Free Republic

The humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding along the Southwest border and, in particular, in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, is nothing shy of tragic. In 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated that 6,500 unaccompanied children illegally crossed the Southwest border into the United States. In 2014, CBP is estimating that number to rise ten-fold, to at least 66,000 children. Tens of thousands of children are being smuggled, trafficked, exploited and even abused by vast criminal networks to a point in which our federal law enforcement agencies are being overwhelmed. Something must be done and done immediately.

A group, labelled the "Nutella gang" for stealing 2,500 jars of the chocolate spread, have been jailed for 15 years and six months. A court in Fulda, Hesse, jailed three men from Hesse and two women for theft and receiving stolen goods on Friday. A 37-year-old man was jailed for six-and-a-half years, his accomplice, also 37 for five years and three months and the third man, 35, for three years and nine months. The two women were given suspended jail sentences of six months and nine months. The gang earned their nickname after being caught by police in May 2013...

CAMPBELL -- Prosecutors heeded a man's self-defense claim when they decided not to file charges in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old boy during a weekend confrontation at Campbell's largest park, authorities said. (snip) Tharp told investigators he was attacked by Diaz and at least two other people and once he was knocked to the ground and absorbing kicks to his head, he pulled out a hunting knife with a six-inch blade and swung it to ward off his attackers, and Diaz was stabbed. Buller said Tharp was beaten by as many as six people. Buller said the group, of...

<p>Los Angeles gang members have joined the fray in Syria. The gang-bangers are reportedly fighting alongside the regime forces.</p> <p>MEMRI posted the transcript.</p> <p>A video-clip recently posted on the Internet shows two Armenian Power gang members from Los Angeles fighting in Syria. One of them, Wino Ayee Peeyakan, also posted a picture of himself in Hizbullah garb on his Facebook page.</p>

VIDEO: Just another day in America...

**SNIP** Dixon asked Hughes if he had a gun, and Hughes smiled and took a sip from a beer he was holding, prosecutors said. Ross said to Dixon that Hughes had disrespected the gang they belong to, and Dixon punched Hughes in the head, causing him to hit his head on the wall and fall down the stairs. Ross kicked Hughes in the head, and Hughes became unresponsive, causings witnesses to think he already had been killed, prosecutors said. Ross and Dixon dragged Hughes outside into an alley between Central and Parkside avenues, and shot Hughes four times, killing him,...

The victim was an elderly woman who was invited by the Iraqis for what she believed to be lemonade; and what occurred afterwards, the woman cannot even remember.

Here is what the local newspapers did not report about the mob of dozens of motorcycle riders who chased, stopped and beat the father of a young Asian family on a Sunday afternoon in New York City: One, the mob was black, says the police report. Two, this is merely the latest of several such examples of racial violence on wheels, witnesses say. Except this one is on video. All six minutes and 27 seconds of it. Recorded on the helmet-cam of one of the members of the black motorcycle mob. “The newspapers say it was a motorcycle gang,” said...

The Manhattan DA’s office won’t press charges against one of the motorcycle thugs who allegedly terrorized and beat a man after a wild chase on the West Side Highway, and is reluctant to prosecute another, sources said Wednesday. Allen Edwards, 43, of Queens, who allegedly smashed Alexian Lien’s rear driver’s side window with his fist, surrendered to cops Tuesday morning but will not be charged, the sources said.

Two teens are behind bars after a would-be victim turned the tables on three armed robbers in Mid-City on Thursday night (Sept. 26), pulling out his own gun and firing at them, causing them to flee. No one was injured. Aaron Smith, 18, and Hakeem Carter, 17, were stopped by police shortly afterward, according to NOPD spokeswoman Hilal Williams. An item dropped on the ground by one of the teens as they ran linked them to the crime, she said. Smith and Carter were arrested and booked with two counts of attempted armed robbery. The third robber remains at large....

WILMINGTON, Del. (CBS) – Police in Wilmington are investigating the reported gang rape of two women at a park in Delaware. Police say two women, ages 32 and 24, were reportedly attacked and sexually assaulted by a group of 10 to 12 black male juveniles in Kosciuszko Park at about 6:54 p.m. Thursday. According to police, the suspects, who range in age from 12 to 17-years-old, remain on the loose.

There is new life in the battle to defund Obamacare, as more lawmakers are willing to use Congress’ power of the purse to stop the health-care law. 79 members of Congress have signed a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., asking to “defund the implementation and enforcement of ObamaCare in any relevant appropriations bill brought to the House floor in the 113th Congress.” The author of the letter, freshman Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., released a copy of the text and all the signatures today.

It’s not for nothing police are sometimes called the largest gang in America. A federal civil rights lawsuit accuses Paterson, NJ police officers of arresting, beating, and robbing (apparently in that order) two men after a confrontation between the two and an off-duty cop at a local sports bar. From the Star-Ledger: A group of Paterson police officers repeatedly punched and kicked a handcuffed, nearly unconscious suspect during a 2011 arrest, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court last week. Captured on a surveillance video, the beating goes on for more than three minutes. The video shows...

Wednesday was blowback day. On Monday, 15 Republicans voted with every Democrat to END DEBATE on a phony "Border Surge" amendment which had been released just 72 hours before, and had ZERO hearings or hours of debate. It was disgraceful. It reeked of the same process by which ObamaCare was shoved down our throats by Pelosi & Co. And worse still, the promises of "700 miles of border fence" and a "massive deployment of force" to our border were soon revealed to be complete and utter LIES, as DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano has unlimited discretion NOT to build fencing and...

As we noted on Friday, even though Schumer completely repackaged the amnesty bill with only 3 days to comb through 1190 pages, the fix is in. Every Democrat is prepared to vote for this bill, and at least 10-12 Republicans couldnÂ’t care less about their constituents. They have the votes. They donÂ’t care about the American people. Amazingly, there is a supermajority of Senators who are more in tune with the whims of foreign lobbies than with the security needs of the American people. I have no plans to reread this entire bill in order to ascertain all the changes...

Marco Rubio is likable. That likability is his chief asset. Even as he champions a wildly unpopular bill among his own base, his numbers remain high. It’s not just magic. Rubio is everywhere. If you tune in to Univision, you can hear him promising legalization. If you watch FOX News, you’ll hear him express disappointment in his own bill, almost sounding as he might not vote for the very thing that he has staked his entire career on. There are many Rubios. At times it seems as if there are as many Rubios as there are Obama. A flock of...

Washington Examiner‘s Conn Carroll compares the text of Cornyn’s amendment with the language it replaces–and it turns out that the amendment isn’t as bad as feared. It’s worse! Specifically: 1) It keeps the basic “legalization first” structure of the Gang of 8. That is, illegal immigrants are near-immediately given “provisional” legal status. Only then do promised enforcement improvements kick in. If Cornyn conditioned legalization on enforcement, he might actually come close–as close as he could come–to a “guarantee” that the enforcement measures would in fact be carried out. Instead, it’s “Give us legalization and we’ll give you enforcement in the...

The Cornyn amendment does not substantially change the border control metrics in the Gang of 8’s bill—in fact, it uses the same 90% apprehension-rate measure that is easily manipulated. The Gang of 8 bill requires “persistent surveillance” of the entire border and a 90% “effectiveness rate” (defined as deterring or apprehending 90% of illegal crossings). Cornyn’s amendment requires “situational awareness” (meaning having surveillance in place) and a 90% “apprehension rate.” There is no meaningful distinction between these metrics...

I’m assuming he would say that earned citizenship, which is slightly different, also doesn’t qualify as amnesty. In that case, I’ve got the perfect debate opponent for him. Meet Marco Rubio, candidate for Senate. October 24, 2010: (Snip) RUBIO: First of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It’s what they call it. And the reality of it is this. This has to do with the bottom line that America cannot be the only country in the world that does not enforce its immigration laws. It is unfair to the people that have legally

The Senate voted overwhelmingly today [6/11] to move debate forward on the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill. Only 15 Republicans voted No. Not all the Republicans who voted to move the bill forward today will necessarily vote for its passage, but it appears to be a foregone conclusion that the bill will indeed make it out of the Senate in more or less its current form. This is, I think, mystifying. I can understand why Democrats would vote for the bill: over the next ten years, it will result in somewhere between 30 million and 57 million new legal immigrants,...