Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO -- The suspect in last week's slayings of five people in San Francisco was ordered deported in 2006 after he served a prison term for robbery and assault, but because his native Vietnam would not issue travel documents for him, immigration officials had to let him go free, officials said Monday. Binh Thai Luc, 35, of San Francisco was released under the terms of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said undocumented immigrants must be released after six months if their country of origin won't take them back, according to officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement...

Wasteful, senseless and cruel. How better to describe the ridiculous battle that Felipe Montes is waging to be reunited with his three U.S.-born children? Since his deportation, they've been ensnared by the foster care system and are at risk of being put up for adoption. Montes, who had lived in the U.S. illegally for almost 10 years, was sent back to Mexico in 2010 after having been sentenced to probation following an arrest for driving with an expired license, an expired registration and no automobile insurance. He was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at one of his...

A 35-year-old south Charlotte man has been charged with statutory rape after a 14-year-old girl gave birth to his child this weekend, according to police. Jail officials say Juan Martinez Hernandez, who is believed to be in the country illegally, has run afoul of police and immigration agents before, following a 2010 drunken driving arrest. It’s unclear what became of Hernandez between his release to immigration agents in 2010 and the rape charges on Sunday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials couldn’t be reached for comment Monday. On Sunday, the 14-year-old gave birth to a baby in the bathroom of an...

Tempers flared Tuesday night at a Los Angeles Police Commission community forum on a controversial proposal to ease the towing and impound policy for unlicensed drivers. Under current laws, the cars of unlicensed drivers are towed and impounded for 30 days if they are stopped by officers. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has proposed lifting the 30-day impound and giving the registered owner or a licensed driver a reasonable chance to retrieve the vehicle. Critics, including the LAPD police union, say the changes just reward lawbreakers and put politics above safety. The meeting in Northridge was packed with residents who were...

The hotline, run by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, is available 24/7 for detained individuals to phone if they think they “may be U.S. citizens or victims of a crime.” The hotline will have translation services available in several different languages. ICE personnel will gather the caller’s information and send it to a field office for immediate action, according to the press release. The purpose of the hotline and other measures, including a new detainer form, are “to ensure that individuals being held by state or local law enforcement on immigration detainers are properly notified about their potential...

This holiday season, activists in California are urging the state’s undocumented population to be particularly vigilant. That is because, at this time of year, law enforcement sets up driver’s checkpoints, attempting to ferret out intoxicated motorists. Activists warn that this can be a particularly dangerous situation for immigrants, whether or not they hold valid drivers licenses, since police officers are likely to use this opportunity to check the legal residency status of those individuals suspected of being undocumented.This holiday season, activists in California are urging the state’s undocumented population to be particularly vigilant. That is because, at this time of...

A federal judge on Thursday blocked three key provisions of South Carolina's controversial law cracking down on illegal immigration. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel granted the federal government's request for an injunction against the law that's set to take effect Jan. 1. The ruling applies to portions that require law officers to check the status of anyone they stop for something else and suspect is in the country illegally. Gergel also halted the implementation of sections pertaining to the transportation of illegal immigrants and immigrant registration cards. Gergel has denied the state's request that he suspend all court hearings

A powerful Republican state Senate leader who championed Arizona's controversial crackdown on illegal immigrants lost his office on Tuesday in a historic recall election, returns showed. Russell Pearce's defeat is a message to the GOP, say some analysts, that jobs and the economy should be a higher priority than illegal immigrants.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House subcommittee on Wednesday authorized a subpoena against the Homeland Security Department for information about illegal immigrants who have been identified but not deported. The authorization cleared the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration policy and enforcement by a 7-4, party line vote. Democrats voted against the measure, saying it was premature to issue a subpoena because Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is cooperating with the committee. House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, says the subpoena authorization is necessary because the Obama administration hasn't responded quickly enough to his request, which was made in...

As states such as Alabama and Georgia make waves with a hard-line approach to illegal immigration, California took a leap in the other direction this weekend when Gov. Jerry Brown signed a host of bills that make the nation's biggest state one of the most accepting of immigrants living here illegally. Some saw the flurry of new laws, especially the California Dream Act, as a rejection of the political fervor against illegal immigration in other parts of the country. "Wherever California goes, so does the nation. It may put a halt to some of this," said Assemblyman Paul Fong, D-Cupertino,...

(NewsCore) - A seven-day operation led to the arrest of more than 2,900 illegal immigrants with criminal records, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said Wednesday. "The results of this targeted enforcement operation underscore ICE's ongoing commitment and focus on the arrest and removal of convicted criminal aliens and those that game our nation's immigration system," said ICE director John Morton.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) thanked President Obama for circumventing the Legislative branch when it comes to immigration law. Title 8 Section 1325 of the U.S. Code makes it a federal crime to be in the United States illegally. Nevertheless, the Obama administration in August directed federal immigration officials to use "prosecutorial discretion" in deciding which illegal aliens to detain and deport. “We had a president of the United States that recently was speaking at National Council of La Raza who said during his speech, ‘There are those who simply wish me to bypass Congress when it comes to immigration,’ and...

SAN FRANCISCO -- More than half of all people sent to federal prison for committing felony crimes so far this year were Hispanic, a major demographic shift swollen by immigration offenses, according to a new government report released Tuesday. Hispanics already outnumber all other ethnic groups sentenced to serve time in prison for federal felonies. Hispanics reached a new milestone for the first time this year, making up the majority all federal felony offenders sentenced in the first nine months of fiscal year 2011, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Hispanics comprised 50.3 percent of all people sentenced in that...

According to a Treasury Inspector General audit, Individuals Who Are Not Authorized to Work in the United States Were Paid $4.2 Billion in Refundable CreditsRedaction Legend: 1. Tax Return/Return Information 2(f). Risk circumvention of agency Regulations or Statutes IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS Many individuals who are not authorized to work in the United States, and thus not eligible to obtain a Social Security Number (SSN) for employment, earn income in the United States. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides such individuals with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) to facilitate their filing of tax returns. Although the law prohibits aliens residing...

The Homeland Security Department said Thursday it will halt deportation proceedings on a case-by-case basis against illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria such as attending school, having family in the military or are primarily responsible for other family members’ care. The move, announced in letters to Congress, comes after Hispanic activists and Democrats had urged President Obama to exempt broad swaths of illegal immigrants from deportation while Congress wrestles with the issue. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said her department and the Justice Department will review all ongoing cases and see who meets the new criteria on a case-by-case basis....

(CNSNews.com) - The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Tuesday that it has awarded $28.8 million to 67 community health centers with funds from the Obamacare health reform law. Of that $28.8 million, "approximately $8.5 million will be used by 25 New Access Point awardees to target services to migrant and seasonal farm workers," Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Spokeswoman Judy Andrews told CNSNews.com. HRSA is a part of HHS. Andrews said that grant recipients will not check the immigration status of people seeking services. “Health centers do not, as a matter of routine practice, ask...

At the age of 21, Sergio has an undying love of politics. He has already interned for two state lawmakers and hopes to pursue a career in politics. He plans to commit himself to changing his community, but there is one catch: Sergio is in the country illegally; he can’t even vote. "It is something that I am really passionate about, but because of my position, it gets really frustrating," Sergio said. A student at San Diego State University, Sergio graduated from San Diego High School with a 4.3 GPA and entered SDSU with a full, privately funded scholarship.

SAN FRANCISCO -- An estimated half-million illegal immigrants live in the Bay Area, according to a study that is one of the first to try to measure the number of local residents living in the U.S. illegally. The report by the Public Policy Institute of California used tax returns, previous national estimates and mathematical models to determine that 563,000 illegal immigrants live in the Bay Area, about 8 percent of the region's total population. Santa Clara County leads the Bay Area with 180,000 illegal immigrants, followed by Alameda County with 124,000 and Contra Costa County with 79,000, the study found....

When “relocating” to the United States, it’s best to avoid states that have selfishly put the interests of their legal residents ahead of yours with laws that hinder your access to jobs and benefits. But many attractive destinations remain, endorsed by millions of illegal aliens already living in each. 1. California California’s state motto “Eureka” (I have found it!) aptly applies here. The state's population includes 3.2 million illegal aliens -- almost 24% of all illegal aliens in America -- have chosen the Golden State as their preferred domicile. Despite its $26 billion budget deficit, the state spends $21.5 billion...

The eighth annual Mexican Interior Repatriation Program will feature one flight a day instead of two and is expected to cost the U.S. government about $10 million. Under the voluntary program, non-criminal Mexican illegal immigrants caught by the Border Patrol in Arizona are offered free flights to Mexico City. From there, they are given bus passes to return to their hometowns. The goal of the annual summer initiative is to prevent illegal immigrants from trying to cross the border again in the hopes of saving lives during the scorching summer months when hundreds die each year in Arizona.