Free Republic

<p>Pope Francis made a thinly-veiled swipe at Donald Trump as the Pontiff defended Latino immigrants who came to America at ‘great personal cost’ during a moving speech to 40,000 followers in Philadelphia.</p> <p>Francis called on migrants from Mexico and the rest of the world to “not feel discouraged by all the challenges and hardships” they face, saying they should never feel ashamed of their own traditions.</p>

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum vowed Friday to pursue immigration policies that protect American workers, while warning voters that some of his GOP rivals have embraced a much softer approach to the issue. Mr. Santorum, the runner-up in the 2012 Republican nomination battle, urged the crowd that converged on a hotel in Washington, D.C., for the annual Values Voter Summit to recognize that a couple of the speakers before him — Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz — have previously supported “amnesty” for illegal immigrants. “You have a lot of people that come up here and talk about how tough...

While delivering the first address from a pontiff to a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, Pope Francis touched on topics ranging from the plight of immigrants to climate change and the death penalty. Many of his comments were lightly delivered and unlikely to elicit much controversy, though the reaction might be different if they were given by another world leader.

Immigrant-rights advocates scrambled Friday to plead with House Speaker John A. Boehner to bring an immigration legalization bill to the floor before he leaves office next month, fearing his replacement will show even more antipathy toward their agenda. Mr. Boehner had long been pressing his party to tackle immigration, and in the days after President Obama’s 2012 re-election the Ohio Republican set one major goal: The House would pass a bill to legalize those in the country without authorization. But House GOP conservatives threatened a revolt, and Mr. Boehner and his fellow leaders backed off, instead blaming President Obama for...

Sophie Cruz's brief encounter with Pope Francis during his parade in Washington this week appeared to be the kind of spontaneous moment that is so endearing about this pope: an initially hesitant young child wrapping an arm around his neck as he offers a kiss and a blessing. But for 5-year-old Sophie, the moment unfolded as perfectly as it was scripted by members of a coalition of Los Angeles-based immigration rights groups. They had been preparing for nearly a year for the young girl from suburban Los Angeles to make a dash for the popemobile to deliver a message about...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pope Francis beseeched Americans to end hostility toward immigrants in a historic speech before the U.S. Congress on Thursday, weighing in forcefully on a divisive issue that is stirring debate in the 2016 presidential campaign. Bringing a message that America's power and wealth should be used to serve humanity, the 78-year-old pontiff said the United States must not turn its back on "the stranger in our midst." "Building a nation calls us to recognise that we must constantly relate to others, rejecting a mindset of hostility," Francis told the Republican-led Congress in Washington a day after he...

Nativism is ascendant in the Republican Party. Donald Trump rose to the top of presidential primary polls after his attacks on Mexicans. His support increased when he proposed deporting millions of Hispanic undocumented immigrants. Ben Carson, adding to an already impressive list of daffy prescriptions, suggested that Muslims be barred from the presidency despite the Constitution’s unambiguous decree that the office is not subject to a religious test. Trump, Carson and others appealing to the insecurities of conservatives promise to “take back America” in part by turning back the great cultural tide of recent decades. Heavy immigration has muddied American...

To quote the Church Lady: isn't that conv-e-e-e-e-nient? On Chris Hayes' MSNBC show tonight, Dem congressman Luis Gutierrez claimed that while he was "challenged" by the Catholic church's teachings on abortion and gay rights and found them "difficult" [but not difficult enough to change his standard liberal positions], no one can really argue the Pope's positions on illegal immigration and income inequality. View the video here.

The obvious reason is just to enhance their bargaining power against their employees. Increasing the supply of potential employees enhances the relative position of labor’s buy-side. It’s cheaper to bribe politicians to open up the borders than it is to raise the prices that they pay to labor. Furthermore, corporate leaders only bear some of the costs of increasing immigration and diversity: the state handles those costs. The gangster sons of immigrant fruit-pickers are the government’s problem — not so much the problem of the agribusiness which lobbied to import them. Much of corporate culture — especially in the era...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) TRENTON — U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez became the latest critic to lash into Donald Trump's controversial plan to combat illegal immigration, saying the Republican presidential frontrunner's proposals will never be put into action. "Let me say now: There will be no Berlin-style walls to divide us," Menendez (D-N.J.) said during a speech Sunday celebrating the sixth annual Hispanic Heritage Month at his alma mater, Union City High School, according to video posted by local news outlet Hudson County View. "There will be no mass deportations," he added, drawing loud applause from the crowd. "There will be no denying our...

America’s Southern neighbor is beating up on the real estate mogul. Literally.While his “Make America Again Great” hats may be the most popular campaign swag north of the Rio Grande, in Mexico the most popular Donald Trump paraphernalia is of a different variety: Piñatas. Ever since announced his entry into the presidential race last June with a thundering tirade against Mexico, Mexicans and immigrants in general Dalton Avalos, a 28-year-old piñata maker from the northern Mexican border city of Reynosa, has been doing a brisk business in candy-filled effigies of Trump. “I’ve sold something like sixty or seventy since I...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Border Patrol arrested nearly 10,000 unaccompanied immigrant children and families caught illegally crossing the border with Mexico in August, a 52 percent jump from August 2014, according to statistics published by the agency Monday afternoon. Since the start of the fiscal year in October, border agents have arrested more than 35,000 children traveling alone and more than 34,500 people traveling as families, mostly mothers and children. The total number of arrests for the year is down nearly 50 percent compared with a year ago, but border agents have reported a jump in arrests since July....

It was the ideal audience for Donald Trump. American Airlines center was packed with 20,000 enthralled Texans who seemed to hang on every word of boast, harangue, and self-aggrandizement that passed through Trump’s lips. They whooped and hollered through 90 minutes of Trump speech-making. In scattered and rather loose references to issues, Trump skillfully intermixed attributes of puerile boasting about his skills, mocking his opponents and their cluelessness, and lionizing his “oft-demonstrated” business skills. The biggest winner was his condemnation of American immigration policy while characterizing all “illegals” as leaving a large swatch of murder, rape, and pillage in their...

...There’s a huge chasm between the ruling class of American society and those over whom they rule. It’s not simply a disagreement over the direction of society. In many respects, the duty of the ruling class is to guide their subjects to the right policies. In a sane society, the people in charge are smarter and more knowledgeable so they better be more right than the masses. No, the dispute today is over the nature of society and it is an irreconcilable dispute. The ruling class of today imagines a world that does not include a thriving, rambunctious middle class...

…and why someone like Trump, who emphasizes it, has gained so much traction with that. People are angry at stories like this one, in which the illegal immigrant is presented as being a poor, beleaguered person (in this case a mother of young children) whose rights are being taken away: On September 3, Blanca Borrego of Houston went for a scheduled appointment to see her gynecologist at the Memorial Hermann Northeast Women’s Healthcare clinic. She had two of her children with her. Instead of seeing her doctor, she was arrested. This is why: Borrego [is] an undocumented immigrant who overstayed...

Los Angeles (AFP) - Roberto Centeno shrugs off Donald Trump's controversial remarks on Latinos -- including suggestions that America should build a frontier wall to keep out the "rapists" he alleges Mexico sends across the border. "The things that guy says do not represent Latinos. He can build all the walls he wants. We're not scared," said Centeno, reacting to Republican presidential candidate Trump's controversial remarks on immigration. "When the time comes, that guy is not going to get into the White House. This country has more sense than he does," the young Mexican, who works as a computer technician,...

Donald Trump had a relatively poor performance in Wednesday night's CNN debate. But one of his stronger moments — at least from the point of view of his supporters — came when the topic of immigration arose. "We're going to have a country again," he said in defending his ambitious (and probably unfeasible) plan to build a wall along the entire Mexican border and deport 11 million illegal immigrants. Each time Trump, who is number one in the Washington Examiner's presidential power rankings, describes how hordes of foreigners are overrunning and destroying the country, he speaks to what many perceive...

cannot believe how many Christians cannot see what is going on. It continues to amaze me how blind they are to the reality of what is happening in the world. As usual, I believe the pastors are to blame for so much of this dumbing-down of America. I heard a wise man say that American Christians are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good. He makes a good point. I call it “compartmentalized Christianity;” the placing of God inside a box that we keep under our beds. We occasionally open the box whenever we feel like we need...

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday said Republican presidential contender Donald Trump was selling a "sick message" about immigrants in America based on xenophobia. Biden, considering a run for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, told a small group of Latinos gathered at his home that they should not lose heart watching Trump climb in the polls while taking a hard line on immigration. Trump, leading the pack of Republicans seeking their party's 2016 nomination, has accused Mexico of sending criminals and rapists to the United States. He has promised to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to keep...

As polls show Donald Trump performing better than ever with black voters, progressive rapper Azealia Banks is expressing support for Trump’s popular immigration policy because of the positive impact it could have on black Americans.“Do you think it’s bad that I sort of agree with [Trump’s] stance on immigration?” the rapper wrote on her Instagram account on September 7th. Banks, a black rapper from Harlem, made headlines in March of this year by declaring her hatred for “this country” and “white Americans.” Banks explained that her support for Trump’s immigration plan is based on the detrimental impact mass immigration has...