Free Republic

AUSTIN (KXAN) — As the surge of unaccompanied minors into America continues, organizations around the country are doing what they can to help, including here in Austin. On Tuesday, Austin Interfaith spoke at the Travis County Commissioner’s meeting. Representatives say that Austin is ideal to being a recipient of the children; it is a welcoming city and has the resources necessary to do so. For Ofelia Zapata, the future of migrant children hits close to home. “When you see on TV how the children are mistreated by officers…these are babies.” Zapata is a member of Austin Interfaith and is on...

HARRISBURG — An influx of unaccompanied children crossing the U.S. border is spilling over into Pennsylvania, as state officials received word Monday that more than 500 are being housed in the commonwealth. Those include 120 children staying at two temporary centers and 386 others who have been placed in the care of relatives or religious groups that have agreed to house them, said Kathaleen Gillis, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Welfare. The federal government manages the care of the unaccompanied immigrant children. State officials received information about the children in Pennsylvania from the federal Department of Health...

Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst (R) reported that the vast majority of illegal immigrants coming over the southern border are not unaccompanied minors... ...the unaccompanied children represent some 12%-20%. ...We're focused on that 80, the 85% of which a quarter according to the border patrol, have a criminal record”

League City's recent resolution rejecting refuge for Central American migrant children violates two landmark civil rights acts, a complaint to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development alleged this week. Other Houston-area jurisdictions may face similar opposition as their elected officials fight potential federal efforts to house undocumented minors in their communities. On Tuesday, Brazoria County commissioners unanimously passed a resolution urging the federal government to solve the Texas-Mexico border crisis and "cease relocation" of unaccompanied immigrant youngsters in the state. Also on Tuesday, two different measures to prevent unaccompanied child migrants from being housed in Smith County -...

Mexico Foreign Minister José Antonio Meade Kuribreña on Tuesday challenged Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s characterization of the flow of Central American children into the U.S. as an “assault” on Americans and their security. “There’s a need to respond to the upsurge in minors, but I don’t see how the upsurge of minors threatens the security of the U.S. — and I certainly don’t see how it threatens the security of Texas,” Meade said in an appearance at The Chronicle’s editorial board. “There’s a need for a response. … That response should have a high level of humanitarian concerns within it....

Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst (R) reported that the vast majority of illegal immigrants coming over the southern border are not unaccompanied minors in an appearance on Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown.” “Our effort in Texas is not focused on the unaccompanied children...we are focused on-the unaccompanied children represent some 12%-20%. We're focused on that 80, the 85% of which a quarter according to the border patrol, have a criminal record” he said ...

Define the lunacy of the liberal Reich? Politico, the flaming slingshot of Democrats across this nation, claimed in a double fit of Espresso rage that Rick Perry was sending troops to the border to kill children? That's right, not to stop thousands of undocumented illegals streaming into a sovereign state, dare I say country, without immunizations or permission, but to kill their innocent children in hopes no one would notice? After all, that's what modern day Republican Governors do in the information age…kill children to increase the value of Snapchat. Hmm, I'm confused, are we living beneath the propaganda banner...

Beck spoke about a 15-year-old quadriplegic who was found, barely alive, by Border Patrol agents on the shores of the Rio Grande. The cartels had seemingly been paid to take him to the United States, so they did, dumping him — strapped to his wheelchair — face-first on the banks of the river and leaving him to die.

Tecum Uman, SAN MARCOS -.   Dressed in shorts and sandals seemed himself a migrant, but the man spoke as a businessman described how while sending tens of thousands of dollars in human cargo from the slums of Honduras and the mountains of Guatemala to cities around the United States."It's business," said the man with a mustache not very populated and some gray in his black hair, who spoke to a reporter on the condition of keeping their identity anonymous. "Sometimes it goes well."Given the dramatic increase in the number of juveniles detained in the U.S. in recent months, it appears that the...

Hours before Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced he would send National Guard troops to the border, Texas state Senator Dan Patrick said there are at least 100,000 illegal immigrant gang members in the state. On Monday's The Laura Ingraham Show, Patrick, who is also the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, said from 2008 to 2012, 143,000 illegal immigrant criminals were arrested and jailed in Texas. He said these were "hardened criminals, gang members, and other criminals that we identified as being in Texas illegally." "We charged them with 447,000 crimes, a half-million crimes in four years, just in Texas, including...

So, then, what are we supposed to think when the governor of Texas dispatches National Guardsmen to the state border with Mexico in order to deflect the onrush of illegal border-crossers? What are we supposed to do? Do? A strange concept these days. Do something about the Russians and their depraved allies for shooting down a passenger plane? Do something about the depraved crowd of terrorists who provoked Israel into assaulting the tunnels in which they skulk? Do something about those equally depraved Iraqi terrorists now rounding up and expelling Christians from their midst? Do something about the kidnappers of...

A local home for children has been asked by the federal government to prepare itself to take in unaccompanied immigrant children from Central America who continue to cross over into the United States. The United Methodist Home for Children in Mechanicsburg has not taken in any children from Central America yet, and it continues to assist children sent to it from the local county courts systems, the group's Board of Trustees Chairwoman Karen Best said Monday. But the agency has been contacted to prepare itself to provide shelter and care for unaccompanied minors, she said. The home has been approved...

VIDEO: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Sending the National Guard to the Border Watch our interview with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott from tonight’s ON THE RECORD and sound off!See the Video Here

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sen. Rand Paul said Monday Fort Knox was being considered as a possible place to temporarily house some of the immigrant children pouring across the country's southern border. The senator's office was notified that the Army post in central Kentucky has been under review as a place to take in an undetermined number of unaccompanied Central America minors. The Kentucky Republican spoke out against transporting the children to Fort Knox. He says they should be treated humanely until being returned to their home countries. Late Monday afternoon, Congressman John Yarmuth's office confirmed the Department of Defense submitted...

I'm home from a week of lobbying in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the refugee children on our southern border. There were 13 of us, 11 from Loretto and two from our Guatemalan sister community, Sagrada Familia. We had appointments with 25 senators and representatives, plus other drop-in visits. We crossed the Capitol between the House and Senate office buildings three or four times each day.NETWORK, LCWR and the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission lent staff to help us refine our message. Maruca and Yolanda from Guatemala told and retold tough accounts of children leaving home to escape gangs, to buy medicine, to...

Gov. Rick Perry’s plan to activate 1,000 Texas National Guard troops for duty near the border with Mexico will do little to ease the crisis caused by the arrival of 57,000 unaccompanied minors from Central America. More significant to addressing the problem is enlisting the governments of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to better enforce their own borders and discourage adults and children from attempting the dangerous trip northward. No show of force can stop them from crossing. Once they’re here, U.S. law requires that they enter a legal process intended to ensure they’re protected from predators in their...

In recent weeks, FEMA representatives have sent mass emails to advocacy networks throughout the country soliciting potential detention facilities and offering guidelines for acceptable spaces. The guidelines include being “Within 50 miles of major city (Pop ~200K)/airport; available for lease; able to be fenced or have adequate security.” Showers and toilets are preferable, according to the guidelines, but not necessary—so long as there is outdoor space for “staging areas for shower/restroom/laundry/kitchen trailers, etc.” Also preferred but not necessary, according to the email, is a kitchen, a cafeteria, recreational space, and classroom space. Suggestions for potentially workable locations? “Office space, warehouse,...

Back to martial law, identify all the potential contributing causes. Ask yourself, “What would I expect to precipitate martial law in X city?” My list would start with riots, civil unrest, terrorist attack, and monetary collapse. If any of those things become observable, then I’m going to be on alert for martial law. Taking it one step further, I’m going to start looking for indicators of those contributing causes. A real world example: Millions of illegal immigrants are pouring over the border. Why? Because the Obama Administration’s border policy is not to stop illegal immigration. Why? Because the administration wants...

A growing issue capturing headlines across the country is now back in the spotlight in Rochester. Monday morning, Mayor Lovely Warren will be briefed on the possibility of the former Blossom South Nursing and Rehabilitation Center housing immigrant children. According to statement from City Hall, members of Warren's staff were contacted by representatives of the owner of the former nursing home. They asked if the City had any interest in getting behind an idea to turn the complex into a home for kids in the U.S. illegally and without their parents. When Mayor Warren was asked about the issue last...

U.S. Border Patrol agents on the American side of the Rio Grande were forced to take cover Friday night when high-caliber weaponry was fired at them from the Mexican side of the river, sources told FoxNews.com. The weapons were fired at the U.S. side of the riverbank in the area of the Rincon Peninsula across the Rio Grande from Reynosa, Mexico, at about 8:30 p.m., sources said. Bullets ricocheted into an area where Border Patrol agents were positioned, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, told FoxNews.com. Border Patrol sources confirmed Gohmert’s account, and said the shots may have been fired by .50-caliber...

What is “chain migration”? Chain migration allows one immigrant to sponsor several relatives for admission. Five years after being admitted as a legal permanent resident, that individual only needs to seek naturalization and demonstrate an income level 25% higher than the poverty level to begin sponsoring other relatives who then sponsor other relatives and perpetuate this cycle. In 1965, the Immigration and Naturalization Act was amended to expand the definition of “immediate relatives” to emphasize the reunification of extended family members. Previously, U.S. laws limited this category to the spouses and children under 18 of U.S. citizens and legal immigrants....

Former Border Patrol agent warns what’s coming By: James Simpson, DC Independent ExaminerThe video interview posted here is worth watching in its entirety. Zach Taylor is a 27 year veteran Border Patrol agent with supervisory experience. He has testified before Congress as an expert witness on criminal activity in wilderness areas. His message is credible. He accuses the federal government in a coverup that is deliberately shielding critical information from the public. Taylor says that whoever is perpetrating the border crisis is engaged in a perfect asymmetrical military tactic. While the American people focus on “the children,” he points out...

After swearing an oath to protect the life of Barack Obama and then resigning, one former Secret Service agent is calling the president out for an alarming overreach of power he claims is risking the lives of Americans. “The president has abdicated his duty to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, especially where illegal immigration is concerned,” Dan Bongino told WND in an interview. A 12-year veteran of the Secret Service and candidate for Congress in Maryland’s Sixth District, he called the current state of the U.S. border “the most unsecure situation you could possibly imagine.” “We’re not escorting these...

... But there were warnings as early as 2012, both from the first ladies of Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala who spoke at a conference in Washington on unaccompanied minors, and from Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., told the Post that while Democrats were aware of the urgent problem, they feared that speaking out about the problem too much would make it too politically difficult for Congress to pass an immigration overhaul. "That was always a concern of mine: How to address the issue in a way that did not detract from the need for comprehensive immigration reform,"...

Governor Mary Fallin (R-OK) told Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures that the feds sent 1,200 illegal immigrant children to Oklahoma to hold for 120 days. 90 of those illegal children were from India. “Because they are children, we want them to be fed, and have appropriate medical care, certainly be safe within the facilities, and they’re segregated. But, one of the things I’ve heard since they’ve been there and it was reported while I was there actually, that there were not only El Salvadoran children, and Honduras, and Guatemala, but there were 90 children reported to be from India...

Here are a couple of links to talks with Zack Taylor, the Chairman National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers and former Arizona Border Patrol Officer. The second video has some graphic content, but is still very much worth seeing. He brings up a very good point that the border agents are being pulled off the border to deal with these "kids." It isn't necessarily these people that are the problem, but the ones who now have unrestricted access coming through other areas and are not being caught. Zack Interview-Security on the border between USA and MexicoTREASON! Ret Border Patrol...

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) responded to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) characterization of the U.S.-Mexico border as “secure” by telling his colleague to come take a look for himself. “President Obama and Harry Reid both engage debates divorced from the facts and divorced from the reality,” Cruz said on Fox News Sunday. “Harry Reid lives in the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., and I’m sure from his perspective the border seems secure. I would invite Harry Reid to come with me down Texas and see the border.” “I’ll tell you who is holding these kids ransom,” Cruz continued, “Harry Reid...

U.S. officials warned on Sunday that scammers are attempting to prey on the families of some of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied child immigrants crossing the border from Latin America, seeking money for phony travel costs. "One fraud scheme involved individuals who claimed to be representing a charitable or non profit organization, which they claimed assists in processing and reuniting the children with their families," said Special Agent Michelle Lee. Another scheme used what Lee described as "caller I.D. spoofing" to make it appear that the calls were coming from a San Antonio business, which she didn't name, in...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Saturday urged supporters to sign a petition to end what he said was “Obama’s amnesty,” a program authorized Obama that allows certain undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. without fear of being deported. Cruz took to social media on Saturday to spur attention to his proposals. “Join the fight to stop the crisis on the border -- sign the petition to #StopObamasAmnesty,” Cruz wrote on his Facebook and Twitter. The Tea Party favorite is pushing legislation that would defund the program to prevent it from being expanded. Cruz says his bill should be a...

On Saturday, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin wondered why President Barack Obama's administration was not dumping illegal immigrant children in exclusive liberal communities in Manhattan, Silicon Valley, and the Washington, D.C. suburbs to live with pro-amnesty advocates. Speaking at the Western Conservative Summit in Colorado on Saturday, Palin said that politicians and their rich pro-amnesty friends in Silicon Valley or Wall Street can afford the best security for their borders that money can buy in their exclusive, gated communities. But Palin said when it comes to taking care of the nearly 60,000 illegal immigrant children who have come across the...

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Birmingham was one of 400 cities to have participated in what the group claims is the largest anti-amnesty nation-wide protest in history. The group calls themselves "Make Them Listen." They took to the streets expressing frustration with the federal government's stance on immigration. Using Facebook to get the word out, they staged a national day of protesting against immigration reform, amnesty and border surge. Car horns blared and beeped in response to the "no amnesty" and "no illegal immigrants period" signs. More than two dozen people rallied on the grassy area on Highway 280 in front of...

Nearly a year before President Obama declared a humanitarian crisis on the border, a team of experts arrived at the Fort Brown patrol station in Brownsville, Tex., and discovered a makeshift transportation depot for a deluge of foreign children. The researchers’ observations were among the warning signs conveyed to the Obama administration over the past two years as a surge of Central American minors has crossed into south Texas illegally. More than 57,000 have entered the United States this year, swamping federal resources and catching the government unprepared. The administration did too little to heed those warnings, according to interviews...

EXCLUSIVE: RINCON PENINSULA, Texas -- U.S. Border Patrol agents on the American side of the Rio Grande were forced to take cover Friday night when high-caliber weaponry was fired at them from the Mexican side of the river, sources told FoxNews.com. The weapons were fired at the U.S. side of the riverbank in the area of the Rincon Peninsula across the Rio Grande from Reynosa, Mexico, at about 8:30 p.m., sources said. Bullets ricocheted into an area where Border Patrol agents were positioned, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, told FoxNews.com. Border Patrol sources confirmed Gohmert's account, and said the shots may...

JONES COUNTY, MS - About one dozen Pine Belt residents carried signs and American flags and waved at vehicles from an overpass on Interstate-59 Saturday to protest illegal immigration. They were part of a National Day of Protest organized on social media by the "Make Them Listen" movement. Folks from Petal, Pearl River and Jones counties displayed signs such as "Secure the Border" and "No Amnesty" as they stood on the overpass at the Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport exit. "The border is not secure and we're being invaded," said Darlene Thomas, one of the organizers of the protest. "It's not a...

San Diegans gathered Saturday morning to take part in a nationwide protest against immigration reform amid the border crisis. With American flags and opposition signs in hand, dozens of protestors united along the Interstate 8 overpass in La Mesa near Severin Drive to voice their opinions on illegal immigration. “We think our border needs to be better protected,” said Ocean Beach resident Lucy Ingalls. “Crime is coming in, we have disease coming in, we have mothers sending their kids off by themselves to get sick and die on their own and I think that’s a huge crime. I think we...

BEAUMONT - Holding Texas state flags and signs reading "Secure the Border", a group of demonstrators stood along Dowlen Road in front of Chick-fil-A in Beaumont Saturday. It was a small group, only about eight people, but their message was big. “Our federal government is not controlling the border," said Roger Evans, a member of the local chapter of the Texas Nationalist Movement. Hundreds of similar protests are scheduled in dozens of states over the weekend. Evan says something needs to be done to stop the recent surge of thousands of undocumented immigrants, mostly children, crossing into the United States...

DES MOINES, Iowa–Staci Appel, the Democratic nominee for Iowa’s Third Congressional District, wouldn’t say whether some of the tens of thousands of Central American children dumped at the U.S. border should at some point be able to come to Iowa. Appel expressed empathy for the children involved but said the federal authorities first need to investigate the circumstances of the children. She said, “I’m thinking as a mom it’s terrifying for some of the children to be there and be alone.” But she added, “We have to work through the processes, the procedures of how it works to find out...

Protests continue across the country over the recent wave of undocumented people illegally entering the United States. Hundreds of protestors with the Montgomery County Citizens Against Illegal Immigration said they don’t want immigrants to be transferred to the area for housing. “Our big question and I believe their big question is how this happened under everybody’s nose,” said Michelle Prescott. “How the feds were able to bring in these children in our community and not notify anybody about it.”

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – 50,000 immigrants have crossed the southern U.S. border looking for a place to stay. After a proposal was announced by Governor Patrick on Friday, a good amount of them might be seeking shelter in Chicopee. Westover Air Reserve Base may become the newest shelter for hundreds of undocumented immigrant children escaping Central America. 22News spoke with local residents all morning, and after 7 on-camera interviews, all of them said they don’t want the children staying in Chicopee. Chicopee mayor Richard Kos is even against this idea. Representatives at Westover Aire Reserve Base are also hesitant about...

Reading this Politico item on Obama's botched handling of immigration policy, one would think Democrats are all for embracing scores of illegal immigrant children now in the U.S. for an indeterminate period of time. Obama's foes on border crisis: Democrats “They sure didn’t check with me,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “I don’t know who they checked with, but I just think it was kind of a quick reaction without really thinking about the humanitarian aspects of this.” In fact, many prominent Democrats are not only taking the Obama administration...

I haven't seen this connection yet, but it seems to me that the current border invasion is Fast and Furious in reverse. At least in political terms. Has there ever been an administration that foments international tensions in pursuit of its domestic agenda? In Fast and Furious guns were run to Mexico with the assumption that these guns would come back to kill Americans. Then the Left would call for more legislation to control weapons in the USA and restrict 2nd Amendment rights. Children were killed in Mexico with these guns as was one of our border agents, Brian Terry....

Full Title: EXCLUSIVE: Documents Detail Heinous Crimes Committed by Gang Members Being Housed in Nogales Processing Center Late last week I reported 16 MS-13 gang members exploiting the unaccompanied minor crisis were being housed at a Border Patrol processing center in Nogales, Arizona. The gang members were discovered after graffiti was left on bathroom walls. Further investigation shows gang members from different criminal organizations were also discovered after a fight broke out between two rival MS-13 and 18th Street gang members in a shared holding cell. The gang members admitted in interviews with Border Patrol agents they had engaged in...

Earlier, I reported that an illegal immigrant from Honduras entered the country on June 26th and three weeks later had already been charged with 2nd Degree Murder. Pedro Alberto Monterroso-Navas entered the country with two children and was allowed to stay under Obama's "catch and release" amnesty policies. Not many people read the article, likely because I was about 12 hours behind the bigger media sources which reported it and we get significantly less traffic to begin with. [Oh, the joys of being a small potatoes blogger!] However, there was some very important research in that article and I would...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz confirmed Thursday that he will be joining Glenn Beck and Mercury One at the border in McAllen, Texas, on Saturday to feed, clothe, and provide toys for illegal immigrant children. Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for the senator, told TheBlaze in an email: “Tens of thousands of children are being smuggled into the United States by dangerous drug cartels and transnational gangs – it is heartless to allow that to continue.” “But while we work to reverse the policies that have caused this tragedy, it is important we recognize the human element of this crisis, and Sen....

The Washington Free Beacon has put together a greatest hits compilation of the Democrats’ border security quotes. Why would the Democrats continuously insist that the border is secure? Perhaps because Republicans insist on having a secure border before discussing any type of immigration reform legislation. Democrats don’t think people will catch up to this at some point? The PR game that carried Obama – health care lies and all – to the White House is showing significant signs of incompetent wear and tear lately…

Why was this thread pulled?

Madness has gripped our border. I am not talking about the migrant children fleeing from crime and violence in their home countries in Central America and looking for the opportunity to live a better life. I am talking about the misguided protesters—and the right-wing public officials that egg them on, railing against anything they think even might be an immigrant. Republicans need to get hold of themselves, understand facts and keep their anti-immigrant extremist voices in check. If they don't do it for the country's future, they should at least do it for their own political survival. Republicans cannot afford...

Liberals just aren't very liberal these days. The word “liberal” comes from the Latin word meaning freedom, and in the 19th century liberals in this country and abroad stood for free speech, free exercise of religion, free markets, free trade -- for minimal state interference in people's lives. In the 20th century New Dealers revised this definition, by arguing that people had a right not only to free speech and freedom of religion, but also, as Franklin Roosevelt said in his 1941 Four Freedoms speech, freedom from fear and from want. Freedom from want meant, for Roosevelt, government provision of...

Joint Base Cape Cod could become a temporary home for hundreds of migrant children in custody after attempting to cross the US-Mexico border. It’s not the first time the military facility has found itself at the center of a large-scale effort to provide makeshift housing for people fleeing crisis. In the days after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, then-Governor Mitt Romney announced that as many as 2,500 evacuees from the Gulf Coast would come to the Cape as part of a massive relief effort. They were to stay at Camp Edwards, which is part of the joint base. It’s not clear...

Q: Did the Obama administration advertise in January to transport 65,000 foreign children apprehended at the border? Did it expect a surge of illegal immigration? A: Yes. There’s been a sharp increase in unaccompanied children from Central America since FY 2012, and the U.S. projected a bigger increase this year. --snip-- It remains to be seen if the 65,000 figure cited in the January RFI for “escort services” proves to be an accurate projection. But certainly the administration anticipated a surge of unaccompanied children at the border.