Free Republic

Calling a proposed crackdown on immigrants in Arizona "misguided," President Barack Obama said Friday the federal government will closely monitor the situation in the state for possible civil rights violations. A bill approved by the Arizona legislature would make it a crime not to carry proof of legal status and would empower police to ask about a person's immigration status if they have doubts. The bill has not yet been signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican. Obama said the legislation "threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between...

President Obama urged Congress on Friday to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, saying that inaction would lead to "misguided efforts" and "irresponsibility by others." The president also said an immigration bill currently on the Arizona governor's desk was "misguided," and said he has ordered his staff to "closely monitor the situation" to make sure the measure will not violate people's civil liberties. The bill, already passed by the state House and Senate, would require authorities in Arizona to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are in the country illegally.

Border states have become frustrated beyond all patience with the federal government’s inability — and reluctance — to enforce immigration laws. In Arizona, voters passed a law authorizing local and state police to investigate potential immigration violations, a measure that had overwhelming and bipartisan support in the state. Instead of acknowledging the failure of several administrations to deal with immigration violations, including his own, Barack Obama lashed out at the state’s voters instead — and threatened to pursue civil-rights legal actions against them:

A congressman from the president’s home state is threatening that he will urge Latino voters to stay home this November if the Democratic Party does not make a concerted effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (Ill.) is arguably President Barack Obama’s biggest Democratic critic in Congress. And he’s not fond of Obama’s top advisers at the White House, either. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) member has strongly criticized the administration’s policy on deportation and questioned its commitment to far-reaching reform. Some Democrats have felt little urgency in pursuing the controversial issue, partly because they see no risk...

The Department of Homeland Security has just reported that during 2009, they issued 1,130,818 new Green Cards to foreign nationals, allowing them to work legally in this country. That number represents the fourth highest number of cards issued in one year.

750,000 of the new Green Cards were given to the families of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.

The top four recipient nations are as follows:

-Mexico…164,920 
-China…receiving 64,238
-Philippines…60,029
-India…57,304 

In Feb. 2009, the financial institution Merrill Lynch announced that the nation’s actual unemployment rate had reached 13.9 percent. A year later, that number had risen to 17.3 percent. This figure represents Americans...

Senator Harry Reid retreated today from having the Senate move quickly on immigration law changes, saying any overhaul would have to wait.“We won’t get to immigration reform this work period,” Mr. Reid, Democrat of Nevada  and the majority leader, told reporters after the private weekly luncheon of Democratic senators.Over the weekend, Mr. Reid raised the hopes of immigration advocates by suggesting at a rally in Las Vegas that he was ready to put immigration on the legislative front burner now that health care legislation was out of the way and Congress was returning from a two-week break.“We’re going to come...

Las Vegan Antonio Manriquez stood on the steps of the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse holding an American flag. Manriquez was one of nearly 3,500 immigration reform supporters who attended the Rally for America Saturday afternoon in downtown Las Vegas, which was hosted by Reform Immigration for America. The 45-year-old from Mexico City said he's an illegal immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for 20 years. He said he attended rally to push for comprehensive immigration reform, support others who are in the country illegally and to no longer live in fear of being separated from his three children, all...

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, told an exuberant crowd at an immigration rally Saturday in Las Vegas that Congress would start work on immigration overhaul as soon as lawmakers return this week. “We’re going to have comprehensive immigration reform now,” he said in a speech to more than 6,000 people, mostly immigrants. “We need to do this this year,” Reid said, drawing cheers from the crowd. Reid told the crowd he believes he has 56 Senate votes in support of the legislation. He outlined legislation that would include border security measures and a temporary guest worker program. To gain...

(snip) The Tucson paper's editorial board noted that he represents a border state affected by Washington's inaction. "Yes. Yes. I do. But so does the senator from New Mexico and the senators from California and all the border states all along. But it seems to me that the proposal should come, it's the obligation of the president of the United States to come forward with what he thinks is a proposal and then maybe we can all work together and get it resolved," he said. "So what have I done?" he added. "Not enough."Still, McCain said he expects to hold...

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, are believed to be on the cusp of introducing a new bill in the Senate on Comprehensive immigration reform. The Schumer/Graham initiative combines enforcement with earned legal status for immigrants who are out of status or came in illegally. Washington sources say they are ready to introduce the bill "any day now."

Supporters of an amnesty for illegal aliens are desperately scrounging for another Republican backer in addition to liberal Republican Lindsay Graham. With Republicans holding 41 seats in the Senate, plus several working class Democrats who will vote against an amnesty, another Republican backer is needed to make the amnesty appear ‘bipartisan.’ Even Graham appears to be reluctant to be the lone Republican supporter of the bill. "I urge the President to write a bill and see if he can get another Republican, see if he can convince the 16 Democrats who voted no the last time," he said during a...

Eliseo Medina, international executive vice-president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) made the following comments at a June 2009 Washington conference for America's Future Now!: Medina said that during the presidential election in November 2008, Latinos and immigrants "voted overwhelmingly for progressive candidates. Barack Obama got two out of every three voters that showed up." "Can you imagine if we have, even the same ratio, two out of three? Can you imagine 8 million new voters who care about our issues and will be voting?" Medina asked. "We will be creating a governing coalition for the long term, not just...

FRESNO, Calif. – Paula Medrano shifts uncomfortably on the doctor's examination table, holding out a wrist inflamed and swollen by arthritis. The 78-year-old has no health insurance, lives below the federal poverty level, and can't pay for the medication she needs. Just days before her appointment, President Barack Obama signed, with much fanfare, a historic bill to extend health care access to 32 million currently uninsured people.

The illegal immigration issue now boiling up as an overarching president and a Democrat Congress tackle the prospect of giving amnesty to 20 million illegal immigrants is merely a thinly veiled attempt register new Democrats for the 2010 and especially 2012 elections. Granting illegals amnesty is thought to be the way the liberal left will assure their ascendancy to an American socialist dictatorship. Anchor baby chain One correction ignored for decades is ending the anchor baby chain migration by which pregnant women come to America to deliver babies who automatically receive America citizenship. This then allows these babies to be...

The opening minutes of “The Senators’ Bargain,” a documentary film appearing tonight on HBO2, show Senator John McCain at a congressional hearing in 2006, reading out loud from a newspaper article describing the death from desert broiling that befalls many immigrants trying to cross the border illegally. “The brain cooks and the delirium starts,” the Republican senator from Arizona reads somberly, explaining why he will join Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, one of the most liberal Democrats, to sponsor a bill to give legal status to millions of illegal immigrants. The documentary, directed by Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini,...

Like the movie villain Jason Voorhees who seems dead at the end of every movie but comes back for the next horror show, amnesty for illegal aliens isn't dead. It's back! Some people thought amnesty was dead when the people rose up against the Bush/Kennedy/McCain amnesty bill and kept it from becoming law. But they were wrong. The far left never gives up on a bad idea. They just keep bringing it back until they can either implement their mischief piecemeal, or have enough scumbags in congress to ram it through. To them the will of the people, like the...

As the vote for DeathCare commences, Fox Boston just ran a tease of a mob of Spanish-speaking criminal aliens holding a rally where their leaders are screaming into bullhorns, demanding blanket amnesty. Fox suggested that this will be Obama's next big success. Twenty million new Dem voters will make it impossible for the Repubs or any conservatives to ever again hold office.

The "Passionate Intensity" of the 224 Votes For ObamaCare “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned. The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity” W. B. Yeats, The Second Coming, 1920

Protesters carrying banners and U.S. flags mass on the National Mall. Organizers are trying to cast the issue as an element of economic recovery. Reporting from Washington Tens of thousands of people began assembling in Washington on Sunday to march for immigration reform, a politically charged issue that has been pushed to a back burner by the intense focus on healthcare. Wearing colorful shirts and carrying banners and U.S. flags, thousands filled two blocks on the National Mall, chanting "si se puede" - "yes we can" - and "Obama listen, remember your promise." Among the marchers was Jose Barnell, 60,...

Amnesty = 25,000,000 new Democrats. Any questions?