Free Republic

San Francisco no longer will report to immigration authorities juveniles suspected of being in the United States illegally when they are arrested on a felony charge if they can show they have family ties to the Bay Area, are enrolled in school and are not repeat offenders, Mayor Ed Lee said Tuesday. The edict creates a middle ground between the hard-line position of Lee's predecessor, Gavin Newsom, who directed city law enforcement officers to report all arrested juveniles to federal authorities for possible deportation, and the Board of Supervisors, which backed a more liberal policy. Supervisors passed a law in...

LA JOYA - Police turned 17 undocumented immigrants believed to be from China over to officals from the U.S. Border Patrol earlier today. Officers responded to a call just after 8 a.m. about reported suspicious activity near the corner of Ebony Street and Palm Avenue, just blocks south of U.S. Highway 83, police spokesman Officer Joe Cantu said. When they arrived, police found 15 people believed to be from China who could not speak English nor Spanish, Cantu said. There were 10 men and five women crowded inside a red Chevrolet Suburban, he said. They appeared to be in their...

Two men who crashed into and killed a Nederland teen while fleeing police after a string of robberies last year pleaded guilty Monday to their respective roles in the crimes. With a jury panel waiting outside the courtroom and prosecutors Ed Shettle and Ashley Chase preparing to try both cases, Cuevas and Fuentes entered the 11th-hour plea agreements. Each will serve at least 20 years in prison before they are eligible for parole. Humberto Cuevas Jr., 21, and Romualdo Fuentes, 22, both of Port Arthur, robbed patrons at three Mid-County convenience stores on April 8, 2006, before attempting to outrun...

An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a church for more than a year to avoid deportation has left the sanctuary to attend an immigration rights rally in Los Angeles, her friend said Friday. Elvira Arellano left the church for the first time since seeking sanctuary there Aug. 15, 2006, and was traveling to California by car Friday, Emma Lozano, head of immigration rights group Centro Sin Fronteras, said from Los Angeles. Arellano is accompanied by people close to her, Lozano said, including the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church where she and her son have lived...

A Texas congressman demanded that the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General's Office turn over documents they promised more than three months ago regarding the case of two convicted El Paso Border Patrol agents or face a subpoena or contempt of Congress if they refuse to do so.

Child migrant smugglers escape charges BY ROSA MARÍA MÉNDEZ/EL UNIVERSAL September 11, 2005 MEXICALI, Baja California "El Coco," as he is known, is seventeen years old and is already an experienced migrant smuggler. "I started in this work four years ago, helping out my stepfather," he said. "Just errands, really. I took the migrants who were already in Calexico (California) to Los Angeles. But then I started bringing the pollos (migrants) across the border, and now I'm in the big leagues." Still, by his own account, this big leaguer has been caught by the Border Patrol smuggling migrants on 25...