Free Republic

NOGALES, Arizona -- Jessica Elizabeth Orellana Diaz wanted her voice to be heard by Bernie Sanders, even if he needed a translator to understand it. "Mi unica esperanza es llegar a este país," Orellana told Sanders after describing her painful journey of leaving El Salvador to seek asylum in the United States. "Her only hope is to come to this country," Arizonan and DREAMer Julio Zuniga said in English, translating for the Vermont senator. Sanders made his first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border of the presidential campaign Saturday, and speaking in the foreground of the wall dividing two countries said...

After ranchers came out in force last week to voice concerns about border security, New Mexico’s political representatives in Washington say they are pushing for changes in strategy on everything from patrols to hiring, and deploying more boots on the border. About 600 people, residents and ranchers, packed a school meeting room in Animas last Thursday to express their concerns about the lack of security at the border. The New Mexico delegation is proposing, by turn, changes in hiring procedure that could attract more locals to Border Patrol ranks; hardship pay for agents who agree to work the remote region;...

U.S. and Mexican authorities said this week that they are working to address concerns over a possible delay in the opening of a much-needed new pedestrian border entrance at the San Ysidro Border Crossing known as PedWest. The entrance’s 12 new lanes are part of a $741 million reconfiguration of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which is scheduled for completion in 2019. The U.S. General Services Administration, which is overseeing its construction, has announced that PedWest remains on schedule, and will be operational in June. Fears of a delay have mounted in recent weeks after Mexican authorities said they...

The largest U.S. Border Patrol union local is praising Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for being the "only candidate" to support their tough mission, an almost endorsement that is the latest boost for the front runner's campaign. "Mr. Trump is the only candidate that has publicly expressed his support of our mission and our agents. He has been an outspoken candidate on the need for a Secure Border and for this we are grateful," said a statement from Art Del Cueto, president of Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council, the representative of 18,000 agents.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was supposed to have completed its conversion to a new automated system last year that would streamline and speed up the processing of green cards and other immigration benefits. Not only has the system gone 480 percent over budget and failed to meet its deadlines but it has increased green card errors rather than reducing them, an audit by the Inspector General’s Office has found.

WILDWOOD - A city man was charged this week with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. Juan Nieves-Barrios, 26, a restaurant dishwasher was charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Police said Nieves-Barrios is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. Nieves-Barrio was lodged Tuesday at the Cape May County jail on $175,000 bail set by state Superior Court Judge John C. Porto.

Shall we ignore the distractions and get back to the one issue that got us this far?

The residents of this border city had a rude awakening as cartel gunmen and authorities clashed in a fierce gun battles for more than three hours that left at least 10 dead. Rumors among residents point to the capture of a commander within the Gulf Cartel.

Over a period of three days, three illegal aliens from El Salvador with criminal records as rapists are facing immigration charges after getting arrested near the Rio Grande Valley of the Texas border with Mexico.

Several hundred ranchers gathered at a small-town high school in the Bootheel on Thursday to rally against what they described as a broken border. Ranchers here have been steaming over the reported kidnapping of a ranch hand in December, when drug runners allegedly hijacked the man’s vehicle, loaded it with narcotics and drove him to Arizona. He came home “roughed up,” Concerns about border security have simmered for years for those who live among the region’s sprawling ranches and rugged mountain ranges. Sometimes, fears boil over, such as after the unsolved 2010 murder of southern Arizona rancher Robert Krentz.. Representatives...

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- In a day-long tour of the Texas-Mexico border near McAllen on Tuesday, abc13's Ted Oberg joined Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas Department of Safety Director Steve McCraw in an inspection of the border, where Patrick noted gaps in border fencing and suggested that the Mexican government should help pay for the cost of a wall to keep smugglers from the U.S. Oberg started Tuesday of this week with Patrick and McCraw in a helicopter inspection of the border. The copter later landed near the Rio Grande where the DPS showcased three of their river patrol boats,...

Sent this random email to my representative Peter DeFazio, his response 2 days later is following this email to him. I thought you all would get a kick out of his response, remember two days later. > SEE IF I GOT THIS RIGHT > IF YOU CROSS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER >> ILLEGALLY YOU GET 12 YEARS HARD LABOR. >> > IF YOU CROSS THE IRANIAN BORDER > ILLEGALLY YOU ARE DETAINED INDEFINITELY. > > IF YOU CROSS THE AFGHAN BORDER > ILLEGALLY, YOU GET SHOT. > IF YOU CROSS THE SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER > ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE JAILED....

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu denounced the Obama administration Tuesday, accusing the White House of preventing border agents from enforcing immigration laws. Babeu, flanked by Border Patrol agents and union leaders, said high-traffic smuggling routes are not appropriately staffed and laid into the administration for failed leadership. The sheriff denounced the politicization of immigration enforcement at a news conference at PCSO's Florence headquarters.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu denounced the Obama administration Tuesday, accusing the White House of preventing border agents from enforcing immigration laws. Babeu, flanked by Border Patrol agents and union leaders, said high-traffic smuggling routes are not appropriately staffed and laid into the administration for failed leadership. The sheriff denounced the politicization of immigration enforcement at a news conference at PCSO's Florence headquarters. National Border Patrol Labor Council President Brandon Judd picked up on that theme, saying the agency is at a crossroads. “We are either going to be a specialized law enforcement agency dedicated to enforcing our nation’s immigration...

The word “accidentally” has to be used in the headline because while Vitter’s bill doesn’t specifically mention the southern border security wall, the intent of the revenue is to provide border security measures.As far as we can tell only our analysis of the potential Mexican remittance fees have outlined the very plausible way to pay for the Mexican border wall. However, Louisiana Senator David Vitter has now presented a bill targeting the transfer of U.S. funds out of the country by illegal aliens.Vitter has penned an Op-Ed in the Washington Times which includes two Governmental Accounting office reports –...

HOUSTON - Wendy Ramirez wants to be a doctor. She lives with her parents on a cul-de-sac in Houston. If a Republican wins the presidential election, she will very possibly have to go to work cleaning houses with her mother. Ramirez, 24, arrived in the U.S. from Mexico at age 8. She is a "DREAMer": one of the unauthorized immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as a child. Bypassing congressional conservatives, Obama issued a unilateral order that protected from deportation DREAMers who were in high school or had graduated. He also gave them renewable two-year work permits and the ability...

The drugs and illegal immigrants coming across our southern border make life better for our dear peace-loving gangs. Trump's wall would would be racist and unhumanitarian and hurt them (particularly in Mexico) real bad. It would damage our splendid relations with Mexico. Vote Rubio!  /sarchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF0c1BrPimo

The story goes like this: A ranch hand working in New Mexico’s Bootheel stumbles upon men and two or three vehicles stranded in remote cattle country. They turn out to be drug runners from Mexico who take him hostage, load his vehicle with narcotics and force him to drive to Willcox, Ariz., where they leave him alive but warn him not to go to the police. They would be watching. That alleged incident and a host of recent break-ins have ranchers across Hidalgo County and in southeastern Arizona outraged about what they say is a decline in border security. The...

Just a few months after six Middle Eastern men who entered the U.S. illegally through Mexico were arrested in Arizona state, authorities have now uncovered a “disturbing money trail” between terror-sponsoring countries and Mexico, according to a Judicial Watch report. This includes more than a dozen wire transfers sent from the Middle East to known Mexican smugglers in at least two different regions of Mexico, Judicial Watch reported, citing information from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. “A report issued by the AG exposes the disturbing money trail between Mexico and terrorist nations in the Middle East as well as evidence...

A ranch hand working in New Mexico’s Bootheel stumbles upon men and two or three vehicles stranded in remote cattle country. They turn out to be drug runners from Mexico who take him hostage, load his vehicle with narcotics and force him to drive to Willcox, Ariz., where they leave him alive but warn him not to go to the police. They would be watching. -- The cattle growers associations of both states(AZ & NM) are hosting a meeting this week in the tiny town of Animas to air their grievances to elected officials – including pleas for more boots...