Free Republic

The day after opening a can of worms by saying he is open to a truth commission to investigate the authors of the controversial Bush-era enhanced interrogation memos, the White House stressed Wednesday that President Obama is neither proposing nor initiating those proceedings or the formation of a truth commission. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, talking to reporters aboard Air Force One as the president traveled to Iowa, said any decision to prosecute the authors of the legal memos would come from the Justice Department and "it has to be done outside of the realm of politics." Last week,...

SAN DIEGO – The vast majority of people caught smuggling immigrants across the border near San Diego are never prosecuted for the offense, demoralizing the Border Patrol agents making the arrests, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated Press. “It is very difficult to keep agents' morale up when the laws they were told to uphold are being watered-down or not prosecuted,” the report says. The report offers a stark assessment of the situation at a Border Patrol station responsible for guarding 13 miles of mountainous border east of the city. Federal officials say it reflects a reality...

Federal prosecutions for immigration violations more than doubled in the last four years, surpassing drugs as the most frequently pursued federal crime, according to new data released Wednesday by a private research group. The change reflects a major shift in priorities since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Immigration prosecutions surged to 38,000 last year from 16,300 in 2001, as federal authorities mounted a crackdown on illegal immigration as a way of deterring terrorism, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group connected to Syracuse University that compiled the data. Prosecutions for drug crimes have begun to decline, dropping...

U.S. Attorney's Office Asks For Change In Federal Guidelines SAN DIEGO -- In an exclusive 10News report, investigative reporter Thom Jensen learned that the San Diego Office of the U.S. Attorney has advised the Border Patrol they want to change the way the Department of Justice does business. In a letter written by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Peak to Paul Blocker, Jr., acting chief patrol agent, he said, "We believe it appropriate to revise our prosecution guidelines in criminal alien cases." Peak said the local U.S. Attorney's Office resources are limited and they have other "enforcement priorities." He told the...

OTTAWA (CP) - A Newfoundland man who infected a woman with the AIDS virus had his conviction reduced by the Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday from aggravated assault to a lesser charge. The high court, in a 7-0 decision, ruled the Crown had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Harold Williams knowingly endangered the life of his partner - a necessary element in law for an aggravated assault conviction. The judgment doesn't rule out criminal charges against those who spread the AIDS-causing virus to unwitting partners. The Supreme Court cleared the way for such prosecutions in a landmark...