Free Republic

Former Democratic Senator Joe Manchin called out the Biden administration, arguing their mishandling of border security led to President Trump's return to the White House.

FRANKLIN PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- It's been about a week since Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino and his team left the Chicago area. But immigration operations still continue in the area as two people were detained by U.S. Department of Homeland Security federal agents in Franklin Park. A family in Franklin Park spent the afternoon fixing the front door which federal agents knocked down Thursday morning while executing an arrest warrant for a man in his 60s. The family says that man and his wife were both taken into DHS custody for allegedly living in the country illegally. The granddaughter...

Trump border czar responds to bishops’ statement on deportationsTom Homan, the Trump administration’s border czar, responded to the nation’s bishops this week after they issued a statement in solidarity with migrant families who they said live in fear of “indiscriminate mass deportation.”The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved the statement by a vote of 216–5 at its Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, Maryland. The bishops warned against rhetoric that “vilifies immigrants” and cited reports of parents avoiding school drop-offs, parishioners skipping Mass, and families remaining indoors because they fear detention.“So according to them,” Homan said when a reporter...

LOS ANGELES — A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to working with Mexican traffickers to bring drugs into the U.S., officials said Thursday. Diego Bonillo, 30, pleaded guilty in July to multiple charges, including conspiracy to import controlled substances such as cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. As part of his plea deal, he admitted to using his position to allow drug-filled cars into the U.S. from Mexico without inspection. He allowed at least 75 kilograms of fentanyl, 11.7 kilograms of methamphetamine, and more than 1 kilogram of heroin...

At La Imperial Bakery in Hillsboro, October typically brings a rush of customers eager to celebrate Día de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead. They buy bags of pan de muerto, conchas and other pastries galore. Not this year. Over the past few weeks, as the federal government has ramped up immigration enforcement and agents have seized people from cars, streets, apartment buildings and parking lots across the Portland metro area, sales at the family-owned bakery have plummeted by at least 40 percent, said owner and lead pastry chef Moises Pineda. “The clients are not coming,” Pineda said....

CARLYLE, Ill. -- When Jose Jeronimo Guardian showed up at a Spanish language traffic court this week, he didn't expect to be detained and face expulsion from a country he'd lived in for more than two decades. Guardian, 48, was scheduled to appear Monday in a courtroom where a county-provided translator would aid communication with about a dozen Spanish-speaking defendants who face charges from traffic infractions like his - two charges of driving under the influence of alcohol - to serious felony charges. Guardian never made it into the courtroom. Instead, an agent from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement questioned...

Several illegal Indian migrant workers who were recently deported from the US have recounted their ordeal to BBC Punjabi, describing humiliation, debt and shattered dreams. At least 54 men, who had entered the US through the "donkey route" - often used by traffickers to facilitate illegal crossings - landed in the country's capital Delhi on Sunday. Aged between 25 and 40 years, all of them are from the northern state of Haryana and have since returned home, police said. The Indian government has not commented on their deportation. But the action comes amid an intense crackdown on illegal immigrants under...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The imposing Shrine of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic church a short drive from the White House, was intended to be a sanctuary for worshippers. Now, its mostly immigrant congregation is steeped in fear. Church leaders say more than 40 members of their parish have been detained, deported or both since federal law enforcement stepped up their deployment in August. Many parishioners are too scared to leave home to attend Mass, buy food or seek medical care, as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown targets their communities. Cardinal Robert McElroy, who leads the Archdiocese of Washington, said the...

Gabbard described an operation in which intelligence provided to Mexican law enforcement led to the arrest of an alleged Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) associate known as “La Diabla.” The individual is accused of leading a criminal network involved in human trafficking, illegal medical procedures, and the sale of newborns. irector of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard praised recent U.S. and Mexican law enforcement operations that she said were supported by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) through intelligence sharing. According to Gabbard, actionable intelligence from the NCTC assisted both U.S. and Mexican authorities in the arrest of a Sinaloa Cartel leader...

The man suspected of being under the influence when he crashed his tractor-trailer into a crowd of vehicles on the 10 Freeway Tuesday afternoon has been identified as a 21-year-old resident of Yuba City. Authorities say Jashanpreet Singh was under the influence of drugs when his speeding truck crashed into several slow-moving vehicles caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic in the westbound lanes of the 10 Freeway. Bill Melugin, a correspondent for Fox News, reported Wednesday that Singh is an Indian immigrant who is in the country illegally. Singh, according to the California Highway Patrol, did not hit his brakes prior to...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- President Donald Trump's immigration operation "Midway Blitz" has been underway for several weeks, and the hospitality industry, especially restaurants in Latino wards, are feeling the impact. Gerardo Auza comes from a family of restaurant owners. The 42-year-old's dream was to open his own business. It came true eight months ago, when Auza opened El Mexico De Chicago in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood. The Mexican immigrant says online reviews have been great, but none of it matters if no one shows up. "For over a month, it takes like 70% to 80%. The customers didn't show up to...

🚨 Abigail Spanberger in 2024:“The question related to ‘why doesn’t Biden just shut down the border?’ It’s because there’s actually no legal authority to do so.” pic.twitter.com/18jOMDD56x— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 20, 2025

Unlike in his first term, the second Trump administration has a significant head start on building and should have no problem finishing the project by 2029. But there is one technical difference: This time around, the project is called a “smart wall.” Although technology was utilized in the border barrier system during Trump’s first term, it plays an even larger role in safeguarding the country now. In fact, every one of the 1,954 miles of the border with Mexico will have a “smart wall,” allowing the White House to carry out what it first set out to accomplish nearly a...

Massie—with the help of donors like Chowdhury, IPAC's Aljoboury, and the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Covington and Burling—raised $768,000 between July and September, the "best fundraising quarter of his career," according to Politico. While the outlet suggested in a July profile of Massie that the Republican's Kentucky district is more aligned with its congressman than its president, the overwhelming majority of Massie's most recent fundraising haul came from outside of the Bluegrass State. Of the $537,000 in itemized individual contributions Massie reported, just $22,000—or 4 percent—came from within Kentucky, a Free Beacon review found

🚨UNEARTHED: Abigail Spanberger says it's "horrifying" that under President Trump, crossing the border illegally is "considered a criminal act." pic.twitter.com/yQf7csRoQy— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 17, 2025

Avi Lewis, the former CBC host and husband of author Naomi Klein, has joined Al Jazeera’s rapidly growing English network as host of a weekly program on the American election. In the first episode of Frontline USA (complete video at the end of this post), which aired on the weekend, Mr. Lewis said the show will follow the election through such themes as race and immigration, and offer “a full-spectrum assault of American voices” to compete with the established networks. Al Jazeera English is not broadcast in Canada, although it has the approval of the federal regulator. Nonetheless, Mr. Lewis’s...

Illegal crossings along the US-Mexico border plummeted to a 55-year low in fiscal year 2025 – with the vast majority of unlawful attempts to enter the country taking place during the final months of the Biden administration. Federal authorities apprehended a total of 237,565 migrants along the southwest border during the period between Oct. 1, 2024 and Sept. 30, 2025, according to data released Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The figure is the lowest fiscal year total for apprehensions since 1970, when authorities caught 201,780 migrants attempting to cross the...

BROADVIEW, Ill. (WLS) -- Federal agents were seen clashing with demonstrators outside of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview on Friday morning. Chopper 7 was over the scene near 25th and Lexington, where at least eight demonstrators appeared to be detained. The pushing, shoving and apparent arrests happened shortly after 9 a.m., and it there is no sign of it not letting up. That clash came after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino were seen on the ICE facility's roof just before 8 a.m. Noem and Bovino were accompanied by several...

A notice calls the people the U.S. military recently killed on suspicion of drug smuggling in the Caribbean Sea “unlawful combatants.”President Trump has decided that the United States is engaged in a formal “armed conflict” with drug cartels his team has labeled terrorist organizations and that suspected smugglers for such groups are “unlawful combatants,” the administration said in a confidential notice to Congress this week. The notice was sent to several congressional committees and obtained by The New York Times. It adds new detail to the administration’s thinly articulated legal rationale for why three U.S. military strikes the president ordered...

An alleged Sinaloa cartel leader admitted President Trump’s aggressive border policies have made the illegal work of the powerful Mexican drug gang more difficult in an interview with CNN. An anonymous member of El Chapo’s former gang explained that Trump’s immigration and drug policies have put a damper on their black-market tradecraft in a bizarre interview with the news station’s senior national correspondent, David Culver, in the back of an SUV. “From killing to coordinating smuggling operations, he says he’s done it all,” Culver said, referring to Trump. “Do you think what President Trump has been doing has been making...