Free Republic

by John HillStand With Arizona George Orwell, welcome to the immigration debate. The Associated Press, the largest news-gathering outlet in the world, will no longer permit the use of the term "illegal immigrant" by its writers.The news came in the form of a blog entry authored by Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll on Tuesday afternoon, explaining that the decision is part of the company's on-going attempt to rid their Stylebook of so-called "labels" - meaning terms which offend politically-correct left-wing activists. "The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term 'illegal immigrant' or the use of 'illegal' to...

The Immigration and Naturalization Service: “Interpretation 324.2 Reacquisition of citizenship lost by marriage.” Interpretation 324.2(a)(7): “(7) Restoration of citizenship is prospective . Restoration to citizenship under any one of the three statutes is not regarded as having erased the period of alienage that immediately preceded it. The words “shall be deemed to be a citizen of the United States to the same extent as though her marriage to said alien had taken place on or after September 22, 1922″, as they appeared in the 1936 and 1940 statutes, are prospective and restore the status of native-born or natural-born citizen as...

FLORENCE, Ariz. - Over the weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement released hundreds of detainees, and Wednesday -- the executive who made that decision announced his retirement. The man in charge of arresting and deporting immigrants announced that he'll be retiring in April. Meanwhile, hundreds of detainees have been set free. It's a decision that Governor Jan Brewer calls "appalling." "I was jumping for joy, I was so happy to know I would be leaving," said Cesar Lorenti. Cesar Lorenti is free from prison, along with hundreds of other illegal immigrants, after the Department Of Homeland Security authorized the release ahead...

WASHINGTON — Every year, a hand-picked set of special guests sits with the first lady as the president delivers the State of the Union address. This year, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have selected a young, undocumented immigrant from Las Vegas to be in one of their seats of honor.

Friend -- I was brought to this country from Mexico when I was 2 years old. I am an undocumented immigrant -- and I am living proof that our immigration system is broken. For the first 17 years of my life, I slept on a couch. My mom worked three jobs to support our family. I worked hard, too. I did my homework, participated in class, and earned the opportunity go to college. But after I enrolled, state law changed and many undocumented immigrants were forced to drop out. Suddenly they could no longer afford the education they were eager...

SYRACUSE -- Arely Tomas Orozco hardly ever went out.

DANA POINT – A 29-year-old man lured a 14-year-old girl with the prospect of drugs, alcohol and a free tattoo to get her to go to his Mission Viejo home, authorities allege. The tattoo artist, who worked at a shop near Fourth and Bush Streets in Santa Ana, is accused of having "highly inappropriate contact and sexual advances" toward the teen and her friend, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.((snip))After the incident was reported, investigators learned Nieves-Vera had been deported after he had been arrested by Murrieta police in 2004 on suspicion of child annoyance....

Thoughts on the growing drive to issue drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens… There is nothing inherently wrong with allowing non-citizens to legally drive in the United States. The United Nations Convention on International Road Traffic, for example, has been providing a framework for issuing International Driving Permits to world travelers ever since 1949. Without one, we Americans could not rent cars in most foreign countries, and we would be restricted to passenger trains and taxicabs overseas. The key to that permit, of course, is that it’s issued by the driver’s home country, his country of citizenship. We Americans get one...

Gorditas, it means little fat ones. Maria Alejandra shared the meaning behind these fluffy cinnamon flavored cookies with her guests, guiding the plate around the room, urging everyone to take more. Take - tome in Spanish. Eat - come. She bounced her 13-month-old daughter, Cielo, on her knee as she told her story. Born in Mexico, Alejandra first moved to the United States with her husband five years ago, after he got a full-time job at a potato chip factory. He had been migrating back and forth from Mexico to the United States as a farmworker since he was a...

ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- A Mexican who has been deported three times was in federal custody Wednesday in Escondido on suspicion of fondling himself inside a vehicle while watching children walk to school. Antonio Montoya-Senteno was spotted in the 1200 block of North Broadway about 7:20 a.m. and, based on witness reports, arrested at El Norte Parkway and Escondido Boulevard, Escondido police Lt. Chris Wynn said. U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers at the Escondido police station as part of Operation Joint Effort questioned Montoya-Senteno and determined he had been deported three times, he said

Last week, Clare County Sheriff's deputies arrested Victorino Bahena Garcia, 32, after he reportedly spent the last two years sexually abusing a young girl. The victim in this case is now 8-years-old. If convicted, the Mexican national faces up to life in prison. Garcia is currently being held at the Clare County Jail on $500,000 bond and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer has been issued as well.

Immigration is one of the toughest issues for the Republican Party to navigate. Getting tough on undocumented workers appeals to the party's sizable law-and-order contingent. Yet easing the borders so that workers from other countries can perform low-wage or high-tech jobs is popular with the party's business-minded members. These two sides clashed this week as more than 100 delegates met at the Marriott Waterside to draft the Republican platform, a document that sets general policy guidelines for the party as it heads into its national convention next week. Immigration is such a contentious issue that it provided one of the...

After Manzano finished his race and secured his medal, he did what athletes typically do at the Olympics. He held up his country's flag -- the Stars and Stripes. The 27-year-old was born in Mexico, but the United States is his country now. His father migrated here illegally from the city of Dolores Hidalgo. Manzano was brought here when he was 4. Like most immigrants, they came in search of greater opportunity. And they found it -- for themselves, and their children. You can't help but be proud of Manzano and the country that allowed him the opportunity to fulfill...

During a sentencing hearing, Jennifer Andrushko, the mother of a five year old identity theft victim told the court of the difficulties she and her family had faced since learning of the theft of her son’s identity by an illegal alien, Lidia Aguirre, also known as Lidia Chavez. Ms. Andrushko recommended that the perpetrator be given the same sentence that she would have received had she used the Social Security number of one of Ms. Aguirre’s American born children. Ms. Aguirre had originally been charged with five, third degree felonies – three identity fraud and two forgery. She eventually pled...

America may be facing a constitutional crisis. Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., has made a startling declaration: President Obama’s birth certificate is fraudulent. If true — and I stress if — then this scandal dwarfs Watergate. In fact, it would be the greatest political scandal in U.S. history. Recently, Sheriff Arpaio held a news conference. He said that his team of independent investigators — composed of former law enforcement officials and reporters — have for months meticulously examined the computer-generated birth certificate that Mr. Obama revealed to the public in April 2011. Their stunning conclusion: The document is...

PHOENIX -- Arizonans who apply for the president's deferred prosecution program for some illegal immigrants could end up having the information they provide later used to deport them, some attorneys warned Thursday. The lawyers, all specialists in immigration law, announced they would be providing free legal help through community organizations around the state to those who would qualify to be allowed to remain in this country for the time being. That generally includes those who were brought here before turning 16 and are not yet 30. But each attorney who spoke at a Phoenix press conference said he or she...

Scott wrote here about the appalling case of a 16-year-old St. Paul girl, Clarisse Grime, who was sitting in the grass at her high school, nowhere near the street, when she was struck and killed by a vehicle that careened out of control and bounced off a fire hydrant. The vehicle was driven by an illegal immigrant who has been in Minnesota for ten years without ever having a driver’s license. He was known to local authorities, having been convicted of drunk driving in 2001 and driving without a license just a few months ago. But the immigration laws are...

(CNN) -- Last month's Supreme Court decision in the landmark Arizona immigration case was groundbreaking for what it omitted: the words "illegal immigrants" and "illegal aliens," except when quoting other sources. The court's nonjudgmental language established a humanistic approach to our current restructuring of immigration policy. When you label someone an "illegal alien" or "illegal immigrant" or just plain "illegal," you are effectively saying the individual, as opposed to the actions the person has taken, is unlawful. The terms imply the very existence of an unauthorized migrant in America is criminal. In this country, there is still a presumption of...

CINNAMINSON — A fight between two women broke out inside the Wawa on Church Road on Wednesday morning and turned bloody in the parking lot when one of the combatants stabbed the other several times with a box cutter, police said. Kartelina Holt, 32, whom police described as an undocumented immigrant living in the Sicklerville section of Winslow, Camden County, was arrested shortly after she allegedly stabbed Ashley Anderson, 25, of Pennsauken, seven times, Detective Sgt. William Covert said.

Charles Garcia — the CEO of Garcia Trujillo, a strategy firm that works with Hispanic-owned companies — does not like the term illegal immigrant. He prefers economic refugee. He is not alone. Media Matters for America, the liberal website “dedicated to . . . correcting conservative misinformation,” claimed that Fox News used President Obama’s June 15 immigration announcement as an “opportunity to dehumanize undocumented immigrants.” MMFA reported that Fox News used the term illegals 17 times during its June 15 broadcast, illegal aliens twice, and aliens once, not including uses of these terms in on-screen text. These “racial slurs” are...