Free Republic

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) once supported President Reagan’s amnesty for illegal aliens back in the 1980’s, but has since stated that he and others made a mistake in doing so. He now supports a piece-meal approach to immigration reform as opposed to a comprehensive approach to fixing the existing immigration problem. During a brief Q & A with the veteran Senator at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines, Grassley laid out what he feels first needs to be done in any immigration reform bill and then talks about what he feels his colleague Senator Ted Cruz is doing...

Conservatives saw it as raising a white flag when Republican congressional leaders pledged not to withhold funding for the Department of Homeland Security in the fight over President Obama’s deportation amnesty, stoking fears that for the next two years House Speaker John A. Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will consistently surrender. For the Republican base, Mr. Obama’s unilateral move to grant legal status and work permits for up to 5 million illegal immigrants was an unlawful power grab that created a constitutional crisis. If Republican leaders were not willing to use Congress’ power of the purse — the...

This weekend in San Francisco while speaking to the National Automobile Dealers Association, former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) said, “First and foremost we need to control our border.” “The 40 percent of the people that have come here illegally came with a legal visa and overstayed their bounds,” he added. “We ought to be able to figure out where they are and politely ask them to leave.” State and local enforcement should partner with the federal government to encourage illegal aliens to return to their home countries in a “compassionate” way, Bush continued. The 9/11 hijackers, whose airliner suicide mission...

Conservatives saw it as raising a white flag when Republican congressional leaders pledged not to withhold funding for the Department of Homeland Security in the fight over President Obama’s deportation amnesty, stoking fears that for the next two years House Speaker John A. Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will consistently surrender. For the Republican base, Mr. Obama’s unilateral move to grant legal status and work permits for up to 5 million illegal immigrants was an unlawful power grab that created a constitutional crisis. The anger I see from my audience at the Republican Party cannot become any more...

Now that we have seen the immigration bill House Speaker John Boehner has championed in the House of Representatives, we can have no doubt that Boehner and the establishment GOP in Congress have once again sold out Tea Party Loyalists to capitulate to President Obama and the Democrats on amnesty. As the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies reported last week, the House Homeland Security Committee rubber-stamped flawed border security bill (HR399) proposed by the committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, without meaningful improvements. Instead of listening to career Border Patrol and ICE agents committed to border security recommending to toughen penalties...

PALOMINAS — After a day of round table talks with ranchers and a tour of the U.S./Mexico border in Cochise County on Saturday, a group of 21 congressional representatives have a broader view of border problems. Initiated by newly-elected U.S. Rep. Martha McSally (R-Arizona) and U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas,) the largest group to ever come to the local border saw for themselves just what Border Patrol agents and Americans living in this area have to deal with on a daily basis. “To hear from the ranchers first hand about the threats that come from across the border, shows the...

With Republicans in Congress split over the best approach to Obama's executive amnesty - and with many establishment Republicans splitting form grassroots Republicans on the issue of illegal immigration more generally - it's clear that immigration will be a hot-button primary issue in 2016. ... So where do the potential candidates stand? Here's a rundown: ...

Border Patrol Agents Say GOP’s Border Security Bill Is Weak ‘Window Dressing’ By Stephen Dinan January 24, 2015 Border Patrol agents’ labor union announced their opposition Friday to the House GOP’s new border security bill, calling it “window dressing” that doesn’t add any new agents or updated their firepower to get the job done in sealing off the U.S.-Mexico border. The agents’ opposition could be a major problem for House GOP leaders who have scheduled a vote on their bill for Wednesday, but who are facing a revolt among some conservative lawmakers who say the bill needs to go much...

At Arizona State University (ASU), students can now learn about the “problem of whiteness” in America. The public university is offering an English class to its students this semester called “Studies in American Literature/Culture: U.S. Race Theory & the Problem of Whiteness.” According to the class description on ASU’s website, students will be reading The Possessive Investment in Whiteness, Critical Race Theory, Everyday Language of White Racism, Playing in the Dark, and The Alchemy of Race and Rights. At time of publication, 18 students were enrolled in the course offered at ASU’s Tempe campus. Students can receive three credits for...

Scraps Border Fencing, Delays Biometric, Preserves Catch-and-Release, Allows Work Permits for Border-Crossers...The pace at which this bill is being rammed through the House suggests that the leadership is eager to pass a token bill and then inform the public that the border problem has been solved, while leaving the president's executive amnesty intact and his abuse of authority unchallenged.

No political summit involving people who at least claim that they want to run for President would be complete without an appearance by Donald Trump. I’ll give the man one thing… he knows how to put on a show, and I’m not just talking about Celebrity Apprentice. After initially coming out and saying that he would have demolished Barack Obama if he’s stayed with the race the last time he ran, The Donald knew just what sort of red meat to throw to the crowd. Trump told that crowd that if he runs in 2016, his first order of business...

A surveillance video that captured the killing of a Phoenix-area convenience store clerk shows the suspect calmly walking behind the counter after pulling the trigger, stepping over the fallen victim and grabbing several packs of Marlboros before slowly exiting. The chilling depiction was outlined in a court document Friday as a Maricopa County Superior Court judge set bail at $1 million for 29-year-old Apolinar Altamirano in connection with the shooting of the 21-year-old clerk during his overnight shift.

MESA, Ariz. -- An employee at a QuikTrip convenience store was shot and killed early Thursday morning, according to police. The QT is located at Stapley Drive and Broadway Road. The shooting was followed by a high-speed chase for about 25 miles from Mesa to southwest Phoenix as police tried to capture the shooting suspect. They said a witness had flagged them down at the QT. Apolinar Altamirano, 29, of Mesa, was taken into custody at 19th Avenue and Buckeye Road. He faces charges including first-degree murder, armed robbery, burglary, possession of a weapon by a prohibited possessor and unlawful...

That is why I am renaming the subcommittee “Immigration and the National Interest,” as a declaration to the American people that this subcommittee belongs to them. Senator Vitter, a strong voice for the national interest, will be serving as Republican Deputy Chairman. The financial and political elite have been controlling this debate for years; this subcommittee will give voice to those whose voice has been shut out: the voice of the dedicated immigration officers who have been blocked from doing their jobs; the voice of the working families whose wages have been reduced by years of record immigration; the voice...

DENVER (AP) — Democrats who pushed to get driver’s licenses for Colorado immigrants regardless of their legal status are outraged over a Republican vote to block access to funds for the program. The issue is a reminder to Democrats of the power they lost in November when Republicans took control of the Senate for the first time in 10 years, and sets up what could be a contentious budget-writing process. The measure allowing driver’s licenses for immigrants in the country illegally passed in 2013 and it was signed by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper when his party controlled both legislative chambers....

Efforts by several California counties to provide health insurance to undocumented immigrants could serve as a model for other states. As a state, California has taken several steps to provide health coverage to undocumented residents. Immigrants in the state who qualified for Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival initiative are eligible for Medi-Cal coverage. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program. In addition, under an executive action by President Obama last year, Medi-Cal coverage could be extended to up to 500,000 undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years and who have no record of felony offenses...

When Sen. Jeff Sessions stepped aside to make way for Wyoming's Mike Enzi to lead the Budget Committee, many wondered if there were bigger plans ahead for Alabama's junior senator. It appears there is Sen. Sessions is set to take over the Senate panel that oversees immigration, reports indicate. The move was first reported in Politico and while the senator's office can't confirm the move ahead of the official announcement, the change is a perfect fit for Sessions who has emerged as the leading opponent of the White House's immigration plans. Sessions is set to take over chairmanship of the...

David has his sights set on another Goliath. After taking down then House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a primary last year, Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) is aiming to slay a border bill from House Homeland Security Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX)—a bill Brat says is a “Trojan Horse” for amnesty. “A border security bill should do what its name suggests and this thing– the McCaul bill– still leaves enforcement in President Obama’s hands,” Brat said in a radio interview on The John Fredericks Show— a local Virginia radio program—on Thursday. “So is that where you want to leave...

The House is set to vote next week on what some Republicans are proudly calling “the toughest border security bill ever.” But once the roll is called and the measure is passed, then what? Not yet a month into the 114th Congress, Republican leaders’ plans to advance border security legislation are sparking some speculation this could be the first installment in the GOP’s long-promised “piecemeal” approach to fixing the immigration system. Just what Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, and his allies have in mind could have some effect on what sort of support the pending bill receives. The bill, sponsored...

The new border bills drafted by Republican leaders require the actual removal of at least 66 miles of weak border fencing between laborers in Mexico and employers in the United States. The border bills also only require for the construction of 27 miles of effective double-layer fencing along the 2,000-mile border. “It is a remarkable that the direction of our progress is going backwards, from a goal of building 700 miles of double-layer border fencing [in 2006] to only 27 miles [in 2015],” said a Hill staffer who opposes the leaders’ bills. “Where the double-layer fence has been put in,...