Free Republic

Linval Lindsay, a Jamaican immigrant, teared up when he finally became a naturalized American citizen Monday — decades after serving in the United States Army. Immediately following the New York City naturalization ceremony, which was broadcast live on Fox News, Lindsay spoke with “Fox & Friends” host Ainsley Earhardt. “I was drafted more than 50 years ago. Served in, went up to Greenland. Went up to Greenland twice. I came back. The Army has been my, one of the best two years of my life, really,” Lindsay replied. “My mother cried, I’m so happy she cried. Today I’m happy.” Earhardt...

In early May, I traveled to McAllen, Texas, to speak with U.S. Border Patrol about the current immigration crisis. It was a humid, overcast morning and Chris Cabrera, the agency’s spokesperson, stood on the banks of the Rio Grande as he explained the challenges posed by the current wave of migrants entering the country illegally, most of whom are refugees fleeing deadly violence and institutional failure in Central America. “You have a lot of women and children that are coming here. I’ve seen groups of 20, 25 people that are all women, or all girls, age 15 and below.” Cabrera...

Earlier this week we looked at the growing chorus on the left seeking to make the idea of abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a platform plank for the Democrats in 2018 and 2020. This relatively fringe idea has been rapidly picking up steam in the commentariat, even though they haven’t been able to convince potential POTUS candidates like Kamala Harris to endorse it. The clarion calls to excise ICE from the executive corpus have rung especially clear of late. First, an essay by Sean McElwee in the Nation last week probed whether “an unaccountable strike force executing a campaign...

California State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Léon (D-Los Angeles) is quite a piece of work. He introduced a bill into the California State Senate that would make California a sanctuary state. He is the author of the bill: SB54, authored by Senate pro Tem Kevin De Léon (D-Los Angeles) and Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), is scheduled to be heard in the State Senate’s Public Safety Committee this morning. According to Senator De Léon’s website, SB54 (along with two other bills designed to provide state funds for legal defense for anyone ordered deported) is to be known as “Protecting...

Last Tuesday, Infosys Ltd announced that the Department of Labor (DOL) had closed its investigation into whether the company had broken the law when Southern California Edison laid off about 500 American technology workers and replaced them with H-1B visa holders from the Indian software exporters TCS and Infosys. (Reuters, Sept. 8, 2015; The Economic Times, Sept. 8, 2015) The investigation was spurred by an April bipartisan letter from 10 Senators calling for the Obama administration to look into potential wrongdoing. (The Hill, Apr. 9, 2015; see Senators’ Letter, Apr. 9, 2015). However, the Labor Department cleared Infosys of all wrongdoing because the...

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau—published in recognition of “World Population Day,” which was July 11—predicts that 1.24 million new immigrants will enter the United States in 2015.

Los inmigrantes indocumentados que califiquen para los alivios migratorios otorgados por el Presidente Barack Obama podrán reclamar reembolsos retroactivos por créditos fiscales a los que no calificaban mientras estaban trabajando sin un número de seguro social válido. Uno de esos es el Crédito Tributario por Ingreso del Trabajo (EITC) que puede ser de hasta $6,000. "El programa (de alivios migratorios) te permite reclamar el EITC", dijo el martes John Koskine, comisionado del Servicio de Recaudación de Rentas (IRS) ante el Comité de Finanzas del Senado.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio called details of President Obama's leaked immigration proposal "half-baked" on Saturday and predicted that the measure would be "dead on arrival in Congress." Rubio, who is spending this week in the Middle East, was responding to a story published online Saturday by USA Today which revealed that the draft bill would allow illegal immigrants in the U.S. to apply for newly created "Lawful Prospective Immigrant" visas. The bill would also provide more security funding and require that businesses verify the immigration status of new hires within four years, according to the report. “It’s a mistake for...

Republican lawmakers on Tuesday stalled a Senate measure to allow children of undocumented immigrants to get on a path to citizenship, and accused the Obama administration of seeking amnesty for illegal immigrants through administrative changes within the Department of Homeland Security. The Dream Act, which would grant permanent residency to immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and who have completed some time in college or in the armed forces has been a sought-after goal for Democrats, who attached the measure to an important defense spending bill. Republicans used a procedural vote to block the bill. Immigration...

Yesterday Janet Napolitano completed the inept gang when she admitted she hadn't read the new Arizona Immigration law but was against it anyway. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano admits she hasn't read the Arizona immigration law, but passed judgment on it anyway. "That's not the kind of law I would have signed," she declared. "I believe it's a bad law enforcement law. I believe it mandates and requires local enforcement and puts them in a position many do not want to be placed in," Napolitano said. Barack Obama did not hesitate to weigh in when asked. President Obama...

It was just one skirmish, but it plainly exposed Congress' and President Obama's dereliction of duty in failing to seal our southern border against a direct threat to the peace and security of our nation: drug smugglers. Last Friday afternoon, Pinal County, Ariz., Deputy Sheriff Louie Puroll was patrolling a patch of desert when he picked up the trail of five smugglers bringing marijuana north from Mexico. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Brabeu later explained what happened to Greta Van Susteren of Fox News. "This is a known corridor for smuggling not only drugs but illegals," Brabeu said. "And so he...

DREAMs and CA Budget Cuts Bethany Stotts, February 2, 2010 The budget cuts—and tuition hikes—in University of California system have been hard on students there, prompting student protests and the mantra, “get more, pay less.” “We’re paying more and getting less,” Associated Press reporter Donna Gordon Blankenship quotes student “Steve Dixon, a Humboldt State University senior who heads the California State Students Association” in her February 1 article on tuition hikes across the country. According to Blankenship, “At the University of California, which has 10 campuses and about 220,000 students, in-state undergraduate fees in fall 2010 are set to reach...

*Unconfirmed Reports of three killed* 1:02 a.m. June 14, 2008 CAMPO – At least three people were hit by gunfire Friday night on the Mexican side of the border near Campo, authorities said. The California Highway Patrol said several shooting victims came across the border. The shootings occurred some time after 10 p.m. A Heartland fire dispatcher said he knew of three victims, but that the Border Patrol had said there were more. The dispatcher said he did not know if anyone was killed. Border Patrol officials were unavailable to comment on what occurred. Ambulances were sent to state Route...

District Attorney Scott Storey of Jefferson County, Colorado is one busy lawman. The local housing market is chock full of mortgage fraud varmints. One particularly pesky ring, operating for roughly 5 years, recruited hundreds of illegal immigrants to act as “straw buyers,” the lowest players in the mortgage fraud game. Ringmasters were mortgage brokers, realtors, and loan officers in local banks. Straw buyers were supplied with stolen identities, including drivers licenses, social security cards, and income tax returns. Some were given green cards of legal immigrants. What couldn’t be stolen was forged. False docs in hand, straw buyers obtained mortgage...

TITLE: "Mexican Consulates (in USA) Refuse to Grant Visas to Central American Undocumented Immigrants" By Paula Diaz Diaro Hoy (213-237-4582) pdiaz@hoyllc.com 11 of September, 2007 (TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH FROM SPANISH FOR FREEPERS. From the Original "Consulados de México niegan visas a centroamericanos indocumentados") Los Angeles -- The Consulates of Honduras and Guatemala have expressed their concern about the problems that face undocumented immigrants from Central America, in the United States, when they wish to try to transit back through Mexico to go back to lands of their origin and return home. The Central American diplomats said that the Consulates...

New Haven, CT - A program approved last month by the Board of Aldermen for the city of New Haven, Connecticut, will officially go into effect July 25, when thousands of local undocumented immigrants are issued legitimate U.S. identification cards. The program, approved by a 25-1 vote, runs contrary to a growing national trend in which localities are attempting to curb illegal immigration through punitive measures, such as arrest, deportation and exclusion from public services. The program is believed to be the first of it's kind in the nation. The ID cards will be issued in an attempt to curb...

Mexican President Vicente Fox is expected to arrive in California today, hoping to shore up his argument that Mexico's strong economic ties to the United States make it a natural partner in solving the conundrum of illegal immigration. Fox is scheduled to speak before the state Legislature today and to meet privately with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez. On Friday his itinerary includes addressing the California Chamber of Commerce and Latino business leaders before he flies to Los Angeles. Mexico is California's No. 1 trading partner, "so a growing Mexican economy is also good for California," Schwarzenegger...

(CNN) -- The following is a sampling of reaction to President Bush's speech on immigration Monday night in which he proposed deploying National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican: Rohrabacher, a leading immigration critic in the House, said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that he was "very disappointed" by the speech. "He's playing these word games about massive deportations again, which no one is advocating and does not do anything to further an honest debate," said Rohrabacher, who also took issue with Bush's distinction between a legalization process for illegal immigrants and amnesty.

The high-top sneakers cost $215 at a San Diego boutique, but the designer is giving them away to migrants before they cross to this side of the U.S.-Mexico border. These are no ordinary shoes. A compass and flashlight dangle from one shoelace. The pocket in the tongue is for money or pain relievers. A rough map of the border region is printed on a removable insole. They are red, white and green, the colors of the Mexican flag. On the back ankle, a drawing of Mexico's patron saint of migrants. On this side of the border, the shoes sit in...

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has postponed a planned visit to Canada, after rioting that began outside Paris last week spread through the city's largely Muslim-inhabited suburbs. Mr. de Villepin told lawmakers Wednesday the government is fully mobilized and that he is indefinitely postponing his planned trip. Interior Minister Nikolas Sarkozy also canceled scheduled visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan next week. Earlier, President Jacques Chirac called for calm and measures to bring the riots under control. French police today said they detained 34 people in the sixth consecutive night of rioting. Rioters torched cars and clashed with police who...