Free Republic

Conniving “burglary tourists” are coming from other parts of the world through a visa program and targeting luxurious homes in the US — with some even using ghillie suits as they wait for the perfect time to strike, one prosecutor told CNN. Police and prosecutors in different high-end communities are trying to keep up with international heist rings that come into the nation, loot pricey items from wealthy homeowners and sell the swiped goods with the money sent back to their home countries, mostly to South America. “They take advantage of the fact that most people don’t have window sensors...

As you’ve probably caught wind of, Joe Biden’s border disaster is really putting America through the wringer. It’s not just the border towns feeling the heat anymore. With Biden’s border invasion cranking up, the ripple effects are hitting every corner of the United States, touching more than just the working and middle classes. Now, even the upper crust of American society is starting to squirm as some fresh “gang” creativity shows up at their doorstep. Trump’s been saying (and getting slammed for it) that we’re not exactly getting the cream of the crop. It’s like some places are just clearing...

Updated: Sunday, March 31, 2024 5:08PM CHICAGO (WLS) -- At least 31 people were shot, three fatally, in weekend gun violence across Chicago, police said. Twenty-one of the shootings happened between Saturday night into Sunday morning. A 33-year-old man was pumping gas there when a white Infiniti pulled up, police said. Three people got out and fired gunshots and rifle rounds at the man before fleeing the scene. Police said the victim, shot nine times in his body, then drove himself to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he is in critical condition. A 31-year-old woman, who was in the man's vehicle,...

After four years on the run, a senior leader of MS-13 – one of the largest transnational criminal organizations – was captured this month in Southern California on terrorism charges, court documents say. Freddy Ivan Jandres-Parada was accused by federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York in December 2020 of being a member of MS-13’s board of directors, known as the Ranfla Nacional, along with a dozen other MS-13 members, according to his indictment. Federal authorities have been searching for him since, offering a reward for his capture on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. Jandres-Parada was arrested on...

The Left is turning us into a “sh*thole country.” During a White House meeting with Senators in January, 2018, then-President Donald Trump reportedly questioned the reasoning for allowing immigration from “shithole countries” such as Haiti. This triggered the pearl-clutching mainstream media, and charges of racism flew fast and furious, including from Haiti Ambassador to the U.S. Paul Altidor, who said Trump’s language was based on “clichés and stereotypes rather than actual fact.”Today Haiti is a shithole country, and that is not a racist cliché or stereotype but actual fact. It is a failed nation in a state of emergency, becoming...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- At least 18 people were shot, four fatally, in weekend gun violence across Chicago, police said. A man was critically injured in a shooting in Greater Grand Crossing on Sunday afternoon. A 20-year-old man was stopped in his vehicle in the first-block of West 79th Street about 3:06 p.m. when a "known offender" came up on foot and shot at the man, hitting him three times in the body, police said. He was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition. No one is in custody. A man was killed in a shooting in Irving...

The Los Angeles Police Department has launched a task force to try to crack down on 'burglary tourists' who use the US tourism visa system to commit crimes. Cunning criminals from Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru target wealthy neighborhoods in places with relaxed criminal justice laws to conduct home burglaries - before returning home with the loot while out on bail. The troubling trend of 'lanzas internacionales' - translated to 'international thieves' - dates back at least two years across America, while the problem has also reared its ugly head in the United Kingdom. Authorities in Los Angeles announced the...

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, declared on Sunday that “we can fix” the ongoing political turmoil and rampant gang violence in Haiti, equating the images of brutality from the island nation to the state of affairs in his home country before implementing a law enforcement crackdown in 2022. Bukele did not specify who the “we” in his sentence was — whether he meant the government of El Salvador or the international community in general. He later commented that “experts” had declared similar violence in El Salvador “intrinsic” to the country, and the eradication of organized criminal violence from...

Haiti is "in a state of chaos" as brutal gang members attack police officers with machetes, a journalist in Port-au-Prince has claimed. Violence has plagued the country's capital of Port-au-Prince for years, but the situation has escalated drastically as gangs demand that Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry resign. A state of emergency has been declared in the country after gangs attacked two prisons, setting many criminals free. It is now thought that 80% of the Haitian capital is controlled by these gangs. Describing the violence in the country, a journalist said that cannibalism has been witnessed on the streets as...

Former New York City Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly, the department’s longest-serving commissioner, cautioned on Sunday that New York City’s quality of life “has really deteriorated.” Migrant crime is a major reason.Venezuela’s notorious Tren de Aragua gang and El Salvador’s feared MS-13 — what former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker calls “prison-spawned gangs” — are threatening to take over American cities. They bring “mindless knuckle-dragging violence,” warns Swecker. They’re the “most dangerous gangs on the planet.”Swecker speculates that countries are emptying their prisons deliberately. Gang leaders setting up crime rings in the U.S. “come out of the muck and the...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Authorities in Haiti have ordered a nighttime curfew after an explosion of violence when gang gunmen overran the two biggest prisons and freed thousands of inmates over the weekend. A 72-hour state of emergency began Sunday night. The government said it would set out to find the killers, kidnappers and other criminals who fled. “The police were ordered to use all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend all offenders,” said a statement from Finance Minister Patrick Boivert, the acting prime minister. Gangs already were estimated to control up to 80% of...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Fifteen people were shot, two fatally, in weekend gun violence across Chicago, police said. A teenager has died after being shot in the parking lot of a bank in Downtown Chicago, police said. The shooting happened Saturday evening at the 500-block of West Roosevelt Road near Canal Street, in the South Loop, authorities said. When police arrived they found two people shot, both were taken to Stroger Hospital and were initially reported to be in critical condition. A 17-year-old boy died at the hospital from his injuries. One person is dead after being shot at a stop...

Former New York City Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly, the department’s longest-serving commissioner, cautioned on Sunday that New York City’s quality of life “has really deteriorated.” Migrant crime is a major reason. Venezuela’s notorious Tren de Aragua gang and El Salvador’s feared MS-13 — what former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker calls “prison-spawned gangs” — are threatening to take over American cities. They bring “mindless knuckle-dragging violence,” warns Swecker. They’re the “most dangerous gangs on the planet.” Swecker speculates that countries are emptying their prisons deliberately. Gang leaders setting up crime rings in the U.S. “come out of the muck...

Remember when Trump said countries were emptying their prisons and sending them to us? Remember the reaction? Trump claimed that South American countries are emptying their prisons and “mental institutions” and sending those people to the U.S., but immigration experts tell us there is no evidence of that happening. Uh huh. The same people tell us the border is secure. Meet Tren de AraguaTren de Aragua, the Venezuelan criminal gang spreading terror from Chile to Colombia The organization, which is involved in crimes such as human trafficking, sexual exploitation and drug trafficking, is extending its tentacles in eight countries in...

Murders in Maravatio raise concerns about drug gangs trying to sway local races.. Two candidates for mayor in the Mexican city of Maravatio have been gunned down within hours of each other, raising worries that drug gangs are trying to influence the June 2 election. Campaigning doesn't formally begin until Friday. State prosecutors said Tuesday that Armando Pérez was found shot to death in his car just before midnight, per the AP. He was the candidate for the conservative National Action Party. Hours earlier, officials with the ruling Morena party confirmed their candidate, Miguel Ángel Zavala, was found shot to...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Monday doubled down while speaking to a group at a town hall meeting in Canarsie, Brooklyn, saying the sanctuary city law needs to be modified so that any migrant who commits a felony can be turned over to ICE and deported. Adams commended his administration for doing an excellent job during a challenging time, but stated his hands are tied by federal and local law. The mayor spoke about some migrants participating in robberies and using mopeds to commit snatch and grab stick-ups. The issue, Adams said, became a real problem, so the...

Missing from the picture, though, is the violence and disorder that makes these camps untenable from the get-go. They’re crime dens. They’re dangerous. They’re places no human should live, and places that the public should not have to subsidize. Even though police run patrols, and community groups run outreach programs, tent cities tend to be “governed” by gangs. In Vancouver, gang members set up tents in the community as an outpost for dealing. In Calgary, a gang took over a camp near a drop-in centre — resulting in beatings of campers and assaults on centre workers. In Edmonton, gangs are...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago's Board of Education made a decision Thursday on CPS school resource officers. In a unanimous vote, Chicago's Board of Education approved a plan to remove police officers from Chicago Public Schools, starting next school year. Dozens of students who want to see police out of their schools rallied outside CPS headquarters Thursday morning. CPS students from "Cops Out CPS" gathered to call on the Board of Education to remove police from schools and re-invest more than $10 million spent on police in school programs and resources. Many students said the student resource officers are costly, ineffective...

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office sought high bail for a group of illegal immigrants accused of attacking two NYPD officers near Times Square last month after their initial no-bail release caused a national uproar. The suspects each pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on a superseding indictment Friday morning. Despite the prosecution's change in stance, one suspected Venezuelan gang member who was ordered to leave the country last year had his bail set at $1. However – it is not expected to be paid. The move allows him to avoid deportation while in custody. First up, the judge set...

The deadly shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory parade that killed one and injured nearly two dozen was the result of a personal dispute that exploded into violence – and cops have detained three people who may be at fault, authorities said Thursday. Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves emphasized that the Wednesday afternoon attack on the west side of the city’s landmark Union Station had nothing to do with homegrown terrorism or violent extremism. Instead, the shooting “appeared to be a dispute between several people that ended in gunfire,” Graves told reporters at a Thursday press conference.