Free Republic

Conservatives are increasingly targeting House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, arguing that he has abandoned conservative principles and protesting his planned meeting with moderate and liberal Republicans. Mr. Cantor, who just a few years ago was seen as a champion for conservatives in the House and a possible candidate to replace House Speaker John A. Boehner, now is viewed with suspicion, said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican. “I think that Boehner can survive the discontent that the tea party and the more conservative element of the Republican Party has, but I don’t think that is true of Cantor,” Mr. Rohrabacher told...

South Carolina Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan is dropping his co-sponsorship of an immigration bill House Republicans have been quietly working to include in the upcoming Department of Defense authorization bill, saying the language should never have been considered to be added to the unrelated measure. Late Wednesday, Duncan said he hadn't been aware of efforts by the bill's author, California Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), to add the language to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – and that if it were added, “NDAA would lose my vote as well.” At issue is a proposal to allow so-called DREAMers to obtain...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor appears to be moving toward the center as he tries to unite the House around issues in which Republicans and Democrats can find common ground. "The growing realization around here is that the differences [between the parties] are still there, but that doesn't mean we can't focus on the things that bring us together," Cantor told The Washington Post. "The public is looking for someone who has their back." The Virginia Republican has dropped his push for major cuts to federal programs and moved to pushing for more funding for pediatric cancer research, talking about...

Los Angeles, Calif., Feb 21, 2014 / 12:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- L.A. Archbishop José H. Gomez has called for “interim measures” such as a moratorium on immigration raids and help for undocumented minors in order to bypass immigration reform’s apparent “political dead end.” “These two proposals are no substitute for true immigration reform — but they would make a big difference in the lives of millions of our neighbors,” Archbishop Gomez said in his Nov. 21 column for the Los Angeles archdiocese’s newspaper The Tidings. He voiced disappointment in the House of Representatives’ recent decision not to move forward with...

Two state lawmakers from Queens had mixed reactions this week to news of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s initiative that would allow inmates to earn a college degree while serving their prison sentences. The proposal, announced Feb. 16, would use state dollars to fund college classes in 10 prisons across New York, one in each major region, the governor’s office said. The initiative is designed to encourage a lower risk of returning to crime and prison, which Cuomo’s office said happens 40 percent of the time in New York state after an inmate is released. Under the new initiative, inmates could earn...

Via Mark Krikorian, a visit from the Ghost of Amnesty Future. Remember when O decided he needed a shiny object to show Latino voters before the 2012 election and issued a new executive rule essentially amnestizing DREAMers? He’d been hoping to convince dopey congressional Republicans to pass comprehensive immigration reform instead — after all, it’s the president’s party that’ll get most of the political credit once an immigration bill makes it through Congress and onto his desk — but when Boehner couldn’t pull it together, Obama concluded he had to act. Not only did he issue the new rule but...

TALLAHASSEE -- Driven by her dream of becoming a doctor, Mariana Castro won a coveted spot in the neurobiological sciences program at the University of Florida. But one thing still stands in her way. A native of Peru who came to the United States illegally as a child, Castro doesn't quality for in-state tuition. It doesn't matter that she has lived in Florida since she was 10, or that she has temporary legal standing under a federal program for young immigrants. She must still pay the $28,548 in tuition and fees charged to out-of-state students, more than four times the...

Immigration activists marched from Chapel Hill to Raleigh on Saturday to demand that in-state tuition rates be given to students who have received a temporary federal reprieve from deportation. Around 40 activists ended the “March of Broken Dreams” with a mock funeral outside the office of state Attorney General Roy Cooper. The protesters charge that Cooper has been silent about whether students in the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are entitled to the lower college tuition rates offered to in-state residents. “Every day that passes, someone’s dream dies,” said Oliva Prezas, 19, of Oxford, one of the students...

It’s called the Dream Act. At 700 pages it’s arguably too wordy and too complicated, but it’s the first major bill to address the issue of nearly 11 million individuals who are here in the United States without proper documentation. And, before anybody says it, yes, I know, that means they’re illegal. The Senate passed the bill in 2013, with strong bi-partisan support, but it faces heavy going in the House of Representatives. It may never come to the floor. The Tea Party faction in the House, which is strongly anti-immigrant, is adamantly opposed to it. But even if the...

Tears stained Elena Calderon’s cheeks Thursday as she stepped up to speak at Eastern Washington University during a student-organized rally in support of immigrants’ right to compete for state financial aid. “I’m an undocumented student,” the emotional 23-year-old said. “It’s hard to come out and say that. I’m always afraid I’m putting myself and my family at risk.” The graduate student, grateful for the opportunity to pursue the American dream, spoke to nearly 100 Eastern Washington University students, faculty and community leaders to encourage state lawmakers to pass the DREAM Act, which despite sharing a name with federal legislation only...

Once again New York Governor Andrew Cuomo leaves undocumented youth our of his 2014 plans. During the State of the State, there was no mention of the New York Dream Act. A bill that would provide state aid to students in NY regardless of their immigration status. This bill was first introduced in 2011. Three years later and the Governor still hasn’t put any effort into making it a reality. New Mayor Bill De Blasio plans to push for the New York Dream Act alongside the the New York State Assembly [x]. But is the NY Dream Act in the...

Gov. Chris Christie today urged the children of immigrants who came to this country illegally to "make the most of the opportunity" to pay in-state tuition at New Jersey’s colleges and universities under the Dream Act.

Immigration: The Border Patrol and other agencies report a "surge" of unaccompanied minors coming across our border. It coincides with the White House's de facto amnesty via the Dream Act to reward such lawbreaking. The Office of Refugee Resettlement noted a "surge" in unaccompanied alien children in its year-end report last week, pointing out that 24,668 foreign minors in the country illegally were placed in the care of a federal de facto baby-sitting service because no parents were around to care for them. Last year's number was a near doubling from 2012, and nearly quadruple what it was at the...

President Obama and his top Democrat on Capitol Hill appear to have reset their sights on the Republican-controlled House passing comprehensive immigration reform, instead of a step-by-step process, as lawmakers leave Washington for the Christmas holiday break. The president on Friday appeared to urge the House to back the comprehensive, bipartisan immigration bill the Senate passed this summer -- a departure from recent comments that suggested Obama was OK with the lower chamber’s apparent piecemeal plan.

Gov. Chris Christie today signed landmark legislation granting thousands of students who grew up in New Jersey but are in the country illegally the benefit of in-state tuition rates at all public colleges and universities. Christie's signature marks the end of a public tug-of-war over the measure, deemed the "Dream Act", which was pared down in its final days in order for Democrats to gain the governor's approval. Both sides hailed the compromise as a historic achievement. A spokesman for Christie, Colin Reed, said in a statement "the governor signed the legislation privately earlier today, and there will be a...

(CNN) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday touted an agreement he struck earlier in the day with state Democratic lawmakers that will give in-state tuition for Garden State students who are living in the country illegally. The Republican Governor and likely 2016 GOP presidential contender also pushed back against claims two top Christie aides closed access lanes to the George Washington Bridge to retaliate against the Mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, who didn't endorse his re-election bid. And possibly hinting at his presidential aspirations, Christie said the man who steered his 2009 election for governor and this...

(CNSNews.com) - At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said that President Barack Obama should be expanding his prosecutorial discretion when it comes to enforcement of immigration laws. “Unfortunately, he should not be limiting his prosecutorial discretion. He should be expanding his prosecutorial discretion,” Gutierrez said during a hearing on the constitutionality and legality of actions the Obama administration has taken on issues like the enforcement of immigration laws. The president signed a memo calling for deferred action for certain young illegal aliens who came into the country as children and have pursued education or...

The House Judiciary Committee is about to discuss what it calls “The President’s Constitutional Duty to Faithfully Execute the Laws,” focusing on the Obamacare delays, enforcement of immigration laws, and more. As Mediaite notes, the question of whether the president can take unilateral action to cease enforcing laws stretches back at least to last summer, when President Barack Obama said he would stop deporting young undocumented immigrants, an end-run around congressional refusal to pass the DREAM Act.

Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez and local political leaders have held a 24-hour fast to pray for immigration reform and to remember families who are separated from each other at Thanksgiving. “Today we are standing up for those who won't be sharing Thanksgiving dinner with their families and loved ones – those who are suffering because of our broken immigration system,” Archbishop Gomez said Nov. 25 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. He called for a “conversion of hearts” to fix U.S. immigration law. The archbishop was joined in the Nov. 25-26 fast by U.S. Rep....

WASHINGTON — With immigration re-emerging as the topic of focus in Washington, an unusual coalition of business executives, Republican Party activists and evangelical leaders will descend on Capitol Hill early next week to pressure House Republicans to pass their own legislation. The debate threatens to create another schism in the Republican Party and to further alienate a major source of campaign contributions; several corporate executives interviewed this week said they were considering withholding donations from lawmakers who get in the way. The push by conservatives will begin Tuesday morning with a news conference featuring, among others, Al Cardenas, the chairman...