Free Republic

If the president may constitutionally permit 15 percent of the nation's illegal immigrant population to remain in the United States without fear of removal, why may he not do the same for 50 percent of that population, or for all of it?

With a little under a month remaining until Election Day, the Obama campaign has transitioned into full-blown hispandering mode. This week’s symbolically potent, yet empty, exercise in gestural politics entailed President Obama designating the home of former California labor leader Cesar Chavez a national monument. The ostensible purpose of this decision is to rally support among one of his party’s most reliable voting blocs, i.e. Hispanic Americans. Because even though they still decisively support the President’s reelection, that support does not always translate into votes, as other analysts have trenchantly observed. What makes Obama’s trip to California so fascinating though...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new law that will allow hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses and vetoed another that would have restricted sheriffs from helping federal authorities detain undocumented Californians for potential deportation. His actions, announced Sunday as the deadline neared to finish work on nearly 1,000 bills sent to him by the Legislature this year, followed an intense week of protests, prayer vigils and lobbying by immigrant advocacy groups. The governor also revived a tax break for Hollywood, allowed juvenile killers serving life in prison a chance for release and outlawed...

Some illegal immigrants could get California drivers licenses under a bill that Gov. Jerry Brown announced he signed into law late Sunday. AB2189 by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, will let the Department of Motor Vehicles issue licenses to illegal immigrants eligible for work permits under a new Obama administration policy. The bill requires the department to accept as proof of legal residence whatever document the federal government provides to participants in its deferred action program. Cedillo said his bill will make roads safer while letting young immigrants drive to school and to work. His reasoning drew support from several...

The governor signed a bill Sunday that will let hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants qualify for California driver’s licenses. Young people would qualify if they are accepted by a federal program giving work permits to those who came to this country before they were 16 and are now 30 or younger. …

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will pledge to Hispanics on Monday that if elected he will fix the troubled U.S. immigration system in an appeal to a rising voter bloc that overwhelmingly favors Democratic President Barack Obama... Romney will vow to "work with Republicans and Democrats to permanently fix our immigration system," while stressing that any plan must first ensure the integrity of U.S. borders - a problem on which the Obama administration says it has already made progress.

My Hispanic can beat up your Hispanic!” pretty much captured the Convention kick-offs. “Republicans chose Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Cuban-American, to introduce Mitt Romney, “reported the AP. “Democrats picked Mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio, a Mexican American, as keynote speaker. Both are considered rising stars.”Ah! But what FUN the Republicans missed! Given the era’s political-correctness, politics in the U.S. get pretty boring nowadays. No present-day politician or their slick consultants could possibly publicize what’s forthcoming in this article. So please stick around, because I belong to neither profession. Most immigrants arrive in America poor (especially by U.S....

TAMPA, Fla. — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) on Tuesday said Republicans aren’t going to close the gap with Hispanic voters until they “stop acting stupid.” Bush said many Hispanic voters share the GOP’s commitment to faith, family and small government but have been alienated from the party by exclusionary rhetoric on immigration. But that, he said, is finally changing. “I promise you this is where the conservative cause is going, and thank God it is,” he said to cheers at a lunch sponsored by the center-right Hispanic Leadership Network. The advantage that Democrats have with Hispanics is a...

Mitt Romney is on track to lose the Latino vote by a wider margin than any Republican presidential candidate in over a decade, and strategists in both parties say he may have made a bad situation worse with his selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate. What’s clear is that Romney’s lagging fortunes among Hispanics are unlikely to receive any boost from choosing a vice presidential candidate who has voted in Congress against the DREAM Act and supports overhauling entitlement programs that are extremely popular among Latino voters. The Republican ticket’s dire position among Latinos has even...

Hispanic lawmakers unhappy with Charlotte contractsBy ANNA PALMER | 8/3/12 1:20 PM EDT Hispanic lawmakers are peeved at the Democratic National Convention Committee for not hiring more Latino-owned businesses for next month’s convention. Upset over the lack of contracts, Hispanic lawmakers exchanged heated words Wednesday with a top DNCC official in a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill. Afterward, Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) suggested that DNCC Chief Executive Steve Kerrigan should be fired if things don’t improve. If the situation isn’t rectified, “there will be a recommendation that the person who is in charge will not be in charge,” Baca told...

On the same week that the U.S. House of Representatives found him in criminal contempt, the nation’s embattled Attorney General professed solidarity with a radical leftist Latino group, proudly celebrating its socialist mission of “uno para todos, todos para uno” (all for one and one for all). It wasn’t enough for Eric Holder to earn the accolade of being the nation’s first sitting Attorney General to be found in criminal contempt by Congress for stonewalling the investigation of a disastrous experiment conducted by his office. Known as Operation Fast and Furious, the project allowed Mexican drug traffickers to obtain U.S.-sold...

Meet Mayra Hidalgo. She was introduced yesterday to the CNN viewing audience as a "student" who happened to question Gov. Mitt Romney after his speech to Latinos in Florida. She made for great television for CNN because Ms. Hidalgo asked Romney to explain his position on illegal immigration and the DREAM Act. When the governor would not pander to her, she bolted to the nearest camera crew she could find to explain how terrified she was for her future if Romney were elected. CNN more than obliged. CNN actually reported on Hidalgo twice yesterday, each

Mitt Romney criticized President Barack Obama's immigration plan on Thursday, saying that as president, he will "put in place my own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the President's temporary measure." That plan is still vague, but it does not involve a path to legalization for any of the country's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants except for people who enlist in the military, according to a release from the campaign. "As President, I won't settle for a stop-gap measure," he said during his speech to to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Annual Conference in...

BRUNSWICK, Ohio (AP) — Mitt Romney is refusing to say that he would overturn President Barack Obama's new policy allowing some young illegal immigrants to stay in the United States. The Republican presidential candidate tells CBS” ”Face the Nation” that if he’s president, Obama’s executive order “would be overtaken by events … by virtue of my putting in place a long-term solution.” Romney was asked three times in the interview if he would overturn Obama’s order, but he didn’t directly answer the question. Instead, he said would work to pass a law to help those young people who were “brought...

Today we encourage you to watch Senator Marco Rubio answer questions from constituents on his proposal to the alternative version of the DREAM Act. Click here or on the image below to watch the full video.

Washington D.C. – Marco Rubio says he wants his version of the DREAM Act in effect by fall, just in time for undocumented students to be able to attend college fall semester. Rubio, in two separate events in Washington D.C., said his plan is still being hammered out, and important details – such as the minimum and maximum age of those who would qualify – were yet to be determined. “We’re involving the DREAMers” in the drafting of the measure, he said, using the term that refers to undocumented youth brought to the country by their parents. “We’re involving the...

FACT SOURCE--EDITED EXCERPTS New York Times report: Lawmakers generosity on big corporations' tab. Copyright 2012 stltoday.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/article_dfea2768-b95b-11df-bd41-0017a4a78c22.html#ixzz1rfgdnEAe NARRATIVE Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif 43rd) has achieved near celebrity status in his suburban LA district, as much for his record of giveaways — turkeys, scholarships, boots for firefighters — as for anything he has done in the US Congress. Baca's generosity is made possible by The Joe Baca Foundation, a so-called "charity" he and his family set up circa 2008 under the pretext of "aiding" local organizations....

PHOENIX — President Obama’s re-election campaign is dispatching workers across Arizona’s college campuses and Latino neighborhoods this spring, registering as many new voters as they can in an organized, three-month effort to determine whether they can put this unlikely state into play for Democrats this November. By any measure the obstacles are considerable: Arizona has voted for precisely one Democratic president since Truman was in the White House. Yet Mr. Obama’s aides said in interviews that they thought it was possible they could move the needle of history by winning in 2012 a state that analysts believe is heading Democratic...

President Obama is off on Air Force One tomorrow, this time for another summit in Latin America. Not that much will get accomplished at the two-day Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, the sixth in an ongoing series. As with pretty much anything Obama is doing these days, the trip has more to do with election year politics at home than foreign affairs in countries that most Americans hardly ever think of unless they're featured on a popular TV show like "NCIS," as Cartagena was this week. The Democrat wants to be seen lavishing attention on the homelands of...

WASHINGTON -- A few weeks ago, Daniela Pelaez visited Washington. A valedictorian at North Miami Senior High, the 18-year-old had just learned she no longer faced deportation, thanks in part to congressional intervention in her immigration case. She visited the nation’s capital the same week a Fox News Latino poll found Hispanic voters favor President Barack Obama six-to-one over any of the Republican presidential hopefuls. Suddenly, there was new life in the DREAM Act, an immigration bill that offers a path toward citizenship for young people like Daniela who came to the U.S. illegally with their parents. Enter Florida Sen....