ongoing conflict in Iraq. He said the country must have a foreign policy based on prevention as well as deterrence. He warned that Iran was well on its way toward having nuclear weapons. "Nobody knows exactly when that might be," Thompson said at a Politics and Eggs breakfast at the Bedford Village Inn. "We don't know...

October 2007 may turn out to be the month that immigration became a key issue in presidential politics. It hasn't been, at least in my lifetime. The Immigration Act of 1965, which turned out to open up America to mass immigration after four decades of restrictive laws, wasn't one of the Great Society issues Lyndon Johnson emphasized in 1964. The Immigration Act of 1986, which legalized millions of illegal immigrants but whose border and workplace provisions have never been effectively enforced, was a bipartisan measure unmentioned in the debates between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. There was no perceptible difference...

Since Fred Thompson officially entered the presidential playoffs, I have been fascinated by some of the criticisms of him by the media, and even by some Conservatives. You know the main card played against Thompson has been the lazy card. Lazy? No, Thompson is laid back; he is not a rah-rah kind of person. Frankly, I enjoy that about him. I have worked with many rah-rah types and many laid-back types as well. Give me the steady, calm, laid back person any day. Another criticism of Thompson has been that he has offered no specifics on any of his ideas....

Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson was spotted in some pretty unusual venues on Wednesday seeking to boost financial and voter support - Silicon Valley and San Francisco. Unusual for the former senator from Tennessee to spend time in such liberal outposts when he's been insisting since his post-Labor Day entry into the race that he is a true voice for conservatives. But Southern California fires postponed the first leg of his trip and a campaign spokesman said the former star on NBC's "Law and Order" sees opportunity in appearing in GOP-light regions. Primary delegates, he noted, will be doled out...

Retired Kansas policeman Ed Hayes lives a quiet life with his wife and pet poodles in a spacious suburban home near Kansas City, far from the main front line over illegal immigration along the U.S. border with Mexico. But over the last 18 months the 66-year-old grandfather has been drawn into the battle nonetheless, becoming active on a second front. He has joined many individuals, who, with state and municipal leaders, have given up waiting for federal action and are working to control illegal immigration themselves. The issue has become a priority not only for activists like Hayes but also...

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson roused himself from his torpor long enough last week to offer an "immigration plan" that is too impractical to ever become reality but isn't designed to. It is nothing more than red meat thrown to primary voters, providing further proof of how far we have come from the quaint conceit that presidential elections offered Americans an opportunity to debate the issues on their merits alone, free of fear-mongering and race-baiting. Illegal immigration is too complex an issue to be reduced to black or white, good or evil, friend or foe. In today's angry, frightened America,...

The Senate rejected Wednesday an attempt to move ahead with a bill to allow illegal immigrants under age 30 to remain in the United States and gain legal status if they attend college or join the military. The vote to move ahead on the Dream Act (the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act), got 52 votes, eight short of the 60 needed. Among those voting against moving ahead with the bill were eight Democrats, even though Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appealed to his majority to back him. But this was yet another case when the Democratic majority...

Phoenix - Two environmental groups filed suit Friday, asking a federal judge to halt construction of at least part of the border fence planned through Arizona. Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club want U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle to issue a restraining order blocking further work on a two-mile stretch of the fence that goes through the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area until the U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducts a legally required environmental impact study. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, contends the planned wall of up to 17 feet and some vehicle...

Texas Director of Homeland Security, Steve McCraw revealed Wednesday that 6 yrs. after Sept. 11th, people have connected to Hezbollah, Hamas and al Qaeda have been arrested at the Texas border. What will it take to strengthen our border security? Maybe a Texan in the White House cares about border security? Wait! GWB is a Texan...does he care? Michael Cutler on Counterterrorism Blog alerted me to this when I finally got to read his post from yesterday afternoon: I want you to take a moment to let the significance of all of this sink in. Our nation is at war...

"Mexico does not end at its borders," said Mexican President Felipe Calderon last week during his first state of the nation address. The comment was part of his condemnation of U.S. immigration policies that include deportation of Mexican citizens who are in the United States illegally. "We strongly protest the unilateral measures taken by the U.S. Congress and government that have only persecuted and exacerbated the mistreatment of Mexican undocumented workers," he said. Calderon didn't mention this particular incident specifically, but he likely had the episode involving Elvira Arellano in mind. A year she spent living in a church in...

MIAMI -- For the first time in a U.S. presidential campaign, candidates vying for the Democratic nomination will take part in a debate Sunday that will be broadcast across the U.S. in Spanish. The event, held at the University of Miami and broadcast by the Univision Network, marks the Democratic candidates' recognition of the growing political muscle that the country's more than 44 million Hispanics could wield in the 2008 election. Seven of the eight Democratic candidates will be taking part in the debate — including front-runners Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Texas have been ordered to abbreviate national security checks at one of the nation"s busiest ports of entry to speed up travel between the United States and Mexico, according to official documents and multiple interviews with agents. An Aug. 16 memorandum from CBP El Paso field office Director Luis Garcia directs agents to limit inspections of vehicle and pedestrian border crossers as wait times escalate. The document, obtained by The Washington Times, sets new guidelines that border inspectors say undermine efforts to prevent terrorists and other criminals from entering the United States. The...

(CNSNews.com) - Building a fence across the entire 1,952-mile border of the United States and Mexico can be done, with only two requirements needed, according to engineers. "All it takes is time and money," said Brian Damkroger, senior manager for border security and exploratory systems at the New Mexico-based Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia is working with the federal government in securing the border through a border fence and other measures. Sandia also helped design the 15-foot-high, 14-mile-long, double layer security fence in San Diego, viewed by fence proponents as a model of what works in deterring illegal immigration. A border...

Yesterday, I read Bob Novak's column titled "Republican Melancholy," which correctly caught the current depressed mood in GOP circles. President Bush's position on illegal immigration has deeply alienated much of the loyal rank and file Republicans across the country. Key Republican incumbents, such as Sen. John Warner of Virginia and Rep. Debbie Price of Ohio, are announcing their retirements. Sen. Larry Craig's cringe-inducing disgrace only adds to the funereal mood. And, of course, the Iraq War, for all the surge's success this summer, remains vastly unpopular with the public. To top off this GOP discontent, none of our presidential candidates...

Immigration-limits groups are in the midst of a Labor Day campaign to pressure Congress and presidential candidates to pledge to cut the flow of foreign labor in order to protect American workers. The groups' plea — being made in a new television-ad campaign and an online petition — occurs as think tanks on both sides of the immigration debate ponder the role of immigrants in the labor force, and arrive at different conclusions about how necessary foreign workers will be over the next half-century. The new ad campaign is stark and blunt: It features a young couple sitting at a...

Is Elvira Arellano — the recently deported Mexican illegal alien — the new Rosa Parks? Some of her supporters describe her this way. But Arellano's credentials as a "role model," to say the least, fall short. Indeed, even some "immigrant rights activists" find the comparison embarrassing. A check of the Web sites of the National Council of La Raza and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund finds no statement one way or the other concerning Arellano. Rosa Parks, a black woman, was born in 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama — that is, Tuskegee, Alabama, United States of America. She thus...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement criminal investigators will no longer be involved in immigration work site enforcement or conduct checks for illegal alien prisoners. Almost 1,000 ICE Office of Investigations agents will be reassigned exclusively to customs investigations, reducing the manpower involved in detention and removal of illegal aliens to 4,000 nationwide, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times and interviews with ICE union representatives. ICE officials refused to comment on the internal documents or clarify the number of investigators that are to be reassigned. The Washington Times has obtained an internal August memorandum written by ICE Office of Investigations...

EL PASO, Texas - The mayors of the Texan city of El Paso and the Mexican city of Juarez led a protest by dozens of people on Saturday against a planned border wall to stem illegal immigration into America. The protesters held hands across the Paso del Norte Bridge, which spans the Rio Grande and connects the downtown cores of the two cities. Resentment against the wall runs deep in the border areas of Texas. Landowners are concerned it may cut across their property, conservationists see it destroying crucial riverside habitat, and some activists see it inflaming ethnic tensions. El...