Free Republic

Illegal immigrants seeking a reprieve under an election-year program implemented by the Obama administration are being approved at a rate of over 99 percent -- a situation that has the immigration officer union raising concerns about fraud and security risks. The program in question is called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which allows some illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to seek tentative legal status. It was the administration's answer to the "Dream Act," a bill Congress drafted but did not approve. The union representing thousands of employees in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which processes these...

Many things are holding the headlines hostage, the terrorist attacks, the crippling effects of Obamacare, the prospect of expanding war in Syria, and as always Iran. There is one over-riding constant that defines as it divides the present era: the fact that America has a President who advances values and policies diametrically opposed to the traditional beliefs of a vast number of Americans. From bowing to foreign leaders to not knowing how many states there are, from vowing to fundamentally transform America to actually doing it, President Obama is to many the Manchurian Candidate. Elected the first time on a...

A federal judge has a message for President Obama: Stop bypassing Congress on immigration. Obama issued a directive in June 2012 halting the deportation of many young illegal aliens after Congress refused to pass the DREAM Act, which would have provided conditional permanent residency to young illegals. A federal judge in Dallas is now threatening to reverse that directive. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor said Tuesday that he will likely rule in favor of a lawsuit seeking to overturn the new policy. He has asked both sides to file additional arguments by May 6. The ICE agent union challenged the...

A college education has never been more expensive than it is now. #The tuition rates at state colleges and universities have seen double-digit increases the past few years. The increase in college costs mean the pool of cash for financial aid does not go as far. #And this week’s state budget projection shows a $1.3 billion (yes, with a B) gap between anticipated tax revenue and anticipated expenses. #Yet, the state House on Wednesday approved 77-20 a proposal that would make young illegal immigrants eligible for state college financial aid. #In theory, if money was no object, offering every qualified...

California Dream Act: 20,000 illegal immigrant students apply for state financial aid for the first time.. More than 20,000 college-bound students are seeking state financial aid for the first time under California's new Dream Act law that allows them to get the help despite their immigration status. While far from a complete picture, that number -- which matched state estimates -- is the best indicator yet of how many students statewide hope to benefit from a pair of laws known as the California Dream Act that took full effect in January. The changes could radically change the college experience for...

Those that took high school Spanish will recognize a bastardized of the phrase they learned. Originally it was a greeting of welcome “My house is your house”. Through an orderly process we have welcomed immigrants from all over the world into our house. But now we are hearing that the orderly process is broken that there is only one way to fix it. Using the same solution from 1986 that worked so well we are told it must be repeated. These illegal’s and their advocates want as Disney calls a SAP (Special Assistance Pass) that allow some to the head...

Friend -- I was brought to this country from Mexico when I was 2 years old. I am an undocumented immigrant -- and I am living proof that our immigration system is broken. For the first 17 years of my life, I slept on a couch. My mom worked three jobs to support our family. I worked hard, too. I did my homework, participated in class, and earned the opportunity go to college. But after I enrolled, state law changed and many undocumented immigrants were forced to drop out. Suddenly they could no longer afford the education they were eager...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The plight of Hurricane Sandy victims has become a flashpoint in the Albany debate over the DREAM Act. Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn) is taking flak from Democrats for linking taxpayer-funded tuition aid for college-age illegal immigrants with Hurricane Sandy victims. Ms. Malliotakis says that Albany lawmakers should be more focused on helping storm victims than providing taxpayer-funded tuition aid to the children of illegal immigrants. "This should not be the focus of the Assembly or the state Legislature," she said. "There are more pressing issues in the state right now." Among those issues, she said,...

DENVER– Once again cheers and applause erupted under the golden dome when a bill to award in-state tuition to illegal immigrants was passed Thursday by the Senate Education Committee on a 6-3 vote. The aye votes were cast by five Democrats and a Republican – state Sen. Owen Hill of Colorado Springs. “We have a great piece of legislation that will finally garner bipartisan support in the general assembly,” declared state Sen. Angela Giron (D-Pueblo), a sponsor of Senate Bill 33. It’s the seventh attempt over the past 11 years to pass a bill granting in-state tuition to illegal students....

Comprehensive immigration reform could make millions of people suddenly eligible for assistance under President Obama's healthcare law, assuming a final deal paves the way for undocumented immigrants to receive papers. Illegal aliens are now prohibited from purchasing coverage through the Affordable Care Act's insurance exchanges, which will launch next year. They are also ineligible for Medicaid under most circumstances, making the law's expansion of the program fruitless for people without documents. Even young illegal immigrants with "deferred action" status, known as "DREAMers," cannot access the law's benefits. But the picture could change completely if Hispanic lawmakers get their wish —...

For months, Jose Godinez had to put his dreams of becoming an immigration lawyer on hold. The 26-year-old passed the Florida Bar exam and earned a law degree from Florida State University. But he had been denied a law license from the Florida Board of Bar Examiners because he is in the U.S. illegally. Not anymore. He now has a two-year work permit, a driver’s license and a Social Security card, after qualifying for a federal immigration program for people who were brought illegally into the U.S. as youngsters

Legislation to provide financial aid and other assistance to college-bound illegal immigrants is gaining political support in New York a year after the idea withered in Albany and Washington.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Legislation to provide financial aid and other assistance to college-bound illegal immigrants is gaining political support in New York a year after the idea withered in Albany and Washington.

RICHMOND – It is the American motto – the premise the country takes pride in: If you work hard, you can accomplish anything, be anything. But for some who consider themselves Americans, the rule does not apply. Undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children face an obstacle when trying to accomplish their educational goals. When they graduate from high school, they must pay out-of-state tuition at Virginia’s public colleges and universities — a difficult feat since they usually don’t qualify for financial aid programs either. “It becomes part of the expectation for young immigrants that they won’t...

A self-professed illegal alien who spoke at today’s “Campaign for Citizenship” event tells MRCTV that after 20 years of hiding, she’s now “safe” to admit her status publicly. Alejandra Gomez, a “DREAMer” who addressed the media at the PICO Network-sponsored event, told MRCTV that she’s been in the U.S. illegally for “about 20 years now.” …

Immigration activist who’s a leader in Dream Act movement joins Arizona congresswoman’s staff PHOENIX — An immigration activist who’s one of the leaders of the Dream Act movement is joining the staff of U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema as a district outreach director.

Florida lawmakers are holding committee meetings in the state capital this week, preparing for the start of the legislative session on March 5th. So far, just a handful of education-related bills have been filed in the Florida House of Representatives. The big issue is complying with a federal court ruling that says Florida can not charge out-of-state tuition to the U.S.-born — or U.S. citizen — children of undocumented immigrants. Typically, out-of-state tuition is at least three times more expensive than in-state tuition. HB 29 would grant any U.S. citizen who graduates from a Florida high school after attending for...

After two years of failing to pass a bill in Colorado that would have allowed illegal immigrants to pay tuition lower than out-of-state rates but higher than in-state rates, Democrats — now in control of both chambers — are pushing new legislation to allow the students to go to college at the in-state rate. "What we're looking at is a simpler, more equitable approach to tuition," said state Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver, one of the lawmakers leading the effort. Johnston and state Rep. Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, are are holding a press conference Tuesday with supporters of the bill.

Hey, folks, remember the good old days when candidate Barack Obama at least pretended to be bipartisan and conciliatory? Now it's as if he's on a mission to prove he was faking it. Obama is behaving like a bitter ex-spouse who knows all our hot buttons and delights in pushing them. He is governing by crisis, fear, alienation, cronyism and anti-constitutional fiat. He is openly flaunting his militant radicalism, as if he's trying to provoke us -- and his second term hasn't even begun. He is horrifying all Americans who have the slightest concern about our deficits and debt, refusing...

There are 11 million aspiring citizens who love this country and call it home. Like immigrants before them, they came to this country for freedom and the opportunity to provide a better life for their children. These immigrant families work hard, pay their taxes and contribute to their communities. But because of a broken and punitive immigration process that tears families from each other, there really is no "line" these aspiring citizens can get into to adjust their status and start down the pathway to citizenship. The AFL-CIO and America’s union movement, along with a broad coalition of other groups,...

The 2013-14 online application will be available January 14th, which will give students enough time to complete and submit the application before the March 2nd deadline. The online application is better because it has built in edits to help students from making common errors. However, if you want to complete the 2013-14 application now, please click the 2013-14 Paper The California Dream Act, authored by Assembly Member Gil Cedillo (Los Angeles), became law through the passage of two Assembly Bills, AB 130 and AB 131. AB 130 allows students who meet AB 540 criteria (California Education Code 68130.5(a)) to apply...

Unlike many undocumented immigrants, Sofia Campos is not afraid to give her real name. "It's deliberate, and it's liberating," she says. "It's kind of a shock to hear somebody say, 'I am undocumented' or wear the 'I am undocumented' T-shirt, just in your face." The 22-year-old is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, and heads United We Dream — a national network of youth-led immigrant organizations. She's part of an outspoken generation of activists who've lobbied lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike, for changes in immigration policy. This year, their movement scored a victory with President Obama's Deferred...

One of the unfortunate developments of 2012 was the continued usurpation of the legislative process by a president intent upon pursuing his personal political objectives, even if doing so meant evading the constitutional separation of powers. In addition to the broad administrative amnesty initiated by ICE in 2011, the last year of the Obama administration saw the implementation of a policy called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an end-run around Congress’s consistent rejection of the Dream Act that has already afforded hundreds of thousands of potential criminals the opportunity to exploit American taxpayers, i.e. suckers. While the executive branch seeks...

Inside a modest storefront in Loxley, Ala., 18-year-old Maria Lola Melisio points out the Mexican spices and other products for sale in her mother's market. "There are the leaves where you make your tamales — you roll them up in that," she says. Melisio has long dark curls and is wearing a houndstooth scarf in support of the Alabama Crimson Tide. When she was 7 years old, she entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico with her mother, and still has a scar on her back from crawling under the border fence. It's a story she's kept secret until now. "We...

A group of Reps. led by Barbara Lee (D-CA) is asking Obama to extend healthcare coverage to the children of illegal immigrants for whom he waived deportation months before the election. These "DREAMers" -- so-called because they are recipients of a de facto DREAM Act -- are "not eligible for Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, or federal subsidies provided under [Obamacare]." The waiver of deportation was known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and Democrats are now saying it simply does not go far enough. According to Reps. Lee, Judy Chu (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Lucille Roybal-Allard...

NORMAN — Deisy Escalera considers Oklahoma her home. She graduated from high school here, goes to college here and pays taxes here. But in some respects, Escalera isn't American — at least, not on paper. “I consider myself an American,” she said. “I was not born here, but I consider myself an American.” Escalera, 23, came to the United States illegally from Mexico with her mother when she was 6 years old. Today, she's one of 25 undocumented students at the University of Oklahoma. Several of those undocumented students and their supporters gathered on OU's South Oval Tuesday evening to...

Via the Daily Caller. It speaks volumes of the politics of this that two of the three senators who are sponsoring it are retiring next month and the other, McCain, just won reelection two years ago and will be 80 when he decides whether to run again. No one here, in other words, is worried about a primary.The key difference between DREAM and ACHIEVE is citizenship, but in the end it’s not much of a difference: The DREAM Act offers applicants temporary residency for a six-year period after completing two years of college or two years in the military. Within...

.....The bill, introduced by Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Jon Kyl (R-Texas) and dubbed the ACHIEVE Act, would offer a pathway to permanent residency to young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents who are seeking a higher education or military service. The bill stops short of providing a separate pathway to citizenship..... Kyl and Hutchison said, however, that they have been working on the bill for about one year, well before the contours of the election took shape in full.To be eligible for legal status under the ACHIEVE Act, an applicant must have lived in the...

Governor Patrick’s decision this week to allow certain illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition rates at state universities is an important step toward resolving ambiguities in the federal immigration rules. The state now makes clear that young undocumented immigrants who have been granted reprieves from deportation by the federal government can utilize their newly acquired work permits as proof of state residency. The change is more than a technical clarification. The United States has succeeded as a nation of immigrants because it has, more often than not, made assimilation and integration a part of the American experience. Giving immigrants...

TOPEKA -- About 50 college students who are in the U.S. illegally marched Tuesday on Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's office urging him to stop working on immigration laws and to do his state job

Governor Deval Patrick will direct state colleges and universities Monday to allow young illegal immigrants to pay the lower resident rate for tuition and fees as soon as they obtain work permits through a new federal program, a senior administration official said Sunday Patrick’s declaration ends five months of anxiety for immigrants who cheered President Obama’s decision in June to temporarily halt the deportations of immigrants age 30 and under, only to plunge them into limbo in Massachusetts as officials said they were reviewing whether the immigrants were eligible for the lower rates. But the governor’s announcement also raised criticism...

Maryland is one of the most corrupt states in our nation. Nowhere is this fact more evident than with the state’s treatment of illegal aliens. Maryland politicians have literally become lawless in their efforts to cultivate illegals, and this lawlessness flows downhill from the very top. I will focus on a few of the more egregious examples. In 2011, we published a report on CASA de Maryland, a Silver Spring-based illegal immigrant advocacy group that parrots ACORN in both its methods and associates—which include the Communist Party USA, FMLN, (a former Salvadoran communist guerilla group, now a political party), ACORN...

Former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Mitt Romney's top Hispanic surrogate, is calling for the Republican Party to "modernize" and embrace comprehensive immigration reform in order to survive as a national party. "We need to modernize. Modernization includes diversity. Obviously, immigration reform is part of that process of diversity," he told The Hill on Tuesday. "We are the party of growth, of business, of entrepreneurship, of innovation. We cannot continue to be that without an effective immigration policy." Gutierrez, who chaired Romney's Hispanic Steering Committee during the GOP nominee's presidential campaign, blames Romney's rightward primary shift on immigration for his loss....

A nonprofit group called the DREAM Bar Association is lobbying every state in the union to grant law licenses to undocumented immigrants. The group wants all 50 states to enact laws allowing graduates of ABA-accredited schools to receive law licenses after they pass the bar – regardless of their immigration status. "This is a fundamental question of fairness," Jose Magaña, president of the group, said in a written statement issued ahead of a Tuesday press conference. The DREAM Bar Association filed friend-of-the-court briefs with state supreme courts in Florida and California, which are both weighing whether lawyers can practice if...

The dream act is a socialist democrat dream come true. And a nightmare for liberty minded Americans. The dream act solves no problems. Amnesty solves no problems. The border will not be enforced and instead will be flung wide open. We do not have jobs for Senator Graham's "eleven million" illegal aliens already here and their offspring nor the other eleven or twelve million he's not counting and their offspring and all their relatives that will be following. We cannot afford the welfare, foodstamps, housing, education, healthcare, EITC, etc, that they demand. And the flood across the borders will be...

SAN DIEGO — Immigrant rights activists are putting pressure on Congressman Brian Bilbray, who is running for re-election in the newly minted 52nd Congressional District, which covers coastal and northern parts of San Diego County. About a dozen young adults, some of them undocumented, stood outside Bilbray’s office in Solana Beach on Thursday afternoon, demanding he support the DREAM Act, which would legalize many young immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children.

In the final stretch of the Massachusetts Senate race between Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democrat Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law School professor took time to shake hands and meet voters at a city bakery on Monday. During a visit that spanned nearly an hour, Warren took pictures with dozens of Latino residents inside the Puerto Rico Bakery on Armory Street while addressing some of the themes that have defined her candidacy. Alongside State Reps. Benjamin Swan and Sean Curran, both Springfield Democrats, Warren reiterated her belief that Washington is rigged for big business and that she wants to...

EXCLUSIVE--The University of North Carolina, which is currently considering giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition benefits, denied an Army sergeant the same break even though she owns a home in the Tar Heel state and only moved away briefly because the military stationed her husband in Texas. Hayleigh Perez, 26, hoped to use her G.I. Bill to attend the UNC’s Pembroke campus near Fort Bragg, but the young veteran -- who served a 14-month tour in Iraq -- was told she did not qualify as a state resident because she had been gone for about three years. “I got frustrated. When...

Despite an overall drop in illegal immigration nationwide, there has been a huge spike in the number of undocumented immigrants found dead in the south Texas brush country this year, and a disturbing number of the illegals found dead and alive attempting to sneak into the U.S.in the past three months have been young people. 1200 WOAI news reports some who deal with illegal immigration blame the DREAM Act, and talk that young people in the United States illegally may receive legal residency or even a path to citizenship in a second Obama term. “Ever since this dialogue from Washington...

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reports today that 179,794 applications for the president's illegal DACA [DREAM Act] amnesty have been accepted as of 10 October 2012 - 4,591 have been approved - There's no indication that any applications have been turned down.

Catholic and Protestant leaders gathered at Morgan State University Wednesday night for a prayer service calling on voters to approve Maryland's DREAM Act next month. The DREAM Act, which is Question 4 on this year's ballot, would require community colleges charge in-state tuition rates to undocumented immigrant students who have graduated from high school in Maryland, and who can prove that they or their parents have paid taxes in Maryland for at least three years. If the student graduates from a community college, they would then be eligible for in-state tuition at a four-year institution. Archbishop William Lori of the...

On October 10, congregants at a multi-denominational religious gathering in Maryland offered prayers for the DREAM Act and praise for illegal employment, but no love for the unemployed or identity theft victims. According to WBAL radio in Maryland, religious leaders including Archbishop Lori of Baltimore urged attendees to pray for Maryland's DREAM Act, which would grant in-state tuition for illegal aliens who have graduated from a Maryland high school, or "who can prove that they or their parents have paid taxes in Maryland for at least three years." As many advocates for rewarding illegal immigration do, Lori "notes either the...

If the president may constitutionally permit 15 percent of the nation's illegal immigrant population to remain in the United States without fear of removal, why may he not do the same for 50 percent of that population, or for all of it?

The deferred action program is commonly referred to as a “Dream Act;” however, what is one individual’s dream may turn into a nightmare for an employer. As part of applying for deferred action qualifying aliens are also eligible for employment authorization. Generally, work permit applications take two to three months to process so by this fall, potentially hundreds of thousands of individuals will receive lawful permission to work in the United States. Some of these individuals might already be employed by your company. Employees provide at the time of hire documents to confirm their identity and ability to work in...

Some illegal immigrants could get California drivers licenses under a bill that Gov. Jerry Brown announced he signed into law late Sunday. AB2189 by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, will let the Department of Motor Vehicles issue licenses to illegal immigrants eligible for work permits under a new Obama administration policy. The bill requires the department to accept as proof of legal residence whatever document the federal government provides to participants in its deferred action program. Cedillo said his bill will make roads safer while letting young immigrants drive to school and to work. His reasoning drew support from several...

The governor signed a bill Sunday that will let hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants qualify for California driver’s licenses. Young people would qualify if they are accepted by a federal program giving work permits to those who came to this country before they were 16 and are now 30 or younger. …

Supporters And Opponents Of The Dream Act Rally For Votes Ahead Of November Referendum... BALTIMORE (WJZ)– Supporters of the state’s Dream Act are making a call to action to voters. The measure will be on the November ballot, and as Gigi Barnett explains, opponents are rallying their backers too. Supporters of the Dream Act rallied on the State House steps to get lawmakers to back the measure that gives illegal immigrants in-state tuition. Now, this week– less than 40 days before the November referendum– they’re going door-to-door. “All they want is to pay in-state tuition,” Zeke Cohen, executive director of...

Meng So ... serves as Berkeley’s first Undocumented Student Program coordinator. Creating the position is a milestone for higher education in the United States, So says. “Berkeley has been one of the pioneering institutions to create a campus support system for undocumented students.” “It’s an anxious moment for undocumented students to out themselves, because of the legality around it, so they don’t know who they can trust, they don’t know what they can say,” So explains.

Dolores Huerta, the iconic figure who co-founded the United Farm Workers union with César Chávez, will be in San Antonio today for three events, addressing mostly Democrats and “DREAMers,” young immigrant rights activists working for passage of the DREAM Act. Huerta said her message will be similar to what she has told generations of farm workers she helped organize for better wages, safe drinking water and toilets in the fields. The bottom line for all grass-roots organizers, she said, is “to engage in civic action, to get people to participate, to make democracy work.” Lk

Although the polls show the presidential campaigns neck and neck, the facts continue to look negative for Barack Obama. Two-thirds of the American people say they believe the United States is going in the wrong direction, and changing the occupant of the White House is the only way to reverse course. Unemployment remains the prime political issue, but the Democrats still allow a tsunami of legal and illegal immigrants to take jobs away from U.S. citizens. Obama's Jobs Czar, Jeffrey Immelt, is busy creating jobs in Communist China instead of the U.S.A. Obama's wild spending is putting an albatross around...