Free Republic

PERRY — For the 1,500-mile ride from Houston to Los Angeles last October, the 12 illegal immigrants had been crammed into a 2004 black Suburban with their driver and another man.Some sat in the very back, where there were no seats. One later acknowledged he paid $400 for his spot. Their trip ended not in sunny California but in northern Oklahoma when the driver fell asleep on Interstate 35 the morning of Oct. 21. The Suburban rolled over one-and-a-half times inside the median and ended up on its top about a mile south of Perry, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported....

For all the talk in Washington about border security, the one agency charged with providing it isn't sharing a wealth of details. So a group of volunteers -- called Secure Border Intelligence -- has stepped in, working around the clock in Arizona to keep a thorough record of the front lines of the border battle. Using tiny, motion-activated cameras hidden in the desert along known smuggling routes, the group captures images of illegal immigrants streaming into the U.S. Some carry water, others bundles of drugs slung across their shoulders. SBI also records conversations between Border Patrol pilots and agents on...

Dear Friends, I’m disappointed but not surprised by yesterday’s congressional testimony in which ICE Director John Morton acknowledged the Obama Administration released 2,228 illegal aliens from federal custody last month. Among those released, according to Director Morton, were at least 10 individuals classified among the highest-risk offenders. Others released included repeat drunken-driving offenders who, in addition to being in our country illegally, have exhibited behavior that places at-risk every Arizonan innocently sharing our roadways. Yesterday’s ICE testimony directly contradicts repeated assurances and explanations peddled by the Obama administration in the days after the mass release of illegal aliens became public...

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had no part in a decision by underlings to release low-risk illegal immigrant detainees as a way to save money before the sequestration and was surprised to learn about it, Napolitano told ABC News in an exclusive interview. "Detainee populations and how that is managed back and forth is really handled by career officials in the field," Napolitano said. Napolitano added that the release, which has been criticized by congressional Republicans, was poorly timed. "Do I wish that this all hadn't been done all of a sudden and so that people weren't surprised...

PHOENIX - A federal judge has blocked illegal immigrants in the new "deferred action" program from arguing in court that they are being "irreparably harmed" by the refusal of Gov. Jan Brewer to let them have Arizona driver's licenses. Judge David Campbell agreed to a request by the attorneys for the five individual plaintiffs in the lawsuit that they should not be questioned about how they obtained work or are driving. He said that issue is irrelevant to their legal claims that they are being denied equal rights, or that the directive issued by the governor denying them licenses is...

City in Nebraska Torn as Immigration Vote Nears By MONICA DAVEY June 17, 2010 FREMONT, Neb. — In this city of 25,000, far from any international border, the fight over illegal immigration has boiled over. This is ordinarily a serene place with polite politics and votes that sail through City Hall 8 to 0. But in a special election Monday, residents will decide whether to ban businesses from hiring illegal immigrants and bar landlords from renting to them. Residents demanded the vote, fighting off challenges by some of their elected leaders all the way to the State Supreme Court. The...

Los Angeles on Wednesday became the largest city yet to boycott Arizona over its tough new law targeting illegal immigration in a move that likely will affect some $8 million in contracts with the state.