Free Republic

Advocates on both sides of the immigration debate were unsatisfied after President Obama and Mitt Romney laid out their positions in Tuesday's presidential debate. Romney, who has suggested illegal immigrants should “self deport” and has vowed to veto the Dream Act, took on Obama for not introducing reforms in the last four years, criticism that resonated with Romney supporters. “(Obama) had two years, Democrats had the House, had the Senate, had the presidency and he didn't touch it,” said Allen Tharp, president of the San Antonio tea party. “He didn't do anything at all until right before this election, and...

Los Angeles could soon be the latest of several cities across the nation to make life easier for illegal immigrants by offering them official photo identification cards to help them access taxpayer-funded services and open bank accounts. It’s a necessary measure to help illegal aliens incorporate into civic life, according to lawmakers in the city of about 4 million. Nearly half of L.A. residents are of Hispanic or Latino origin, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and a chunk are in the U.S. illegally. One L.A. councilman told a local newspaper that the ID cards will allow illegal aliens “who...

Los Angeles - ..City officials and other supporters of the city ID card say it's a practical attempt to balance federal immigration laws with making residents less vulnerable to crime and more accountable to their community. An official ID would make it easier for many residents to open bank accounts, obtain city services and identify themselves to law enforcement officials, they argue. .."An ID that recognizes residents as Angelenos with access to all city agencies would be a great benefit for all of us," [Alexandra Suh] said. "Things like the ability to check out a library book, to access health...

Arizona passed a law in 2005 that says anyone registering to vote must provide "satisfactory evidence of United States citizenship," in the form of a driver's license, passport, birth certificate or some other document. The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether the law stands. Critics of the statute, such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, say that the proof-of-citizenship requirement is an unconstitutional burden and that it conflicts with the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allows prospective voters to register by checking a box on a form that asks "Are you a...

A Los Angeles City Council committee approved a plan Tuesday that would allow Los Angeles city libraries to issue identification cards to undocumented residents. It's the first step in a long process to get identification cards to illegal immigrants and other Los Angeles residents. The city has 90 days to write up a proposal and a plan to implement the proposal. The idea is to turn Los Angeles city library cards into a city services card -- a form of identification that Los Angeles' estimated 300,000 undocumented immigrants could use to open bank accounts, use as a debit card and...

PHOENIX — The U.S. Supreme Court will consider how far Arizona — and other states — can go in requiring voters to prove citizenship when registering. In a brief order, the justices agreed to review a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which said Arizona cannot refuse to register voters who do not provide proof of citizenship if they fill out a special registration form prepared by the federal Election Assistance Commission. That form requires only that the person avows, under oath and penalty of perjury that he or she is eligible to vote. In its June...

EXCLUSIVE--The University of North Carolina, which is currently considering giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition benefits, denied an Army sergeant the same break even though she owns a home in the Tar Heel state and only moved away briefly because the military stationed her husband in Texas. Hayleigh Perez, 26, hoped to use her G.I. Bill to attend the UNC’s Pembroke campus near Fort Bragg, but the young veteran -- who served a 14-month tour in Iraq -- was told she did not qualify as a state resident because she had been gone for about three years. “I got frustrated. When...

Despite an overall drop in illegal immigration nationwide, there has been a huge spike in the number of undocumented immigrants found dead in the south Texas brush country this year, and a disturbing number of the illegals found dead and alive attempting to sneak into the U.S.in the past three months have been young people. 1200 WOAI news reports some who deal with illegal immigration blame the DREAM Act, and talk that young people in the United States illegally may receive legal residency or even a path to citizenship in a second Obama term. “Ever since this dialogue from Washington...

WESLACO - Mexican nationals studying at the University of Texas-Pan American are worried that the violence they fled from may be catching up with them on the U.S. side of the border. "I am from Miguel Aleman ... it's a small town an hour-and-a-half away from here," one student said. "I came for my studies," she said. "All my family is from Mexico," the student said. She said it was a way to flee the violence gripping border regions in Mexico. "I have to take some other precautions ... coming to school," she said. She asked to have her identity...

AUSTIN — Tea party conservatives will push next year to rescind a state law that allows illegal immigrants to pay state-resident tuition rates, and when they do, a little-known fact could be at the center of the debate: Students who aren’t citizens are also eligible for state financial aid. Nearly 2,500 students who are in the country illegally received more than $9.5 million in state higher education grants in fiscal year 2010, the most recent figures available from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. There were 16,476 illegal-immigrant students paying resident tuition rates, meaning more than 1 in 7 get...

VERO BEACH — An undercover investigator posing as a corrupt immigration agent led to the arrests of four people at the Vero Beach Bangkok restaurant and helped foil an elaborate scheme where undocumented workers from Thailand were paying as much as $30,000 to obtain illegal green cards. Agents arrested Bangkok owner Sarah Tipfun and the others after they raided the popular 14th Avenue restaurant last week.

PHOENIX — The U.S. Supreme Court agreed this morning to consider how far Arizona — and other states — can go in requiring voters to prove citizenship when registering. In a brief order, the justices agreed to review a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Arizona is required to accept a form prepared by the federal Election Assistance Commission and allow people to register. That form does not mandate proof of citizenship but instead simply requires a signed avowal the person is eligible to vote. The state is asking the nation's high court to overturn that...

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reports today that 179,794 applications for the president's illegal DACA [DREAM Act] amnesty have been accepted as of 10 October 2012 - 4,591 have been approved - There's no indication that any applications have been turned down.

A 39-year-old Mexican national who has lived illegally in Pierce County for more than half of his life will be able to stay in the United States through the end of next year – and possibly longer. Oscar Campos Estrada’s chances for staying in this country permanently took a major step forward when a federal immigration judge recently set his next court date for December 2013. “He’s a long way from being deported,” Amy Kratz, a Seattle-based immigration lawyer, said Friday of Oscar’s case. That’s because come May 7 – more than seven months before Oscar’s next court date –...

Been bush hogging my fields up here in northernmost Maine. Came up with an Aroostook County style yard sign!

CHARLOTTE, NC (WECT) – Some North Carolinians are petitioning driver licenses for undocumented residents. Jesus Ministry out of Charlotte has been working on a project to allow the eight percent of the population that represent undocumented residents to acquire a driver's license. According to a press release, these undocumented residents drive to school, church work and other places of interest and do not possess a valid document to operate a vehicle.

Two law professors, including one who served in the Bush Justice Department, have published a paper charging that President Obama violated the Constitution with his directive to law enforcement not to deport illegal aliens. In the paper entitled, “The Obama Administration, the Dream Act and the Take Care Clause,” authors Robert Delahunty of the University of St. Thomas [Minnesota] and John Yoo, a law professor at University of California at Berkeley and former U.S. deputy assistant attorney general, blast Obama's moratorium on deporting certain illegal immigrants. The professors dismissed the idea that the decision on whether to deport illegal immigrants...

An illegal immigrant from Mexico charged with multiple counts of rape in Oakland County was tracked down by immigration officials and turned over to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office earlier this week. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) tracked down Miguel Angel Davila-Ruiz, 33, at a southwest Detroit home, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Davila-Ruiz was wanted by the Sheriff’s Office regarding four counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in Pontiac. Deputies had been looking for Davila-Ruiz since July, when the warrant was issued. Efforts began between ERO and sheriff’s deputies to catch...

SAN ANTONIO - Ranchers are turning to technology to keep an eye on their lands. Linda Vickers was one of the first ranchers in South Texas to volunteer to have motion-sensing cameras installed on her land. "I think some of the best images are these huge groups ... nine or 10 in a frame," she said of the images captured by cameras. The state on Thursday announced hundreds of motion-sensing cameras will be installed throughout South Texas. The project, Operation Drawbridge, will allocate $225,000 to install the cameras on ranches and farms where smuggling is common. "I believe 2008-2009 ......

PHOENIX — Civil rights groups are dropping their bid to stop police from enforcing the "papers please” provision of SB 1070, at least for the time being. Linton Joaquin of the National Immigration Law Center said it makes little sense to spend time appealing last month’s order by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton letting the law take effect. That followed a Supreme Court ruling in June saying there was no basis for her original 2010 injunction declaring the provision was pre-empted by federal law. And Bolton specifically denied a request by the civil rights groups for a new preliminary...