Free Republic

 A humanitarian tragedy at the U.S.-Mexican border took a weirdly comic turn in Grand Island on Friday, as federal officials showed up at what they thought was a vacant hotel that might be able to house children who entered the country illegally – only to discover the fully occupied and recently renamed Byblos Niagara Resort and Spa. The federal agents arrived unannounced at about 10 a.m. to inspect the 263-room property for possible use as housing for some of the 52,000 unaccompanied minors who have been apprehended at the southern border this year. “They were thinking the hotel was abandoned...

On January 29, 2014, the Federal Government posted an ad on their BizOpps website seeking escorts for unaccompanied illegal alien children. If this doesn't prove that the entire mess with all the illegals flooding our country was planned by this administration, nothing ever will. Here is the entire document that lays out the "requirements" to become such an escort: (I have highlighted interesting points) MAKE THIS GO VIRAL!!! Procurement Type: Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought Title: Escort Services for Unaccompanied Alien Children Classification Code: V- Transportation/Travel/Relocation NAICS code: 561612 Primary POC: Rachel Ali, Contract Specialist/ Rachel.Ali@ice.dhs.gov Secondary POC: Tony...

New York state Senator Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx) introduced a bill on June 16 to create a special status allowing aliens who are not in the United States legally under federal law to enjoy certain privileges by virtue of being “New York State Citizens.” The right to vote is among many rights and privileges usually reserved for citizens (or at least legal residents) that S. 7879, “The New York Is Home Act,” extends to state residents who are in the United States illegally. Rep. Karim Camara introduced a companion bill, A10129, in the state assembly. The act states that it “extends...

New York state Sen. Guestavo Rivera wants to pass legislation to give illegal immigrants the right to vote in local and state elections, Reuters reports. In terms of the broad benefits available to non-citizens, this bill is the first of its kind in America. The main objective of the New York Is Home Act, according to Rivera, is to integrate illegal immigrants, who are estranged from participation in civic, economic and political life. The legislation not only gives illegal immigrants the right to vote, but establishes a kind of second-tiered citizenship on a state level, in which illegal immigrants can apply for tuition...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is welcoming members of Congress and their senior staff to tour a temporary shelter being used to house illegal immigrant children — but the invite comes with a list of rules, including a suggestion that members leave their cellphones in their vehicles. The 40-minute tour will take place Friday at the Ventura County Naval Base in Oxnard, Calif., according to the email invitation, obtained by The Daily Caller. The tours are meant to give members and staffers an inside look at how temporary facilities are being used to house illegal immigrant children...

A day after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) lost his primary after Dave Brat hammered him on amnesty, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) embraced "immigration reform" on a conference call with Michael Bloomberg's pro-amnesty group and Grover Norquist.

An organization of former Border Patrol agents Wednesday charged that the federal government, under the administration of President Obama, is deliberately arranging for a flood of immigrant children to arrive in America for political purposes. “This is not a humanitarian crisis. It is a predictable, orchestrated and contrived assault on the compassionate side of Americans by her political leaders that knowingly puts minor illegal alien children at risk for purely political purposes,” said the statement released by officials with the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers. “Certainly, we are not gullible enough to believe that thousands of unaccompanied minor...

A White House official said the GOP’s refusal to back the unpopular Democrat-drafted Senate immigration bill has caused the wave of young illegal immigrants that are sweeping over America’s border with Mexico. The child migration is a symptom of the nation’s broken immigration system, the official said, and the responsibility for not fixing it “lies at the feet of the U.S. Congress,” the official said in a June 9 press call with reporters. The two White House officials on the call asked that they not be identified by name. The administration’s secrecy is important, because officials have been trying to...

HOUSTON, Texas — Breitbart Texas obtained internal federal government photos depicting the conditions of foreign children warehoused by authorities on U.S. soil on Wednesday night. Thousands of illegal immigrants have overrun U.S. border security and their processing centers in Texas along the U.S./Mexico border. Unaccompanied minors, including young girls under the age of 12, are making the dangerous journey from Central America and Mexico, through cartel-controlled territories, and across the porous border onto U.S. soil. The photos illuminate the conditions of the U.S. Border Patrol’s processing centers, as well as the overwhelming task Border Patrol is facing. Breitbart Texas Border...

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday established an interagency group to handle the large and growing influx of children streaming into the United States illegally and without parents or relatives accompanying them. In a memo that describes an "urgent humanitarian situation," Obama has put the Federal Emergency Management Agency in charge of coordinating humanitarian relief to the children, including housing, care, medical treatment and transportation. The Obama administration estimates that around 60,000 "unaccompanied minors" - children under 18 years - will enter the United States illegally this year. It projects that number to grow to nearly 130,000 next year.

LAS VEGAS -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is calling for the House of Representatives to vote on an immigration reform bill, which he says will strengthening the U.S. southern border, wipe out a trillion dollars of debt, and modernize an antiquated immigration system.The senator made the announcement during a news conference Tuesday. He was joined by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the Latin Chamber of Commerce, the Urban Chamber of Commerce and other business and tourism leaders.Senator Reid pointed to immigration reform being critical to the future of the nation's economy and specifically to the economies of...

Via the Right Scoop, Reid floated this deadline on Friday too. Dick Durbin, another member of the leadership, has also been talking it up. The clock starts on June 10th, when most Republican primaries will be over and the party will once again be free to betray its conservative supporters, and ends when Congress leaves town for the August recess. If Boehner hasn’t passed a bill by then, Obama’s going to do something on deportations — probably something marginal and gestural, just to show lefties that he cares, but one never knows with a guy who’s gotten as comfortable...

Several U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) sector have reportedly contracted scabies from contact with detained illegal immigrants. According to a report by Action 4 News, about 10-15 percent of apprehended illegal immigrants have scabies in the RVG area. "A lot of people [are] coming in with the disease, and it seems to be spreading, not just within the McAllen station, but throughout the Valley and to some of our agents," Chris Cabrera, a spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council, told the local media outlet. Zack Taylor, Chairman of the National Association of Former Border...

For the second time in six months, a group of pro-immigration protesters stormed inside the private northern Virginia residence of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. About two dozen activists from a group called Casa de Virginia appeared at the Cantor’s condo complex in Arlington at about 8 p.m. Thursday. One distracted the complex's front desk clerk long enough to allow the rest to stream into the lobby area. Once inside, they attempted to distribute fliers to residents accusing Cantor of being “the one man blocking immigration reform.” They also loudly chanted, according to residents. At least one protester shouted...

Immigration reform might not pass Congress if Democrats can’t hold their ground in the midterm elections this fall, President Obama told a Democratic fundraiser Thursday night in Chicago. “Think about what’s at stake right now. Think about it. If we do not hang on to the Senate and make gains in the House we may not get immigration reform done, which means we could have another three, four years in which we're being deprived of talent we're training here in the United States — they go back home and start businesses someplace else,” Obama said. The president’s comments suggest that...

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) gave House Republicans six weeks to pass amnesty legislation before President Barack Obama starts to use executive actions to ease deportations and change immigration laws. “We’ve waited 329 days, we’re willing to wait another six weeks,” Reid said, according to Politico. “But at the end of six weeks, if something hasn’t been done, then there’s gonna have to be a move made. And it’s too bad we have to do that, because we all know things can be done administratively, but it’s better to change the law.”...

(CBS SF) — The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office will no longer honor requests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold suspected undocumented immigrants in jail who would otherwise be eligible for release, joining a growing wave of backlash against the controversial policy. In a memo Wednesday, sheriff’s Capt. Colby Staysa ordered that any inmates held in Alameda County jails who were not being otherwise held for further criminal proceedings be immediately released, and to no longer accept immigration detainer requests from ICE.

With border authorities in South Texas overwhelmed by a surge of young illegal migrants traveling by themselves,...and moved to set up an emergency shelter for the youths at an Air Force base in San Antonio, officials said Friday. After seeing children packed in a Border Patrol station in McAllen, Tex., during a visit last Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Monday declared “a level-four condition of readiness” in the Rio Grande Valley... On Sunday, Department of Health and Human Services officials will open a shelter for up to 1,000 minors at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, authorities said,...

Updated 5:11 p.m. | House Republican leaders are mum on a timetable for advancing immigration overhaul legislation and have so far been noncommittal on moving on the issue before the end of the 113th Congress. But a group of mayors and business leaders from across the political spectrum is determined to prove that momentum is growing for a rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws — even among conservatives. The coalition, Partnership for a New American Economy, on Wednesday held the first in a series of monthly conference calls moderated by Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist and featuring public...

Breitbart Texas recently reported on the release of 36,000 convicted criminal illegal immigrants, including almost 200 murderers, who were released back into the U.S. by immigration officials in 2013. The figures were outlined in a report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). Breitbart Texas subsequently reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices around the country, in an attempt to learn more about release policies. Each ICE representative that Breitbart Texas came in contact with was familiar with the CIS report, but would not comment on it. They additionally refused to answer general questions regarding detention and release...