Free Republic

Harry Reid Vows Action on ‘Comprehensive’ Immigration Bill That Includes Amnesty Wednesday, June 17, 2009 By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief (CNSNews.com) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) vowed Monday that the Senate would consider a “comprehensive” immigration reform bill that would include giving amnesty to illegal aliens—an item he referred to as “bringing the 11 million people out of the shadows.” Reid said that Senate consideration of a massive new immigration bill would come after the Senate dealt with the health-care issue and energy. The Senate is now looking at a national health-care plan being promoted by President Obama...

U.S. civil rights leaders said yesterday that an increase in hate crimes committed in recent years against Hispanics and people perceived to be immigrants "correlates closely" to the nation's increasingly contentious debate over immigration. Hate crimes targeting Hispanic Americans rose 40 percent from 2003 to 2007, the most recent year for which FBI statistics are available, from 426 to 595 incidents, marking the fourth consecutive year of increases. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund issued a report that faulted anti-immigrant rhetoric in the media and mobilization of extremist groups on the Internet. The conference said that some groups...

After twice postponing a highly anticipated meeting between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders on immigration reform, the White House is under increasing pressure to get legislation done this year. Winning congressional approval of an immigration measure by December is a steep climb, with the economy, health care and energy higher on the president’s agenda. So far, Obama has promised only to begin the discussion at the summit set for next week. But if the president does not move quickly, he will suffer the same fate as his predecessor, President George W. Bush, who left office acknowledging that failure to...

If a group of United States citizens trekked to another country, formed an organization called “The Race,” which demanded open borders, unfettered immigration and citizenship, billions of dollars for bilingual education, health care, housing, job and wage guarantees, and anti-discrimination protection, they would likely soon be jailed or deported in a display of righteous sovereign indignation. But the National Council of La Raza engages in all these activities in the United States, and it receives taxpayer dollars to help promote its radical views. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is a member of La Raza. That membership and her own statements...

Link only, per FR posting policy

WASHINGTON — She greeted him in Spanish. He handed her a copy of his book. They chuckled over some recent mishaps. Conservatives hoping Republicans in the Senate will block Sonia Sotomayor's ascension to the U.S. Supreme Court best not look to the senator from Florida: After a 30-minute meeting with Sotomayor Tuesday, a "delighted" Sen. Mel Martinez pronounced her smart, likeable and prudent. "I think she's a very, very bright person, very, very much someone who the Supreme Court will find will fit in very well," said Martinez, a Republican from Orlando. He said he will withhold judgment about whether...

Martin High will focus on teaching English Painfully aware that Martin High School likely will fail federal standards for the sixth year in a row, LISD officials say they will redouble their efforts to teach English to a hard-core group of students who are not learning the language of their adopted country. "We need to speak as much English as possible," said Severita Sanchez, Laredo Independent School District's executive director of compliance and accountability. "(Freshmen) are coming in with a very weak English foundation. The comprehension is not there." According to LISD, the federally mandated restructuring plan at Martin High...

Maria Baez (D-Bronx) gave $5,000 from her discretionary office account to Leo Martinez for his work with immigrants. City officials had cut Martinez's funding amid federal/city probes into his shady practice of holding tax allotments for phantom community groups then doling it out later. City Dept of Investigation froze 100 nonprofit contracts, including a $99,000 grant Baez had given Martinez.... The city had twice refused to allow Baez to fund Martinez's now-defunct Alliance for Community Services ..... Baez was undeterred..........She allocated another $198,214 to the group last June, but it was quickly blocked. Baez then tapped an account pols use...

A conservative and controversial Evangelical Hispanic group today officially endorsed the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court -- an indication that many right-leaning Hispanics are breaking ranks with other mainstream Republicans on the issue. Called the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, the group is made up of 20,000 Evangelical Hispanic churches, and is best known for its controversial call for illegal immigrants to boycott the 2010 Census. On the group's blog, the leader of the group, Rev. Miguel Rivera, credited Sotomayor for being a " measured jurist with bedrock family values." "She is not...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday disputed claims that illegal immigrants caused California's $24.3 billion deficit, while he praised their economic contributions and said he is "happy" they have access to services. The Republican governor, answering wide-ranging questions from The Bee's editorial board and its readers, also vented about roadblocks to his authority posed by political foes and warned that government can't sustain the current level of "unbelievable benefits" for public-sector workers. In response to dozens of questions from readers who say the state ought to wipe out the deficit by eliminating services for illegal immigrants, the governor said it is...

The President Of La Raza Says Party Will Pay Price For An Uncivil Debate Over The High Court When President Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor as his pick for the Supreme Court, the pundits warned Republicans of a trap -- attacking the first Hispanic nominee for the court could backfire, they said. That didn't stop former presidential candidate Tom Tancredo from going on cable news to decry Sotomayor's involvement with the National Council of La Raza, which he called a racist organization. Sotomayor herself was called a racist by Rush Limbaugh and then Newt Gingrich, who later withdrew his statement. NationalJournal.com's...

Immigration is added atop heavy agenda By Alexander Bolton Posted: 06/04/09 08:17 PM [ET] Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) added yet another huge task to his 2009 agenda, saying the chamber would take up a broad rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws in a year already crowded with debates on healthcare, climate change and a Supreme Court nominee. Passing immigration reform, which has eluded Congress in two of the past three years, is a mighty task and is being led this time by Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third-ranking member of the Democratic Conference leadership team. It also comes...

Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are rushing to contain racially tinged rhetoric in the debate over President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, fearing that attacks emanating from some conservatives opposed to appellate court Judge Sonia Sotomayor could damage GOP prospects among women and the rapidly growing Hispanic population. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said today he was "uneasy" over allegations by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and talk-show host Rush Limbaugh that Sotomayor is racist. Sessions, who lost a 1986 bid for a federal judgeship amid concerns over his own racial sensitivity, said Republicans...

Republican leaders entered 2009 concerned that their party would, in the context of an immigration debate, allow itself to be defined by voices who would alienate Hispanic voters; some strategists have discussed the need for other Republicans to publicly rebuke those figures, and to signal that Hispanics are more than welcome in the party. The Sotomayor nomination is providing an unexpected early test of how willing GOP leaders are to attack fellow partisans on behalf of their Hispanic constituents, and Senator John Cornyn appears pretty willing: "I think it's terrible. This is not the kind of tone that any of...

Princeton University was guilty of "an institutional pattern of discrimination" against Chicanos and Puerto Ricans, then-sophomore Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a letter published in the May 10, 1974 edition of the student newspaper, The Daily Princetonian. Explaining this charge and the rest of a complaint filed by university students with the Health, Education and Welfare Department, Sotomayor's letter continued: The facts imply and reflect the total absence of regard, concern and respect for an entire people and their culture. In effect, they reflect an attempt -- a successful attempt so far -- to relegate an important cultural sector of the...

More than one in five of all children in the United States are Hispanic – a significant jump from 29 years ago when only about 9 percent of children were Latino, according to a Pew Hispanic report released today. The study, called "Latino Children: A majority are U.S.-Born offspring of Immigrants," states that more than half of the nation's 16 million Latino children are now "second generation," which means they are the U.S.-born children of at least one foreign-born parent. In California the number of second generation Latino children is 62 percent.

Sure, President Obama’s appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is blatantly racist. The smiling senorita was chosen simply because she is a Latina. If Sotomayor had been a lily-white Methodist from Minnesota, she would not have received the slightest chance for consideration. Few commentators note that 60% of Sotomayor’s rulings were overturned by the Supreme Court - - Few note that Ms. Sotomayor received her education in the heyday of affirmative action - - a time when functional illiterates were entry to the hallowed halls of ivy for the sake of diversity.....when standardized test scores, including law board...

Obama names appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor as his first Supreme Court nominee, and like his first hundred days in office, the so-called “centrist” president has once again chosen the most far left option on the table as a replacement for the very disappointing Justice Souter. High on the list of Obama’s Marxist agenda is “amnesty” for millions of illegal aliens currently bilking American taxpayers out of their future, via countless “free government services” and a laundry list of left-wing “affirmative action” initiatives that place race ahead of all other considerations.

Conservative activists are outspoken in their opposition. But Republican senators who will actually vote on her nomination offer muted responses. Some think the party has a chance to reach Latino vote. BY PETER WALLSTEN and RICHARD SIMON Reporting from Washington -- Rush Limbaugh called her a "reverse racist." The conservative Judicial Confirmation Network said she was an activist with a "personal political agenda" and should be blocked from the Supreme Court. . . . . .The Republican senators who will actually vote on her were not following the activists' script. Instead, GOP senators offered muted, sometimes admiring, responses, and seemed...

Latino legal activists applauded Sotomayor's appointment. "This is a historic moment," said Cesar Perales, executive director of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, a New York-based civil rights group, where Sotomayor once served as a board member. "This is the most important Hispanic appointment that has been made in this country's history. It is a recognition that we are coming of age, that we can be one of nine wise people on the Supreme Court, making decisions that affect everyone in this country." During her years on the organization's board during the 1980s, the organization, then known as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and...

The Republican Party has scarcely begun to repair a wound that threatens to confine it to minority status: its 2006 collapse among Hispanic voters. Driven by some Republicans’ sharp attacks on illegal immigration and — as many Hispanics perceived it, immigrants in general — Latino voters fled the GOP en masse in the midterm elections, then turned on John McCain, as well. . . . . . There are stirrings of a Republican response. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has spoken with Hispanic leaders about creating a new organization to back Latino candidates. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has made...

[Note: The link is a hit piece on Jeff Sessions, and it would be great if everyone could take a part of it and show how they're lying, misleading, taking things out of context, and so on. Simply dismissing this as not affecting you personally is not an effective thing to say. Simply saying, 'consider the source' is not effective. In order to counteract things like this, you have to show those who might be swayed by the report how the report is wrong.] From the link: Senator Jeff Sessions is one of the leading (and loudest) voices against comprehensive...

Jay Severin, the fiery radio talk show host on Boston�s WTKK-FM, was suspended today after making derogatory comments about Mexicans. Heidi Raphael, a spokeswoman for the station, said Severin had been suspended indefinitely. She declined to comment further. George Tobia, Severin's lawyer, said it was not clear how long his client has been suspended.

NEWARK, N.J. (CBS) ― Thousands were expected to attend a rally in northern New Jersey on Saturday to push for comprehensive immigration reform. The "Family Unity" day rally is part of a national effort to end deportations and raids that immigration activists say destroy families. Among those expected to attend were several federal lawmakers, including U.S. Senator Robert Menendez and Rep. Albio Sires, both D-N.J. A consortium of churches, national and local immigration advocates and individuals have been organizing prayer vigils, town-hall meetings and rallies in 20 U.S. cities. The New Jersey gathering took place at the Jesus Christ is...

Stunning Twist: Murder Suspect Assisted Victim's Mother Nick Banaszak Reporter 9:10 PM CDT, April 23, 2009 HUNTSVILLE, AL - A stunning development in a tragedy that has rocked South Huntsville. Less than one week after 19 year-old Tad Mattle and 16 year-old Leigh Anna Jimmerson were killed in a horrific car wreck, WHNT News 19 has learned of a connection between the suspect and Jimmerson's mother. WHNT has confirmed that Jimmerson's mom Dr. Ellin Jimmerson was working on a documentary film on illegal immigration, and that one of the translators who helped convert interviews from Spanish to English was the...

Meet "Juan" McCain. You already know him as John McCain, however you can expect McCain to get much more in touch with his inner illegal alien. McCain will finally get a serious primary challenge for his Senate seat from Chris Simcox, a founder of the Minutemen organization. How better to draw attention to ineffectual RINOs like McCain, than to take one out, and deservedly so. McCain's has been pandering to illegal aliens for the sake of votes. Because the fact of the matter is that no country in the world sanctions illegal immigration. (Except now, apparently, the United States.) I...

She is fast becoming the albatross around the neck of the Obama administration. Former Arizona governor, Janet Napolitano, has proven as unpopular an appointee as former US Attorney General Janet Reno and she has not even ordered a lethal attack on a commune occupied by members of a religious cult or authorized the use of an armed assault team to deport a child to Cuba yet. How does she do it? The Obama team touted Napolitano as a border state governor who was tough on border security and curbing illegal immigration. That was, of course, a colossal lie. As governor,...

Clarissa Martinez De Castro, director of immigration and national campaigns for the National Council of La Raza, says that money inspires the anti-immigration rhetoric of talk radio hosts and CNN’s Lou Dobbs. She took part in a panel discussion at an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) conference in Washington, D.C. on Monday. “People like Lou Dobbs and other similar folks, to go from a certain platform to a very shrill voice and persona that they have got, is they’re making money, folks, right?” Martinez said when an audience member asked how to “educate someone like Lou Dobbs? “The thing about Lou Dobbs...

Special treatment for illegal alien drug dealers at the expense of the rest of us? That would be insane! Of course, that's exactly what's happening in NY State. EC interviews NY State Assemblyman Greg Ball, who's doing his best to expose this aspect of the rewrite of NY's notorious Rockefeller Drug Laws. Assemblyman Ball takes us inside the upside-down world of Albany, where the quickest way to a government benefit may soon be to be an illegal alien with a pocketful of drug money.

A Foothill Ranch health care company has agreed to pay up to $450,000 to settle a federal discrimination suit alleging that it banned employees from speaking Spanish at work. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit also maintained that while Spanish was forbidden, Filipino employees at facilities owned by Skilled HealthCare Group Inc. were not disciplined or terminated for speaking Tagalog at work. An attorney for Skilled Healthcare denied that such discrimination ever occurred, adding that the case was based on events dating back to 2002, before the current management had acquired the firm. The EEOC filed a class action...

President Barack Obama, left, greets Mexican President Felipe Calderon upon their arrival and take part in the welcoming ceremony at to the Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Thursday, April 16, 2009. President Obama is in Mexico for a brief official visit on his way to attend the Summit of the Americas in the Caribbean.

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary Jim’s 2006 Formula functions:Select a city. It is omnipresent. It cannot be reversed by Tarp, or any acronym. Your town and city are experiencing just this, no matter where you live.Prepared text of Villaraigosa’s State of the City speech Tuesday, 14 April 2009 Fellow Angelenos:These are no ordinary times in the City of Los Angeles, or for that matter, any place where people depend on the global economy.Here in L.A., the recession is taking a terrible toll.  230,000 Angelenos now standing on unemployment lines.  The jobless rate simmering at 12% and rising. The mortgage crisis has now...

Here's what Cornyn said about the Obama White House's decision to re-open the public dialogue on immigration: "I applaud President Obama's commitment to addressing comprehensive immigration reform this year, and stand ready to work with him to produce a product that represents the best interests of America, including respect for the rule of law, national security and economic security. "Comprehensive, common-sense immigration reform remains a top priority for me. Any legislation must protect our borders, promote economic prosperity in Texas and throughout the United States, and be consistent with our American values of compassion, family and opportunity."

You’ll love the loophole that lets President Obama violate his no-lobbyist rule in order to bring La Raza/The Race lobbyist Cecilia Munoz on board to work on shamnesty issues from the inside: It’s a “public interest” exemption. “Public interest” meaning illegal alien interest, apparently. Via The Hill: President Obama has issued waivers allowing two appointees who were formally registered lobbyists to work for his administration. The waivers ensure the two appointees can work for the administration under his executive order on ethics, which was intended to reform the revolving door between K Street and the government. The waivers were provided...

snip Those arguments continued after Mr. Emanuel was elected to Congress, and were heightened in the run-up to the 2006 election, when he led the successful Democratic effort to take control of the House, she said. According to widespread reports at the time, Mr. Emanuel urged Democrats who were seen to be most vulnerable in the election to vote in 2005 for a bill that would increase enforcement against illegal immigration. Mr. Emanuel said he simply gave his political advice to members who asked for it, and he noted that he himself voted against the bill. "There's no more brilliant...

U.S. Rep. William Clay says he'll ask the Obama administration to suspend immigration raids over the next year, so illegal immigrants don't worry that sharing accurate information with Census workers could somehow expose them to punishment.Some lawmakers are calling anew for the U.S. to relax its immigration laws -- not to provide sanctuary to illegal immigrants, but to ensure statistical accuracy. The calls come as the Census Bureau prepares to kick off the 2010 Census. Critics argue that unless the government is willing to relax immigration laws, millions of people -- afraid to their share their personal information -- will...

The Obama administration's approach to immigration enforcement is still something of a mystery. The Department of Homeland Security is issuing new guidelines for field agents on how to deal with illegal immigrants in the workforce, and so far, those guidelines are being kept secret. But a recent incident in Washington state may provide some clues. On Feb. 24, when armed immigration agents raided Yamato Engine Specialists, a small company that rebuilds car engines in Bellingham, Wash., 28 workers were led away in handcuffs. They were illegal immigrants, most of them from Mexico, and they faced quick deportation. It was the...

The Senator from Arizona Tells Hispanics to Look to President Obama for Leadership on Immigration. BY KIRK VICTOR John McCain sounds angry and frustrated that, despite the risks he took in pushing immigration reform, Hispanic voters flocked to Democrat Barack Obama in last year's presidential contest. McCain's raw emotions burst forth recently as he heatedly told Hispanic business leaders that they should now look to Obama, not him, to take the lead on immigration. The meeting in the Capitol's Strom Thurmond Room on March 11 was a Republican effort led by Sens. McCain of Arizona, John Thune of South Dakota,...

As promised, here is a photo summary of Secretary Clinton's visit so far to Mexico:

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― The nation's second-largest school district has voted to make Cesar Chavez's March 31 birthday a school holiday. The school board resolution approved Tuesday calls for Superintendent Ramon Cortines to come up with a plan to drop another holiday in favor of the day off to honor the late United Farm Workers co-founder. Board member Yolie Flores Aguilar, who introduced the resolution, says a school holiday honoring Chavez is long overdue. The state Legislature adopted a bill in 2000 establishing March 31 as a state holiday. It calls for schools to be closed if their school board...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently told a group of both legal and illegal immigrants and their families that enforcement of existing immigration laws, as currently practiced, is "un-American." The speaker, condemning raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, referred to the immigrants she was addressing as "very, very patriotic." "Who in this country would not want to change a policy of kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families?" Pelosi told a mostly Hispanic gathering at St. Anthony's Church in San Francisco. "It must be stopped....What value system is that? I...

Despite his solemn promise to the American people to keep lobbyists out of his Admkinistration, two more have slipped in. The latest waivers were provided for Jocelyn Frye, director of policy and projects in the Office of First Lady, and Cecilia Munoz, director of intergovernmental affairs in the executive office of the president. Munoz was a senior vice president for the National Council of La Raza. She was heavily involved in the immigration battles in Congress in recent years, and is now a principal liason to the Hispanic community for the administration.

Thirty-five thousand people from all over the country signed a petition calling on the departments of Justice and Homeland Security to investigate Arizona's infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Meanwhile, Arpaio received a letter from the Justice Department Wednesday informing him of a probe into allegations of discriminatory and unconstitutional searches and seizures. Finally, it seems that the abusive Maricopa County lawman could get what's coming to him. The petition, initiated by America's Voice, a Washington-based group for immigration reform, was delivered to the agencies Wednesday by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Min.), Immigration Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Rep. Jerrold...

Wal mart plans to open its first Hispanic-focused supermarkets this summer in Arizona and Texas as the largest US retailer continues its drive to expand its dominance of the US grocery business. The pilot stores, named Supermercado de Walmart, will open in Phoenix and Houston in remodelled 39,000 sq ft locations occupied previously by two of Wal-Mart’s Neighborhood Market stores. The retailer said that the stores were in “strongly Hispanic neighbourhoods” and would feature a “new lay-out, signing and product assortment designed to make them even more relevant to local Hispanic customers”. The staff will also be bilingual. Wal-Mart’s Sam’s...

Phoenix (AP) - Federal authorities told a high-profile Arizona sheriff Tuesday that they will investigate his department over allegations of discrimination and unconstitutional searches and seizures. The U.S. Justice Department said in a letter to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio that investigators will focus on alleged patterns of police discrimination based on national origin. The letter offers no specific allegations. But Arpaio said he believes the investigation was spurred by his department's often controversial efforts to combat illegal immigration in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. Arpaio's department is the largest participant in a federal program that allows local police departments...

Civil Rights: The open-borders crowd eagerly awaits the nomination of one of its own to a key Justice Department post, a man who has dedicated his life to promoting illegal immigrant "rights."President Obama is expected to appoint Thomas Saenz as the nation's top civil-rights enforcer. It's a key appointment because Obama has promised to "reinvigorate" the division Saenz will lead. And the Civil Rights Division carries a wide-ranging portfolio, covering everything from hate crimes and police misconduct to voting rights and redistricting laws. All this power will likely be turned over to Saenz, who was a top lawyer for a...

Nebraska’s three Catholic bishops are urging state and local lawmakers to act carefully on illegal immigration or risk causing a backlash of discrimination and intimidation. In a joint statement, the bishops from Omaha, Lincoln and Grand Island say state efforts aimed at unscrupulous employers are appropriate. But overall, they say, the state has limited authority to address illegal immigration and cities have an even narrower scope. “State or local community actions that exceed jurisdictional boundaries invite actionable claims on constitutional, and perhaps other, legal grounds,’’ the statement says. “We have a greater concern that these actions could become a basis...

Members of Congress asked the Justice and Homeland Security Departments on Friday to investigate accusations that the sheriff who presides over the Phoenix metropolitan area has engaged in a pattern of racial profiling and other abuses against Latino residents. Four members of the House Judiciary Committee, including the chairman, John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, raised of concerns about the sheriff, Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County. Sheriff Arpaio, a publicity magnet who is a hero to those who campaign against illegal immigration and a pariah to immigration advocates, brushed off the requests as political high jinks.

That was quick. It took less than a week for rookie New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to jettison her support for immigration law enforcement under pressure from Hispanic politicians. Apparently the rule of law means one thing in upstate New York, which Gillibrand represented in Congress, and another thing in New York City, where she has been hearing from the illegal alien lobby. Last week, that lobby mounted a public relations war declaring that the new Senate appointee would face a very short Senate sojourn if she continued to oppose amnesty for illegal aliens and to back a raft of...

WASHINGTON: A top Republican congressional aide says the $800 billion-plus economic stimulus measure could steer government checks to illegal immigrants. Republican officials are concerned that the Democratic-written legislation makes people who came to the United States illegally eligible for tax credits of $500 per worker and $1,000 per couple. A House-passed version of the bill and one making its way through the Senate both disqualify nonresident aliens from receiving the credits. But neither requires a worker to have a Social Security number to get the credits. An economic aid measure enacted in February 2008 that sent rebates to most wage...