Free Republic

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....

Senate Republicans want to alter DREAM Act legislation to steal away Hispanic voters from Democrats. Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), the only Senate Republican of Hispanic heritage and a possible vice presidential pick, is working on an alternative version of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants who came to the country at a young age and serve in the military or attend college. He declined to provide any details, but confirmed he hopes to have legislation soon. “I don’t have any specifics to announce yet,” said Rubio. “This stuff...

President Barack Obama's 13-year-old daughter, Malia Ann Obama, will be spending her spring break in the Mexican city of Oaxaca with 12 friends and 25 Secret Service agents. The young tourists will be in a downtown hotel in the city known for its colonial architecture and native traditions, reported a state police official. President Barack Obama’s 13-year-old daughter, Malia Ann Obama, will be spending her springbreak in the Mexican city of Oaxaca with 12 friends and 25 Secret Service agents. "We are here to block access to the hotel by other people and escort the vehicles that are carrying the...

Wasteful, senseless and cruel. How better to describe the ridiculous battle that Felipe Montes is waging to be reunited with his three U.S.-born children? Since his deportation, they've been ensnared by the foster care system and are at risk of being put up for adoption. Montes, who had lived in the U.S. illegally for almost 10 years, was sent back to Mexico in 2010 after having been sentenced to probation following an arrest for driving with an expired license, an expired registration and no automobile insurance. He was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at one of his...

(CNN) -- One day, California wakes up and every single Latino has inexplicably disappeared. No business owner, doctor, nurse, soldier, teacher, entertainer, athlete or politician can be found. No bus driver, farm worker, cook, gardener or nanny. All gone. California -- the ninth largest economy in the world -- grinds to a halt because Latinos have vanished. Chaos and tragedy follow. This scenario is what Sergio Arau's satiric film, "A Day Without a Mexican," explores. This modern-day fable provides a cautionary tale on the assumptions we make about the 11 million unauthorized immigrants who live and work in America every...

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said he supports the idea of allowing illegal immigrants to have driver's licenses as long as they have been in the United States for a number of years without committing other crimes. Baca's comments Thursday come as Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has also expressed support for driver's license for illegal immigrants. Baca said such licenses should only be issued after illegal immigrants fill out comprehensive applications, similar to those for citizenship. The sheriff also said the licenses should be up for renewal annually, and be noticeably different than those issued to citizens....

About 7,000 people attended a Mexican Flag Day ceremony in downtown Santa Ana on Sunday afternoon, aimed at honoring the Mexican and American flags and educating many in the audience about their Mexican roots. The eighth annual event – which featured flag presentations, live entertainment, a brief history lesson and more – ran from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Plaza Santa Ana, an outdoor space at the corner of Fourth and French streets. (Click here or on the photo above to see pictures from the event.) The gathering was sponsored by Los 32 Por Mexico en Orange County –...

ARLINGTON, Texas - A two-time “Teacher of the Year” in Arlington is now fighting to keep her job after allegedly telling a Hispanic student to “Go back to Mexico.” Barnett Junior High School math teacher Shirley Bunn has 24 years of teaching experience. But her career could end with what she called a moment of frustration. Bunn admitted she lost her temper on Sept. 30 while distributing Title 1 forms to her eighth grade students. According to public documents, a student who had a history of being disruptive repeatedly asked his teacher for a form printed in Spanish by saying,...