Free Republic

As many others have noted, the high point here is Rand Paul bailing out mid-bite as soon as he hears the word “DREAM.” He’ll get in your face on foreign policy and he’ll push bold, controversial ideas like restoring voting rights to felons, but put him on camera in the middle of a squabble between Steve “Cantaloupe Calves” King and a pair of illegals when he’s gearing up for 2016 and all that’s left is one of those little dust clouds like in a Roadrunner cartoon. If not for that, my favorite moment would be Erika Andiola reassuring King that...

Rick Perry has taken another step to being a national player and perhaps inching his way into a national presidential campaign. One of the ways is to make friends. On July 31, he filed the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to create a political committee called RickPAC. He intends to use the committee to donate contributions to like-minded Republicans. “It was set up to help fund candidates who agree with the governor’s priorities,” said spokesman Mark Miner.

Away from the groups of angry protestors outside detention facilities, a letter-writing campaign aims to send the undocumented children at the heart of the immigration border crisis a more positive message. The “They Are Children” campaign, led by the California Endowment, a private health foundation aimed at expanding health care across the Golden State, is a grassroots initiative working to broadcast a “collective voice of compassion” for the undocumented children coming across the U.S.-Mexico border. The foundation is calling on people across the country to send letters of support to the undocumented children who are being held in detention facilities...

Other countries may turn away desperate children. But the United States should aim higher. If a child showed up at your doorstep, begging for help, what would you do? Most Americans, I suspect, would offer help, even if that meant simply calling the police, who would, hopefully, ascertain whether the child was really in danger. But a lot of Americans who would respond to such a scenario with compassion also believe that America should simply shut its door to desperate refugees. I would suggest that a moral nation has an obligation to come to the aid of children who are...

Nance Pelosi takes crossing the aisle to the extreme …Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) certainly did hit a nerve to say the least when he addressed the House regarding the debate on the border funding bill Friday night. Marino called out former Speaker of the House Nanncy Pelosi why when Democrats had control of the House, Senate and White House they did nothing about the border issue, but now with to make it a political issue. Needless to say, San Fran Nan then did something she never does, she came across the aisle. However, it was to confront Marino. After Pelosi...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)HOUSTON, Texas--As unaccompanied minors continue to illegally cross the Texas-Mexico border, President Obama's Health and Human Services (HHS) has been quietly releasing them onto U.S. soil. A total of 30,340 unaccompanied minors have already been released from federal custody and placed into foster homes, according to HHS' Office of Refugee and Resettlement (ORR). While many migrants have been released in border states like Texas and California, others have been set free in Alaska. A spokesman from HHS confirmed to Breitbart Texas that as of July 7, five unaccompanied minors were released in Alaska. "Between January 1 and July 7, 2014,...

Some Catholic bishops have recently suggested that granting amnesty to illegal immigrant children from Central America is consistent with “pro-life” Catholic teachings. As reported in National Catholic Register, Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh said that providing for the needs of the young illegal immigrants is one facet of a truly pro-life philosophy. “The Catholic Church responds to humanitarian crises here at home and all across the world because we are pro-life,” Zubik said in a statement on July 19th. “Being pro-life requires we protect and care for vulnerable persons from conception to natural death.” “Whether they are traveling because of...

Unaccompanied illegal immigrant children with communicable diseases have given or exposed federal agents to lice, scabies, tuberculosis and chicken pox, according to a report issued Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General. In two cases, the children of a border patrol agent got chicken pox contracted from their parents’ exposure to unaccompanied children with chicken pox, according to the report on conditions of detention centers and border facilities. The report, the first in a series, is based on 87 unannounced visits to 63 detention centers being used to house unaccompanied alien children (UAC) in Texas, Arizona...

KARNES CITY, Texas (KXAN) — A 29-acre facility which previously housed male illegal immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a makeover and a new purpose. The building nearly 100 miles south of Austin in Karnes City, Texas will now be the temporary home for immigrant women and children detained at the border. It will also be a much more family friendly environment. “I am pretty sure you will agree this is nothing like we have seen before,” said ICE field office director Enrique Lucero during Thursday’s media tour of the facility. Previously, the people being held at...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The father of Jordan Davis is turning his attention to the crisis on the border where thousands of children who are showing up without their parents are being detained. Since his son's death, Ron Davis, has been working the U.S. Human Rights Network. Davis left Monday to attend human rights tribunals in New Mexico and Arizona along with members of this group. "We are going to cross the border and we are going to let them know what their human rights are and we are going to advocate for them," said Davis. Davis, who lost his own son to gun...

The beating death of a Chinese USC graduate student, who was attacked while walking home and was found hours later inside his apartment, has led to a “series of arrests”, according to authorities. -snip- Jonathan Del Carmen, 19, Andrew Garcia, 18, and three juveniles are reportedly included in the arrests in connection. Four of the five arrested individuals are charged with murder with special circumstances, assault with a deadly weapon, and attempted robbery. Following the attack, Ji managed to walk back to his apartment, leaving a trail of blood which showed the path he took. Ji was struck with an...

Representative Raul Grijalva (D., Ariz.) thinks that President Obama should pursue his immigration goals unilaterally, even if it hurts vulnerable Democrats in the 2014 midterms. “That’ll always be the case,” the Congressional Hispanic Caucus co-chair told National Review Online when asked if Democrats were still nervous that the border crisis had turned Obama’s expected orders into a political liability. “You’ll always have members whose political vulnerability they tie entirely to immigration,” Grijalva said. “We didn’t make progress when we were in the majority because we were being protective of those — on immigration reform — we were protecting those members....

Border Patrol vet says immigrants 'coached' on how to game system. McALLEN, Texas – In an exclusive interview with WND and Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, a 13-year Border Patrol veteran revealed many in the recent surge of illegal immigrants, including unaccompanied minors, are coming prepared to game the U.S. immigration system, even repeating the mantra, “Obama will take care of us.” “I don’t usually get into the political part of it,” explained Chris Cabrera, now a vice president in the National Border Patrol Council Local 3307, “but I find it odd that their whole thing is, ‘We are going to...

On Fox News Sunday, Republican writer George Will said that America should let all of the illegal immigrant juveniles from Central America remain and ensure they are allowed to "go to school and get a job." "My view is that we have to say to these children, 'Welcome to America. You're going to go to school and get a job and become Americans,'" Will declared. "We have 3,141 counties in this country. That would be 20 per county. The idea that we can't assimilate these 8-year-old criminals with their teddy bears is preposterous." Will was asked to respond to Republicans...

Remember when former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the consummate “moderate Republican,” shocked everyone by calling immigration an “act of love?” It looks like he’s changed his mind. On Thursday, he called for nearly all of the 50,000-plus immigrants in limbo on our Southwest border to be sent home. That is, “except for those deserving few who may demonstrate a true case for asylum.” Deserving few? Someone should ask Bush which of the children fleeing impoverished and violent countries (where they have a 1 in 15 chance of being murdered) like Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras “deserve” to be sent home....

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) believes the House of Representatives will immediately begin impeachment proceedings if President Barack Obama unilaterally grants work permits and amnesty to millions more illegal immigrants by the "end of summer." Appearing on Breitbart News Saturday with co-hosts Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon and Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow from the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, King said that if Obama "completely destroys the rule of law with the stroke of a pen" and "Congress fails to act," there will be "enough Republicans who didn't have a desire to do this" that will be "immediately activated" to consider...

A Stockton teenager was charged Monday with three counts of murder in the deaths of a hostage and two alleged accomplices, and 22 counts of attempted murder of police officers in a bank robbery and shootout. A 19-year-old Stockton man was charged Monday with three counts of murder in the deaths of a hostage and two alleged accomplices, and 22 counts of attempted murder of police officers in a bank robbery and shootout. A judge read a total of 35 felony counts to defendant Jaime Ramos involving the robbery on Wednesday at a Bank of the West in Stockton. -snip-...

The Planning Commission for Escondido, a city just outside of San Diego, voted unanimously, by a 6-0 vote, to reject sheltering Central Americans caught illegally crossing the U.S. southern border. A proposal to convert a vacant retirement home and create a 96-bed shelter for the illegal border crossers was opposed by many of the neighborhood residents, according to Reuters. Escondido now falls in lock step with Murrieta, California, about 30 miles north of Escondido, where protesters forced busses to make a U-turn and reroute back to the San Ysidro, California Border Patrol station, near the U.S.-Mexico border. Breitbart News has...

Via RCP, it’s Jorge Ramos, a guy so deep in the tank for illegal immigration that even other members of America’s pro-amnesty media are known to grumble about it. The most revealing thing about this clip is how little his argument depends on the particular hardships being suffered by kids in Central America. They face gangs, drugs, and violence if they’re sent back, he allows, but there’s no sense that this is some unique crisis requiring a more forgiving policy than might otherwise be advisable. He’s making a straight-up argument, essentially, that if a kid makes it across the border,...

Immigration is a complex problem. So is the long-term question of how the United States should handle the influx of tens of thousands of children from Central America. Beyond the legal mandates, we owe them basic human decency. On the other hand, to say that they should all simply stay here for good begs big questions about encouraging more children to make this journey, and the rights of all the people abroad who are waiting their turn in line. Unless you believe in open borders, it’s all thorny. What seems right for an individual child can seem wrong systemwide. But...