Free Republic

MIAMI - Immigration agents in Miami won't have Elian Gonzalez to kick around any more, or they'll risk a contempt charge. An immigration agent settled on Friday an anti-Hispanic discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft on Friday. The suit included allegations a trash can bearing Elian's photo and the caption "Kick Me" was placed in an INS hallway. Most terms of the settlement are secret, but the court will monitor its enforcement, and violators can be charged with contempt of court. Ricardo Ramirez, an Immigration and Naturalization Service agent assigned to the Miami district, became a...

Greta Van Susteren just did a "news alert" that Janet Reno's run for Fla. govenor is over. She suffered a "big defeat" at the hands of opponent Bill McBride.

BOCA RATON · Democrat Bill McBride whisked his campaign back and forth across the state Thursday, dipping into South Florida repeatedly with the goal of eroding Janet Reno's support in her political base. Making stops in southern Palm Beach and Broward counties, McBride touted the message that his campaign for governor has peaked in the critical final week of the Democratic primary race, bringing with it a slew of new endorsements from key local officials and an onslaught of campaign contributions.

...She is an uninspiring campaigner, pathetic fundraiser, and outcast from the party leadership. But she is — as her campaign press secretary puts it — "a rock star" who attracts free press. She's leading Democratic primary polls, when all indications say she shouldn't be. The question for the Democratic party is whether this rock star candidate can perform as well against the incumbent governor — who is a fundraising machine and the son and brother of presidents. Welcome to the strange gubernatorial campaign of Janet Reno....

<p>MIAMI (AP) --  The head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service ordered the destruction of an e-mail that could have bolstered the request for asylum filed for Elian Gonzalez during the Cuban boy's stay in Miami, a conservative watchdog group said Wednesday.</p>

After the visas-for-terrorists debacle, the folks at SUBINTSOC.NET (who claim to have special access to federal computer systems) have blown the lid off half a dozen other examples of government incompetence: "Think the recent terrorist attacks were a wake-up call for the U.S. government? Think again. Last week, the world learned that the Immigration and Naturalization Service had sent out visa-approval letters to hijackers Mohammed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi -- six months to the day after September 11! "Using our special access to ARPAnet, we decided to see what other notices had been mistakenly mailed out by government agencies. We...

MIAMI - History rumbles beneath the surface of this year's election in Florida. It's a history that gives rise to angers and passions so deep that there is even disagreement across the political divide over which piece of the past really matters. For Cuban-Americans, what matters is that young Elian Gonzalez was taken by federal marshals and sent back to live under Fidel Castro's dictatorship. For African-Americans and Democratic Party activists in south Florida, what carries weight is the flawed vote count in the 2000 election and the U.S. Supreme Court decision that put George W. Bush in the White...