Free Republic

Reuters) - A federal judge in Texas has refused to lift a temporary block on a White House immigration plan that would have shielded millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, court documents show. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, a city along the border with Mexico, rejected a U.S. Justice Department request to remove a ban on the plan he issued in February. Twenty-six U.S. states filed a lawsuit alleging Obama had exceeded his powers with executive orders that would let up to 4.7 million illegal immigrants stay in the country without threat of deportation. Obama's orders bypassed Congress,...

Jeb Bush’s 2009 voter registration form was not the last time the former Florida governor identified himself as Latino. At an event in 2012, Bush claimed to be ”definitely the first Cuban, at least, or Latino governor” of the Sunshine State. Bush’s comments came during a panel discussion with governors Susana Martinez of New Mexico and Brian Sandoval of Nevada at a 2012 event for the Hispanic Leadership Network. (According to the group’s website, Bush is a member of its national advisory committee.) During the event, he detailed how he came to meet his wife while in Mexico, and how...

Emily Benavides, who served as national Hispanic press secretary for Mitt Romney’s campaign will lead Hispanic media for the eventual Jeb Bush campaign for president, BuzzFeed News has learned.

A federal judge denied the federal government's request to lift a hold on President Obama's controversial immigration actions in an opinion released Tuesday night. Judge Andrew Hanen wrote that the government misled the court by revealing last month it had granted expanded work permit renewals to 100,000 illegal immigrants before the court blocked the administration from implementing its new policies. ADVERTISEMENT He added a new hearing in March only “reinforced” his February decision to issue a “stay” to block those new policies, meant to delay deportations for millions of undocumented immigrants and provide them with the opportunity to apply for...

Federal judge refuses appeal, criticizes president’s lawyers for misleading the courtPresident Obama’s new deportation amnesty will remain halted, a federal judge in Texas ruled Tuesday night in an order that also delivered a judicial spanking to the president’s lawyers for misleading the court. Judge Andrew S. Hanen, who first halted the amnesty in February, just two days before it was to take effect, said he’s even more convinced of his decision now,...

The American Civil Liberties Union wants religious organizations to provide abortions to illegal immigrant children. The ACLU is petitioning for a court order that would force the U.S. government to release documents related to their dealings with religious organizations that assist illegals. “Many unaccompanied teenagers come into the U.S. fleeing abuse and torture in their home countries. Many have been sexually abused or assaulted or forced into prostitution,” Brigitte Amiri, an attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said. “We believe deeply in religious freedom. But religious freedom does not include the right to take a government contract that requires...

California legislative leaders took a bold step Tuesday toward protecting immigrants living in the country without documentation by backing legislation to offer Medi-Cal and other public services to a population they said they want to help move out of the shadows. The leaders of the California Senate and Assembly joined lawmakers and advocates in announcing the “Immigrants Shape California” legislative package at a press conference in Sacramento, saying the federal government’s inaction on immigration reform forced them to act.

Tufts University announced Tuesday it will “proactively and openly” recruit undocumented students and offer financial aid to eligible students, a clear declaration that immigration advocates hailed as a significant victory. Under the new policy, the private university will consider all students in the country illegally as regular domestic applicants, eligible for the same university aid as US citizens. Because undocumented students are ineligible for federal financial aid, the university will make up the difference out of its own funds for students who cannot afford to pay their own way. The Tufts policy applies to all undocumented students, not just those...

The Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) has launched an effort to defeat Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), bashing him for failing to uphold the principles of a “true conservative” just hours after he announced his intention to run for reelection. “There are few Republicans who have betrayed our conservative principles more than John McCain,” SCF President Ken Cuccinelli said in an email to supporters Tuesday of the party's 2008 nominee for president. “John McCain lost his way a long time ago and it's time to replace him with a strong conservative leader who will support and defend the Constitution.” Cuccinelli’s email links...

<p>The second wave of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children has begun, with more than 3,000 of them surging across the Mexican border into the U.S. last month — the highest rate since the peak of last summer’s crisis and a warning that another rough season could be ahead.</p>

More voters than ever feel the United States is not aggressive enough in deporting those who are here illegally, even as President Obama continues to push his plan to make up to five million illegal immigrants safe from deportation. Just 16% of Likely U.S. Voters think the U.S. government is too aggressive in deporting those who are in the country illegally. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 62% believe the government is not aggressive enough in deporting these illegal immigrants, up from 52% a year ago and 56% in November. Fifteen percent (15%) feel the current number...

The descriptive article about the U.S. Refugees Admissions Program (USRAP) found on the State Department website states: “Though Congress mandated the program, it is local communities that have ensured the success of the resettlement program by welcoming and helping refugees from around the world.” Though the idea of Americans across our nation extending a warm welcome to refugees from around the world seeking asylum from oppression and an opportunity to start a new life sounds generous and charitable, an article in the Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor on March 29 laments that local officials have little say in how many refugees...

Alexandria, the District of Columbia and Montgomery County joined New York City and dozens of other municipalities across the country Monday in demanding a court allow President Obama’s deportation amnesty to go into effect immediately, saying they want the tax revenue they think the newly legalized workers would bring. A federal court in Texas halted the amnesty, ruling that Mr. Obama likely broke the law in declaring it, but the local officials,...

Colbert King published an odd piece in the Washington Post on Friday that was equal parts hysteria, constitutional ignorance, and alternate history. He suggests that resistance to some of President Barack Obama’s executive orders amounts to nothing more than “insurrection.” Indeed, he compares this resistance to the actions of white southerners to President Abraham Lincoln. The assessment is bone chilling since the proper response to insurrection is to send in troops and start shooting people, just as Lincoln did when the Southern states tried to secede and form their own country. King focuses on legislation being passed by the Arizona...

The ABC network refuses to air a commercial criticizing Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel even though other networks are running the spot, The Daily Caller has learned.As Emanuel seeks re-election in the Chicago mayoral run-off next week, the Republican-leaning Real Chicago PAC produced an ad highlighting reported instances of Emanuel’s corruption and crony capitalism, including his promotion of the transportation company Uber, in which his brother Ari is a major investor.“We sent the commercial to the local Fox affiliate. They vetted it, they checked every single quote and every single headline to make sure it was accurate and they ran...

A new State Department and Department of Homeland Security Program will fly immigrant children from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador to their parents in the U.S. for free. Parents can apply to have their children picked up and flown over the border to them on the taxpayer’s dime, as long as they have some kind of legal immigration status, The Daily Caller reported Wednesday. The program was created in response to a surge of unaccompanied Central American children making the perilous trek to illegally cross the U.S. border that began last summer.

Only about a third of the young immigrants who became eligible three months ago for an Arizona driver’s license after a lengthy legal battle have obtained one, according to state data. The immigrants, often referred to as DREAMers, are part of a federal program that shields them from deportation and gives them a Social Security number and work permit for two years. President Barack Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, in 2012 for young people who had been brought to the United States illegally as children. A similar program that would benefit parents of U.S.-citizen...

Republicans are debating whether their path to the presidency in 2016 runs through the blue-collar Rust Belt states, or the demographically changing new South and Sunbelt states. For Democrats looking to retake the Senate, however, the formula is more clear-cut: Win back white working-class voters, or be consigned to a longer-term minority. (SNIP) Exit polls show that Rust Belt Democrats performed dismally among non-college-educated white voters in these states in 2010. Feingold won just 40 percent of their vote in 2010, five points behind Obama's vote share in the state two years later. In Ohio, Strickland tallied just 40 percent...

Potentially millions of current and former illegal immigrants now have the opportunity to fly their children to the U.S. with taxpayer dollars. Once they arrive, they will be eligible for benefits including a free education, healthcare and food stamps. The State Department and Department of Homeland Security will administer the program, ... Some of the benefits they will receive are a free education, medical care, living expenses and food stamps. ... The U.S. has already sent staff to the region and began accepting applications in December. If applicants don’t qualify for refugee status, they can be considered for parole status

Big Business pressure played a big role in reducing two "tough conservative" Republicans to bowls of mush this week, but it isn't just gay marriage and religious freedom where the Corporate Elites wield influence over Republicans and Democrats. The US Chamber of Commerce and some of the big corporate names attacking religious freedom this week have also been in the forefront of calling for "comprehensive immigration reform". Those are the code words for Amnesty for illegal immigrants and or a massive increase in work permits for people from foreign countries. The biggest cheerleader for Common Core educational standards among GOP...