Free Republic

A follow up to this story, in which it was reported that “waves” of illegal immigrants were being released from jail buoyed by the excuse of budget cuts via the sequestration. After that news came to light, an official from the Department of Homeland Security ‘resigned’, and the White House started claiming that it wasn’t waves of criminals being released, but rather “a few hundred”.

Republicans are getting a lot of unsolicited advice about how to recover from last year's defeat, and most of it is either ignorant or coming from people who don't have Republican party victories in their game plan. One of the worst of these bits of advice is that Republicans should join a bipartisan push for immigration amnesty. Amnesty advocates shrink from using the word amnesty and try hard to shroud their message in deceptive words. So let's understand their vocabulary: reform, comprehensive, earned legal status and path to citizenship are all code words for amnesty. At the recent conservative jamboree...

Let me think about that....NO!A new ad campaign has been launched to extend medical coverage to illegal aliens in the state of California. The California Endowment, a private foundation that advocates for affordable healthcare, wants county-run Medicaid expansion programs called Low-Income Health Programs to be "retooled" to provide insurance for this population - well over 1 million people! Just what the people of California need, right? First they cut tuition assistance for citizen students by $1.2 billion. Then they made illegal aliens eligible for in-state tuition and financial aid, with AB131 - signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. Then tuition assistance was...

Senate panel passed a bill on Monday that would let illegal immigrants get a Minnesota driver's license, the most recent development in a push at the Capitol to train and insure more drivers who aren't U.S. citizens. The Senate Transportation and Public Safety Committee endorsed the bill on a 10-7 vote -- with all Democrats in favor and all Republicans opposing the bill -- to ease the state's restrictions on driver's licenses. A House committee endorsed a similar bill last week. The Democrats pushing the measure say the change would make Minnesota roads safer: If the state starts to regulate...

In recent years, the illegal alien population in North Carolina has exploded thanks to 'sanctuary policies' in several cities and counties throughout the state. Most recently, the welcome mat was made even larger for those who enter this country illegally by the Tarheel State, when the North Carolina DMV began issuing driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Of course, these decisions and disastrous policies have been made over the very loud objections of many North Carolinians. However, as is so often the case, the desire for cheap labor and commerce has trumped the rule of law and the safety of the...

The country's largest prison companies are generating huge profits as the U.S. locks up more undocumented immigrants than ever, and an Associated Press review shows the businesses are spending tens of millions on lobbying and political campaigns. The cost to American taxpayers is on track to top $2 billion for this year, and the companies are expecting their biggest cut of that yet in the next few years thanks to government plans for new facilities to house the 400,000 immigrants detained annually. After a decade of expansion, the sprawling, private system runs detention centers everywhere from a Denver suburb to...

In what may seem like a bad joke, a U.S. federal appellate court has spared an illegal immigrant convicted of kidnapping from deportation ruling that it’s not necessarily a crime of moral turpitude. The decision, issued this week by the famously liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, rambles on for 27 pages and is almost comical. “This undoubtedly appears to be a difficult question at first glance,” it reads. “Kidnapping is a serious crime, and our instincts may be that it would meet the moral turpitude definition. Even for serious offenses, we must look to the specific elements of the...

SALEM, Mass. — A Lawrence man yesterday pleaded guilty to raping a young girl over a three year period and will deported to the Dominican Republic as a result. Ariel Mendez, 48, pleaded guilty to raping the girl on diverse dates from January 2004 to January 2007 when the child was 6 to 9 years old. The incidents occurred at various Lawrence addresses where Mendez lived with the girl’s mother, prosecutor Jessica Strasnick said in Salem Superior Court yesterday. On one occasion, Mendez raped the girl while holding a pillow over her face, Strasnick said. Mendez was indicted on a...

Of all the misguided, corrupt and deranged ideas floating around inside the D.C. bubble, perhaps the single worst one is giving illegal aliens amnesty as part of some sort of attempt to capture the Hispanic vote. If the GOP were to pursue a policy that primarily benefits corrupt business owners, the government of Mexico, and Democrats at the expense of our country and our own base, we'd truly deserve the "Stupid Party" moniker that has so often been hung around our neck. This policy wouldn't be a calculated risk or even a longshot; it would be a game of Russian...

On Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials announced that Sandra Rodriguez Miramontes, 19, has been free on bond since September 21. She reportedly left her 2-year-old nephew trapped in her car for eight hours, resulting in the child's death. Miramontes has been charged with child abuse resulting in death. She was arrested on August 5, after admitting to police that she left the boy, Gabriel Torres, outside the Precious Moments Daycare in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she worked. Despite her illegal status, she was released on only a $500 bond from the Metropolitan Detention Center, where she had been...

ov. Jerry Brown on Sunday signed a bill that will allow hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. Times reporter Anthony York will discuss these issues and others related to the flurry of bill-signings during a Google+ Hangout at 12:30 p.m. You can ask questions below or on Twitter using the hashtag #asklatimes.The driver's license measure will make illegal immigrants eligible to drive legally in California if they qualify for a new federal work permit program. That Obama administration protocol allows illegal immigrants who came to the United States before they were 16, and who are...

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services reported that more than $100 million in welfare benefits were issued to illegal alien parents for their native-born children in June and July alone, announced Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. The $100 million consists of nearly $40 million in CalWORKs (welfare) and $70 million in food stamps — representing 22% of all CalWORKs and food stamp issuances in the County. At this rate, the projected annual cost is more than $625 million. “With the $550 million for public safety and nearly $500 million for healthcare, the total cost for illegal immigrants to...

Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio, best known for his fights with undocumented immigrants, received quite a blow Tuesday from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The federal appeals court ruled Arpaio can't detain suspects based only on his belief they are here illegally, Courthouse News Service reported Wednesday. Arpaio has garnered his fair share of headlines in the past for his harsh stance on fighting illegal immigration. Back in June he arrested a 6-year-old girl during a raid on suspected undocumented workers.

LOS ANGELES—Illegal immigrants in California's largest city could use library cards to open bank accounts and access an array of city services under a plan being considered by city officials. Under the plan, anyone with proof of Los Angeles residency could get a library card, the Los Angeles Times reported (lat.ms/P967MO). The idea is to provide a form of ID to those who cannot get a driver's license because of their immigration status.

MULBERRY | A Mulberry man who was charged with 51 felonies earlier this month is now facing 64 more

California state legislators passed a bill Friday that seeks to protect undocumented immigrants charged with relatively minor crimes from being deported. The bill, by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, would prohibit local police from detaining anyone on an immigration hold if the person is not charged with or has not been convicted of a serious or violent crime. The bill, which only needs the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown to become law, passed the Assembly on Friday after being amended in the state Senate to remove language that would have required police departments to develop plans to guard against racial...

Just days before young, undocumented immigrants can begin to apply for work permits, state officials Monday announced $450,000 in grants to groups that can help them out. President Obama’s move — announced with great fanfare in June — lets immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as kids or overstayed their visas apply for a temporary legal status called “deferred action.” “It is critical that we get information out to our immigrant communities so that people will know who is eligible for deferred action and so that they can avoid being scammed,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said. The grants will...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — A man wanted in the beating death of a 2-year-old Kern County boy has been killed in a gruesome accident, authorities said Monday. Delano police made the revelation after the mother of Juan Felix, Noemi Mendoza, 23, was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading no contest to willful cruelty to a child, The Bakersfield Californian reported (http://bit.ly/SQSmU4 ). Juan died after being taken to a hospital in January 2011 by the mother's live-in boyfriend, Cesar Osuna.

If witness accounts are true about Carlos Viveros-Colorado's speed before he struck and killed a girl outside a St. Paul high school, it wouldn't be the first time he'd been driving fast. In the year leading up to the accident that killed Clarisse Grime, 16, near Harding High School this month, police stopped Viveros-Colorado three times, citing him for speeding and not having a Minnesota driver's license. Viveros-Colorado, who turns 51 on Sunday, July 22, is in the U.S. illegally for the second time. He was undocumented when convicted of DWI in 2001 and left the country, but he returned...

(NBC News) - Federal prosecutors are filing more charges in the murder of a US Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry, whose death is at the center of the controversy over the failed ATF gun tracing operation known as Fast and Furious. The new charges accuse five men of being involved in the shootout with Terry that resulted in his death. Prosecutors say the men were in the US illegally, trying to rob drug couriers. Four of the men are fugitives, federal officials say, and the FBI will ask for public help in finding them. A federal official says it's assumed...