Free Republic

Asserting the full power of his office, President Obama is expected to announce a set of reforms to the country’s immigration enforcement system, a plan that would offer a temporary reprieve from deportation to up to 5 million undocumented immigrants. By taking action through an executive order, the president signals to a fractious Congress, where immigration legislation has been stalled for years, that humanitarian concerns must, in the end, be weighed against the costs of inaction. The political fallout on immigration will be volatile. But the human cost of inaction — the families upended, the lives disrupted — is much...

(WND Photo) Customs officials claim a large number of M4s were being taken from Border Patrol agents because the weapons were found to be unserviceable and posed safety concerns. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, doesn’t buy that claim. “There’s no more reliable weapon in the world,” he laughed. Any agency like the Department of Homeland Security that has bought millions of rounds of ammunition over the past few years could certainly afford to replace with new serviceable M4s all the weapons they are [taking] for testing,” King said...

President Barack Obama should use his executive power to order immigration reform despite Republican threats, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said Wednesday. "I join with my colleagues in urging the president to take action," he said, "And I urge my Republican friends to understand that that action would be temporary and can be replaced with a bill that we pass through the Congress of the United States." Republicans have responded to Obama's plans with intense metaphors.

PORTERVILLE, Calif. (KFSN) -- California Highway Patrol officers say a South Valley driver was drunk when he hit and killed a 3-year-old girl Sunday night as she picked out a treat from the ice cream truck. Investigators say the ice cream truck had just pulled into a Porterville driveway when 18-year-old unlicensed driver Adolfo Balbuena hit four people before taking off. Officers later caught him hiding near the Porterville Municipal Golf Course. CHP officers say the drunk driver had a blood-alcohol content of one-and-a-half times the legal limit. He lives near the crash scene and told investigators he knew what...

Comprehensive immigration reform: 1. Secure our borders and provide verifiable metrics 2. End the anchor-baby interpretation of the 14th Amendment 3. Make eVerify mandatory and enforce it with large fines 4. Reduce legal immigration quotas and end chain migration 5. Deport illegals upon contact with any law enforcement agency 6. No local, state or federal government benefits of any kind 7. Any health and/or other care billed back to the home country 8. Lifetime ban on path to citizenship for anyone who entered illegally 9. Make illegal entry a felony with a mandatory prison sentence

Now, I’m not saying that anyone in the White House is going to listen to anybody else in terms of the Executive Amnesty Plan of 2014. But, theoretically, if they were going to listen to somebody on this subject, you’d think it might be the folks who are tasked with enforcing many of the related laws on a day to day basis. And on the off chance that somebody might actually be listening, there’s a sizable group of sheriffs who would like a word with the President next month. Sheriffs across the country are planning a massive gathering in...

Rep. Matt Salmon of Arizona is pushing his Republican colleagues to try to block the president from using executive action on immigration, but his plan is likely to hit strong resistance from House leaders. The federal government is currently funded through a continuing resolution that runs out at midnight on December 11. Salmon, echoing similar calls from Republican senators Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Mike Lee of Utah, proposes that Congress pass a bill that would fund the government until early next year. If the president moves ahead with his executive amnesty, the expiring continuing resolution would give Republicans an...

Nearly every high school senior applied for Tennessee Promise, but a small percentage of them may not be eligible for free community college tuition. Before getting the state funding, students must apply for federal financial aid — which leaves undocumented students behind. Tennessee has about 6,000 high school students who are undocumented, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The governor’s speech introducing Tennessee Promise may have encouraged that hope: “To every student, from every kindergartner to every high school senior, we will promise that he or she can attend two years of community college or college of applied technology absolutely...

... Failure to solve this crisis effectively perpetuates the status quo, where an underclass of men and women work for unlawfully low wages, undermining businesses, and are less likely to report being victimized by crime for fear of being deported. It's why traditionally Republican-friendly organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have pushed for lawmakers to develop a comprehensive solution, and why immigrant-rights groups have grown so impatient with the Obama administration's promises of help. The president's administration deported more people in five years than his predecessor, George W. Bush, deported in eight years, according to the Pew Research Center....

The president and his advisers bet against Latinos in this last election — and they lost. Whatever the claims to the contrary, the administration delayed executive action on immigration to protect Democratic Senate candidates in red states. Latinos represent the fastest growing demographic in the electorate and the best opportunity Democrats have for building an overwhelming electoral coalition that could reliably defeat G.O.P. monetary and turnout advantages. But Democrats are not entitled to Latino votes. Like voters of all racial and ethnic groups, Latinos have the right to ask that candidates address their concerns directly.

President Obama said once again that he won't wait on Congress to start making changes to America's immigration system. In an appearance Sunday on CBS' Face The Nation, Obama stood by his recent statements that he'll use executive action to enact changes before the end of the year, but told host Bob Schieffer that he still wants Congress to act on the issue, too. Everyone agrees, Obama said, that the U.S. doesn't have the capacity to deport 11 million people.

FULL TITLE: 'I'm an American Without Documentation': The Trials and Tribulations of an Undocumented College Student Originally from a small town in Nayarit, Mexcio, Nestor Gomez always had a passion for a career in Engineering that is deeply rooted in his love for the environment. In most ways, Nestor is like any other college student. However, Nestor is a very ambitious individual. Nestor Gomez is an undocumented immigrant. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that 1.5 million undocumented students currently reside in the United States. Of those students, approximately 765,000 arrived in the United States before turning sixteen. On June 15,...

Stolen lives, that is how families refer to the death of their loved ones at the hands of criminals who were present in the country illegally when these men and women’s lives were stopped short. German immigrant and single mother of her only child, Sabine Durden spoke at the Sunday event in tribute to her son Dominic. The 30-year old sheriff dispatcher and pilot was killed when a Guatemalan illegally present in the United States and driving without a license caused the accident that left him dead. Jamiel Shaw, Jr. was a high school football star with a very bright...

OREGON CITY, Ore. — Twice illegally entering the United States, once deported, a man from El Salvador finds himself in a familiar spot of facing deportation. Aguirre pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in August and agreed to enter a diversion program. His blood-alcohol level was .12. He’s been living at the Augustana Lutheran Church in Northeast Portland since September after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up at his house in Fairview to arrest him. Aguirre has a criminal past in Oregon dating back to 1999 when he was convicted of selling drugs to undercover police officers in...

One year after the surge began of illegal migrant children across the southern U.S. border, courts are buckling under the load of deportation cases, while immigration rights activists are sounding the alarm that many children can't get fair hearings because they are without legal representation. According to data obtained by Politico, courts convened over 800 hearings per week between July and October. More than half the 11,392 cases on the calendar during that time were given continuances because children had no legal counsel, adding to the backlog for courts in the coming months and increasing the burden on the limited...

Illegal aliens plan a showdown with President Barack Obama at the White House at high noon Nov. 7. Central American Solidarity Association of Maryland (CASA de Maryland) Executive Director Gustavo Torres is supposed to lead the revolt. This being a national security measure, the government is mum on which federal agency will take the lead on protecting the president. Either the secret service or Immigration Customs Enforcement is the likely leader. “Particularly in light of this critical juncture on the future of our country, the president must act decisively, broadly, and quickly,” Torres says in a press release Nov. 6....

Eighty percent of voters polled on Election Day say new jobs should go to Americans and legal immigrants, not to illegal immigrants, including the potential beneficiaries of President Barack Obama’s planned executive amnesty, says an election-day poll of 806 voters. “Voters overwhelmingly prefer an immigration system that protects American workers,” says a memo released with the poll by Kellyanne Conway, founder of the polling company. “Members of Congress should feel confident that voters will support actions using the power of the purse to protect American workers from Obama’s executive amnesty threat,” the memo said.

Maria Praeli stood crying at the podium as she held the hand of her mother, Chela Praeli. Maria Praeli, 21, has a special status bestowed by President Barack Obama on young adults brought here as children by their undocumented parents that allows her to go to school and work without fear of deportation. But Chela Praeli, a psychiatrist when she was living in Peru, but who now cleans houses for a living, lacks that protection. “The thought of her being taken away from me is unbearable. My mother deserves to be included in President (Barack) Obama’s administrative relief,” she told...

Few were as excited about Election Day as Moises Herrera. He did not run for office. He cannot even vote. But reaching Tuesday’s election, he hopes, will set in motion actions that will allow him to stay in the country. “It’s the great hope,” Herrera, a 36-year-old father of four, said in an interview on Election Day, days after immigration officials released him. “There are many, many people in that jail, and they are waiting for that day.” In Massachusetts, Herrera was at constant risk of deportation. In 2011, after a traffic stop in Everett, he was jailed and deported,...

Most of the people the Border Patrol stopped from sneaking into the country last year were from countries other than Mexico, according to agency statistics, a shift that might have provided fodder for politicians leading up to Tuesday’s election. But they didn’t get much of a chance. The Border Patrol’s annual statistics were posted on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Web site for about five hours on Oct. 10, then taken down. Now some are questioning whether that decision was an example of the Obama administration playing politics with public information. Even before Tuesday, the administration said it was...