Free Republic

In the latest of many shameful lapses, the federal agency in charge of securing the nation’s transportation system approved background checks for a dozen illegal immigrants working in sensitive areas of a busy U.S. airport. The illegal aliens, from Central America and Mexico, worked in operational areas of Stewart International Airport, a 2,400-acre facility located about 60 miles north of New York City. Stewart is a major passenger airport for the state’s mid-Hudson region that also handles large quantities of cargo and serves as a military field. The illegal aliens all had security badges approved by the Transportation Security Administration...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a leading congressional advocate for immigrants' rights, has introduced a bill that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens and would end a controversial program that enlists local police to enforce immigration laws. The bill is widely viewed as too liberal to pass. Obama administration officials have said they are looking instead to a more moderate, bipartisan immigration-reform bill to be introduced in the Senate early next year by Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).Still, the Chicago Democrat made it clear that he and his allies expect a seat at the...

Temp agencies are taking advantage of illegals across the country. Iridium Industries in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania is a plastic-container plant. During a raid at the plant, 81 illegal immigrants were arrested by ICE. The plant itself wasn’t charged in connection with the raid, though-because the plant blamed the Temp Agency for the illegals in their plant. In court papers, it was stated that H&T Staffing Services, operating under that and other, similar names in Pennsylvania, fraudulently raked in nearly $2.5 million in one year. In this article at the Pocono Record from October, 2009, we find that in Pennsylvania- People...

Hi all. My 11 year old daughter has joined the girls chorus at her school. The chorus just decided its name will be "Las Chicas de Moda." My daughter doesn't like the name. She wanted it to be "Voces Scholasticae" (Latin for School Voices). Question: does this name sound inapproriate? To me it sounds slutty. I've told her teacher we don't like the name but they are pretty much saying it's a done deal (the first concert just happened). Any thoughts/comments/suggestions/linguistic or cultural analysis of "Las Chicas de Moda" would be great!

Controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., is no stranger to hardball tactics, so he probably isn't fazed by being on the receiving end of rough politics. Still, that doesn't excuse the Obama administration's apparent ideological vendetta against him. By the (il)logic of the administration and its allies at the American Civil Liberties Union, Sheriff Arpaio should not set up a phone tip line to search for immigration violators, and he is not allowed to tell the public about federal immigration enforcement policies even if he is merely disputing demonstrable falsehoods told about him; yet the Justice Department can...

The SEIU needs more dues-paying members. The open-borders lobby needs something to do. Voila! Meet the new illegal alien shamnesty push ... The bill would torpedo the joint federal-local deportation program known as 287(g) and opposes beefing up our land borders with more Border Patrol agents or fencing. SEIU has been lobbying for illegal alien amnesty as a massive membership booster all year. In May, the Purple Shirts held a pro-illegal immigration rally from Malcolm X Park to the White House to put pressure on homeland security officials to call off workplace raids (not that Janet Napolitano needed any convincing):

The on-again, off-again drive to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws moved back to Congress on Tuesday with the introduction of legislation that would open a path to legal status for millions of illegal immigrants. The bill, introduced by Representative Luis V. Gutierrez, Democrat of Illinois, was seen as the opening volley in what Democrats and Republicans expect to be a hard-fought battle. President Obama has pledged to take up the issue early next year; efforts to overhaul the laws during George W. Bush’s presidency failed despite the backing of Mr. Bush and some Republicans. Mr. Gutierrez, one of Mr. Obama’s...

Faced with persistent questions from a leading Republican senator, Stephanie Villafuerte on Monday withdrew her name from consideration to become Colorado's next U.S. attorney...two days after Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked that consideration of her nomination be delayed because her record is "incomplete." The controversy has its roots in a 2002 plea deal extended by the office of then-Denver District Attorney Ritter. Walter Noel Ramo, a small- time heroin dealer and illegal immigrant with multiple aliases, was permitted to plead guilty to the manufactured charge of agricultural trespass, rather than a...

Colo. Court: Immigrants Records Illegally Searched THE ASSOCIATED PRESS December 14, 2009 DENVER (AP) -- The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday that Weld County authorities violated the Fourth Amendment and privacy rights of suspected illegal immigrants when they used tax returns to potentially build hundreds of identity theft cases against them. The ruling affirmed a decision by a Weld County district judge who suppressed evidence against one of the defendants. That judge said authorities had no probable cause to search the man's tax returns and that the documents are confidential. The defendant was one of more than 70 people charged...

In the largest such operation in U.S. history, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 286 foreign nationals in California with criminal records in a three-day enforcement surge that ended Thursday night. Of those taken into custody, 119 were from Northern California and 24 were from the San Jose area. ICE reported that about 80 percent of the immigrants taken into custody had prior convictions for serious or violent crimes such as rape, armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. Also arrested were 30 convicted sex offenders, many of whom had been convicted of sexual assaults on children. At...

Latinos...are more likely than other young people to drop out of school and live in poverty, according to a new Pew Hispanic Center study. The study, based on a survey of more than 1,200 Latinos ages 16 to 25, presents a portrait of the assimilation of a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population, one that will have a significant effect on the nation's politics and economics in coming years. Young Latinos make up 18% of all young people in the nation and 42% in California. About one-third of young Latinos are immigrants, but two-thirds are born in the U.S....

WASHINGTON – California and other financially strapped states will lose tens of millions of federal dollars that they spend to jail illegal immigrants charged with crimes, under Congress' latest spending bill. The $1.1 trillion plan, finalized by House and Senate negotiators Tuesday night, combines six of the large yearly appropriations bills passed by Congress to keep the government running. State officials and members of the California congressional delegation had lobbied hard once again to increase aid to the states for the program, hoping to cash in on California's increased clout in Washington this year. But their efforts fell flat, with...

Millions of undocumented people in the U.S. should be given a path to legal status after the country finds a way to stop illegal immigration, business and government leaders said in a report Wednesday. The University of Denver report argues that legalizing as many of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants as possible could strengthen the economy and national security. But it should come with conditions, such as requiring new immigrants to learn English, pass criminal and medical background checks, and pay any taxes that they owe, the document states. The report is the product of a year of discussions...

WALNUT CREEK — More than 40 employees at the downtown Target store quit their jobs after an internal probe raised suspicions about their immigration status, according to lawyers who have met with the workers. Managers summoned the overnight crew of the North Main Street department store to meetings last month and gave workers the chance to prove their eligibility to work in the United States by bringing in the proper documents, the lawyers and Target representatives say. Most of the questioned workers voluntarily resigned, Target spokeswoman Kate Gillen said. The Minnesota-based retailer would not say how many workers left the...

American college prof develops cell-phone tool to help illegals cross borderIllegal aliens crossing the U.S.-Mexico border now have a cell phone tool to chart the best route, find food and locate people who will help them enter the country – courtesy of a professor at a state-funded university. Ricardo Dominguez, a University of California, San Diego tenured visual arts professor and activist, designed the Transborder Immigrant Tool, an application much like a global-positioning system used in cars, to help illegals find the best locations for food, water and groups to assist them as they sneak into America. Dominguez is also...

Tucson, Ariz. (AP) -- A judge has threatened to sentence an Arizona man to 25 days in prison for leaving jugs of water in the desert for illegal immigrants. A federal jury in June convicted Walt Staton of Tucson of littering in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. . . . Staton is a member of the group No More Deaths, which supports humanitarian aid along the border. He was scheduled to be re-sentenced Friday after he told a U.S. magistrate last month that he objected to the court's punishment on moral and legal grounds.

Should DES workers be arrested if they fail to report illegal immigrants? Yes, No, Undecided.

A political organization that opposes illegal immigration announced Thursday that it will no longer support commentator and former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs. After being a vocal critic of proposals for federal amnesty for illegal immigrants, Dobbs appeared to soften his stance late last month in an interview with Telemundo, a Spanish-language television network. Dobbs told Telemundo he is one of the Latino community's "greatest friends." "What isn't working is a penalty to those who are in this country illegally for whom we can both be building a bridge to the future in which there is legalization and at the same...

"LAMBERTVILLE: Restaurant owner jailed on attempted homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault and other charges" 14 May 2009 | Uncategorized LAMBERTVILLE — SNIPPET: "Khalid Altawarh, 36, who also goes by the name David Shookby, took the woman’s Jeep Wrangler and fled the scene when she escaped into the arms of a friend who had stopped by to see if she was all right. She had failed to show up for work that morning, May 8, police said. Plumstead Township, Pa., police Chief Duane E. Hasenauer said Mr. Altawarh has been charged with attempted homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault and other related...

Updates in the BARNETT v OBAMA case in Judge Carter's court: Request for investigation of misconduct in legal proceedings, submission of perjured affidavits, submission of a letter to court by an attorney with improper purpose of covering up criminal activity and obstruction of justice, withholding evidence by attorneys, and US attorneys acting under conflict of interest From 11.11.09. to 11.22.09. I had the honor to be a delegate at the Continental Congress 2009. One of the guest speakers for the Continental Congress was a former Immigration officer and currently a private investigator in CO, Mr. John Samson. I have stated...

Sarah addresses amnesty, Huckabee and other issues! Enjoy "No I am not for amnesty. Called Illegal for a reason. If they are not going to follow the rules they need to get out."

Sarah Palin made her position on illegal immigration known tonight in an radio interview with Rusty Humphries show. At the 11.00min mark in the interview Gov Palin states that we need to close the Southern border. She said that they are called illegal for a reason and if they can not follow the rules they do not need to be in this country.

The city of Denver may consider doing random checks on the immigration status of contract workers after a construction company was found to have used more than a dozen illegal immigrants to work on city projects. After being alerted by a constituent last summer, City Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz asked the auditor's office to check into Noraa Concrete Construction Corp. workers on a job in west Denver. The review found that 12 of the company's 25 employees on that project had invalid Social Security numbers. Auditor Dennis Gallagher's office found an additional 13 questionable Social Security numbers for Noraa employees on...

PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court refused late Wednesday to block enactment of a new state law that requires public employees to report illegal immigrants. Without ruling on the merits of the law, the justices said that the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, which had asked that the law be struck down as illegal, had not shown that the issue merited being taken directly to the state's high court. Ken Strobeck, executive director of the league, said he was "shocked and disappointed"' that the justices did not see fit to weigh in on the question, at least at this...

Having to carry a passport to fly out of the Sunport after the New Year is still weighing heavily on the minds of many New Mexicans. Because New Mexico issues driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, come Jan. 1, state licenses won't comply with the REAL ID law and won't be accepted at airports.

Two Houston charities that require proof of citizenship or legal residency before registering families for holiday toy drives said Tuesday their intentions have been misunderstood. Executive Assistant Fire Chief Rick Flanagan said people won't be turned away from a Dec. 23 giveaway even if they can't provide proof of their immigration status. “They ask,” Flanagan said of the Outreach Program Inc., which distributes toys collected by the Houston Fire Department. “If (people) don't have identification, they still get in. I wouldn't have the program if they didn't.” And the Salvation Army, which asks for a Social Security number when registering...

Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants could receive health care coverage from their employers under the bills winding their way through Congress, despite President Obama's explicit pledge that illegal immigrants would not benefit. The House bill mandates, and the Senate bill strongly encourages, businesses to extend health care coverage to all employees. But the bills do not have exemptions to screen out illegal immigrants, who usually obtain jobs by using false identities and are indistinguishable from legal workers.

A professor at the University of California, San Diego says he has developed a cell phone tool that aims to help Illegal immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Art professor and activist Ricardo Dominguez tells the North County Times on its Web site Saturday that the application he calls the Transborder Immigrant Tool uses global-positioning technology to chart the best route for dangerous desert crossings.

Dobbs Says He Now Backs Amnesty Wednesday, November 25, 2009 By: Dan Weil In a little-noticed interview last week, Lou Dobbs announced that he now supports amnesty for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States Since he left his job as a CNN commentator two weeks ago, Dobbs’ has been bandied about as a Senate candidate in New Jersey. And now he is indicating that he might run for president. But Dobbs became famous for his strong views on illegal immigration and foreign trade. Now that he’s a would-be politician, those views appear to be softening....

Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, the illegal immigration opponent with possible presidential aspirations, is stunning many today as he recasts himself as a champion of Hispanic immigrants, now looking to legalize millions of illegal workers in the United States. Despite his long-held opposition to "amnesty," Dobbs now actually supports a plan to legalize undocumented workers. "Whatever you have thought of me in the past, I can tell you right now that I am one of your greatest friends and I mean for us to work together," he told Maria Celeste of the Spanish-language network Telemundo. (Click here for video of...

Immigration: For illegal immigrants, the good times are back. Workplace raids have been halved, and easily fudged paperwork audits are up. Make no mistake, this is a politically driven precursor to amnesty. How times change. In 2007, an outraged public made itself heard to politicians by saying "enough" to policies that produced 12 million illegals in the U.S. It sank the bipartisan 2007 immigration bill, dismissing it as "amnesty," and demanded enforcement of the law. The result rocked the country. Arrests picked up, and President Bush took on the politically tough task of telling immigrants that reform was off the...

U.S. immigration officials put an unprecedented 1,000 businesses — including 42 in the Houston metro area — on notice Thursday that their paperwork would be inspected to make sure they don't employ illegal immigrants. The announcement marks the largest round of immigration-related business audits ever, and the latest in an ongoing Department of Home­land Security campaign to create a “culture of compliance” with immigration law among employers, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary John Morton said Thursday. The audits will target businesses ICE has identified as being associated with the nation's “critical infrastructure,” which includes some industries key to...

There is a battle brewing in California, should we count only those who are citizens, or should we count everyone that resides inside of the Glden State. So ponder this. When we take the census in 2010 should we be counting everybody or just U.S. citizens? There are non-citizens and illegal aliens in this country. What have we done in the past and why is it important? First of all just in California if we excluded counting non-citizens we would lose 5 House seats in Congress. Exclude counting illegal immigrants we would lose an additional 2 seats. In 1990 California...

We are beginning to see way too many echoes of the 1930s, as national socialist and Marxian socialist thugs try to drive competing political views off the streets. The worst offenders so far have been the Service Employees' International Union, which has repeatedly sent its members out into the streets to beat up anyone who isn't toeing the Obama line on issues like socialized medicine. (Video at link)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats and Republicans in Congress are working together to craft an immigration reform bill that could become law as early as next year, a senior White House adviser said on Sunday. That legislation could create a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States, David Axelrod, senior advisory to President Barak Obama, told CNN's State of the Union with John King. "I think some good work is being done on both sides of the aisle to achieve that," Axelrod said, referring to the partisan divide on Capitol Hill.

The Episcopal Church is joining the Interfaith Immigration Coalition postcard campaign, aimed at sending a holiday message to members of the U.S. Congress. The message: "Help keep immigrant families together by supporting comprehensive immigration reform now." An action alert from the Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN) said its goal is to collect 10,000 signed postcards "and send a strong message to Congress that people of faith want to see action on comprehensive immigration reform." "Your participation in the Holiday Postcard campaign will help us remind Members of Congress that our broken immigration system is hurting immigrant families, and needs to...

WASHINGTON – Steve Gándola, president and chief executive officer of the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, wants to count all Latinos in the 2010 census, including millions of noncitizens. Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter wants only legal citizens included in the official count. And the Rev. Miguel Rivera, who heads the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, wants illegal Latino immigrants to boycott the U.S. census as a way to show their displeasure with Congress' refusal to overhaul national immigration laws. His motto: "No legalization, no enumeration." With the largest Latino population in the nation, California has a...

America died by willing suicide, like a giant Jonestown. The people followed the yellow brick road to the wizard of Oz, who, secretly, was the king wearing new clothes no-one could see through though they were invisible. He swallowed them up in a mist of delusion and before they knew it, the The Pretender became top of the world, Ma. That was when the USA died, willingly, without a media whimper. The media love to eat themselves sick on Obamasugar. And it would be nice to moan about the stupidity of the people. Yes, many were stupid, but there is...

Federal program checks fingerprints of local crime suspects D.C. police will be the next department to take part in a federal program whose ultimate aim is to check the immigration status of every person booked into a local jail, homeland security officials announced Thursday. The program, known as Secure Communities, matches inmates' fingerprints against a federal database so that federal authorities can identify and possibly remove deportable illegal immigrants before they are released from custody. Similar checks are done at all 1,200 federal and state prisons. But authorities have lacked the ability to do them across the nation's 3,100 local...

The Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force just released a report which claims that due to tougher laws and a concerted effort by law enforcement, many illegal alien gangs are leaving Virginia for the safe havens of Maryland. The report said: "Many gang members from Northern Virginia are moving or driving to Prince George's and other Maryland counties, into the District of Columbia or further south and west into Virginia to avoid dealing with police departments that are unrelenting in their efforts to keep gangs under control.” The report also found that there are 5,000 gang members in Northern Va.,...

HOUSTON | While Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Phoenix gets all the media attention for his crackdown on illegal immigrants, eight deputies in an unremarkable office at the Harris County Jail are posting similar numbers for deportation -- and doing so without controversy. Working two per shift, the deputies refer roughly 1,000 suspected illegal immigrants to federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities every month, helping to make the Southern District of Texas by far the busiest in the nation for illegal-immigration prosecutions. Since joining a federal program in August 2008 that trains local law authorities to enforce immigration law, the...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday was successful in overriding Mayor Gavin Newsom's veto of legislation changing the sanctuary city ordinance. Newsom, who said the ordinance conflicts with federal law, said through his spokesman that he would ignore the legislation - prompting the legislation's author to threaten a legal challenge to the mayor. The new law takes effect in 30 days, and Supervisor David Campos said the board may fight the mayor in court if no compromise can be struck. Campos' ordinance - which garnered eight votes Tuesday - requires that undocumented juveniles be turned...

Immigrant advocates filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of a Salvadoran woman who was detained by Frederick County sheriff's deputies in a case they say illustrates the problems with a federal program that has deputized dozens of state and local police departments to catch illegal immigrants. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, alleges that Roxana Orellana Santos, now 29, was eating lunch alone near Buckeystown Pike in Frederick on Oct. 7, 2008, when two deputies approached her, asked for identification, then detained her and turned her over to immigration authorities for possible deportation. Orellana...

San Francisco supervisors' effort to shield immigrant youths from deportation when they're arrested on felony charges comes to a head today when the board votes on an override of Mayor Gavin Newsom's veto - a vote Newsom says he'll disregard because the ordinance would violate federal law. Supervisor David Campos' legislation has enough votes to pass. At that point, San Francisco will be at the center of a simmering nationwide legal debate over state and local government authority to depart from federal immigration policy, said Jayashri Srikantiah, a Stanford law professor and director of the school's Immigrants' Rights Clinic. At...

Lou Dobbs does his research

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- With just 300 or so Muslims in all of Nicaragua, it became an instant mystery here when a big new mosque suddenly seemed to spring up recently in a residential neighborhood. Like, who paid for it?

MUCH OF the criticism of the health-care measure before the House of Representatives is overwrought. Another part is simply wrong. Unfortunately, that does not mean that this is a good bill. As we have said, it does not do enough to control costs, and it is not funded in a sustainable way... As an example of the hyperbole, take the ludicrous assertion by Minority Leader John A. Boehner that the Democratic measure "is the greatest threat to freedom that I've seen in the 19 years I've been in Washington." Come on. The proposal has been endorsed by the American Medical...

Italians reacted with outrage on Tuesday after a European court ruled that displaying crucifixes in the country's schools violated the principle of secular education. Italy's education minister condemned the judgment by the European Court of Human Rights, saying that the Christian cross was a symbol of the country's Roman Catholic religion and cultural identity. Mariastella Gelmini, a member of the conservative government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, argued that "no one, and certainly not an ideological European court, will succeed in erasing our identity," Other ministers said they were appalled by the ruling, calling it "absurd," "shameful" and "offensive." Generations...

Sources: FBI Investigating Joe Arpaio Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Actions 'Absolutely Unacceptable,' Former US Attorney Says POSTED: 5:58 pm MST October 29, 2009 UPDATED: 12:12 pm MST October 30, 2009 PHOENIX -- The FBI is looking into accusations that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is using his position to settle political vendettas. Watch: Sheriff Joe Arpaio Abuses Power, Sources Claim Over the past year, 5 Investigates examined more than two dozen complaints against the sheriff from business owners, government workers, mayors and law-enforcement officials.They claim they spoke out against Arpaio, and shortly after, deputies paid them unwelcome visits. Mayor:...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A new charge has been issued against a man police describe as a suspected serial rapist. Mauricio Morales is already in jail and charged with raping two Nashville women in separate cases. Metro police believe Morales is the man behind the rape of a 10-year-old girl in her own South Nashville home near Old Hickory Boulevard and Nolensville Pike. The alleged incident happened back in April. Crime Scene investigators collected evidence from her room and the TBI crime lab determined the DNA matched Mauricio Morales. A Grand Jury indicted him Friday on the new charges. Morales had...