Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The Trump White House no habla español. Well, un poquito. After a succession of administrations that embraced Spanish-language content, President Donald Trump's White House is all but ignoring Spanish speakers even though he has a robust online presence in English. His administration has yet to offer a Spanish White House website. It has eliminated the position of director of Hispanic media outreach. And its Spanish-language Twitter account is heavy with English text and features sloppy translations. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in January that the administration had its "IT folks working overtime" to roll out a...

“Human smuggling is a profitable enterprise for the cartels,” said Del Rio Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Matthew J. Hudak. “Border Patrol agents and law enforcement partners in Joint Targeting Teams search out such offenders. Our agency will continue to utilize a wide array of enforcement components to combat these trans-national criminal organizations at every level.” On Feb. 7, Border Patrol agents, assisted by officers from Maverick County Sheriff’s Office, located a house near the downtown region of Eagle Pass that was suspected of being used to temporarily harbor smuggled immigrants. As law enforcement officials approached, a man was...

The other day I needed to go to the emergency room. Not wanting to sit there for 4 hours, I put on my Magic Green Hat. When I went into the E.R., I noticed that 3/4 of the people got up and left. I guess they decided that they weren’t that sick after all. Cut at least 3 hours off my waiting time. It also works at DMV. It saved me 5 hours. At the Laundromat, three minutes after entering, I had my choice of any machine, most still running. If you live in Texas, it might cut your wait...

MEXICO CITY President Felipe Calderon decried Wednesday what he called "the growing harassment" of Mexicans in the United States and said his government will work to counter it by funding a media campaign to show migrant success stories. Mexican officials have expressed concern over a recent wave of immigration raids and a U.S. political climate perceived as anti-migrant. Calderon said U.S. presidential candidates were using migrants as "symbolic hostages" on the immigration issue. "I am especially worried about the growing harassment and frank persecution of Mexicans in the United States in recent days," Calderon said at a meeting of the...

The USCCB Committee on Migration sent a delegation to the U.S./Mexico border region to study the plight of unaccompanied minors and human trafficking victims. The ever-growing problems with these populations are some of the gravest and many times most overlooked symptoms of the broken and out-dated immigration system currently employed by the United States. The delegation met with a broad cross-section of agencies and individuals involved with or knowledgeable of these populations to gain critical insights and to understand their needs. The delegation also met with Church officials, government officials, community-based organization, and other with important perspectives. Programs established to...

EL PASO, Texas - The mayors of the Texan city of El Paso and the Mexican city of Juarez led a protest by dozens of people on Saturday against a planned border wall to stem illegal immigration into America. The protesters held hands across the Paso del Norte Bridge, which spans the Rio Grande and connects the downtown cores of the two cities. Resentment against the wall runs deep in the border areas of Texas. Landowners are concerned it may cut across their property, conservationists see it destroying crucial riverside habitat, and some activists see it inflaming ethnic tensions. El...

House conservatives are ready to stop the Senate immigration bill in its tracks with a potent procedural weapon should the contentious measure win passage in the upper chamber. The trump card conservatives may hold is a constitutional rule that revenue-related bills must originate in the House. The Senate immigration measure requires that illegal immigrants pay back taxes before becoming citizens, opening the door to a House protest, dubbed a “blue slip” for the color of its paper. House Republicans used the same back-taxes mandate for a blue-slip threat that derailed last year’s immigration conference. The new Senate bill still must...

From the link: California Sen. Dianne Feinstein says the public emotion surging around efforts to overhaul the nation's immigration policy is the greatest she has seen since her 1992 election. The Democrat said the topic hasn't translated into the 30,000-plus phone calls to her office that would mean "something is really going on" in the nation's most populous state, but the enthusiasm of opinion is fervent. ...She said most of the nearly 8,000 calls her office has fielded have been "very hostile and very negative" despite polls that show up to 80 percent of Californians support legalizing "undocumented workers." John...

Citing the “inhumane” handling of the Michael Bianco Inc. raid, U.S. Sen. John Kerry is proposing sweeping changes in immigration law that would dramatically alter enforcements like those at the New Bedford factory in March. Sen. Kerry’s amendment to a pending immigration bill calls for detainees to be held as close to home as possible and would force federal authorities to work with state social-service agencies. “We need safe borders and we need a sensible immigration policy,” Sen. Kerry said in a news release Wednesday. “But there is no place in our country for families being torn apart by reckless...

The Bush administration insisted on a little-noticed change in the bipartisan Senate immigration bill that would enable 12 million undocumented residents to avoid paying back taxes or associated fines to the Internal Revenue Service, officials said. An independent analyst estimated the decision could cost the IRS tens of billions of dollars. A provision requiring payment of back taxes had been in the initial version of a bill proposed by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat. But the administration called for the provision to be removed due to concern that it would be too difficult to figure out which illegal...

RALEIGH - Advocates of more rights for immigrant workers began a march in Raleigh this morning that will culminate in a religious service at noon at the state Capitol. About 200 people are expected to participate in the two-hour service, said Gail Phares, director of the Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America, which organized the march, now in its 21st year. Bishop F. Joseph Gossman, retired bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, and the Rev. Canon Michael Hunn of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina will be among the speakers. About 30 people began today’s march at...

The following document was obtained at SEIU union offices in Watsonville, CA Know Your Rights! If Immigration Cames To Your House Or Where You Work: If you're at work: Don't get nervous. If you're undocumented, don't run! It's better to remain calm; it might be possible to leave calmly the area that Immigration may be occupying. If you are a citizen/legal resident you can run to distract Immigration officers while your companions calmly leave the area. Tell Immigration you ran because you were afraid. If you're at home: DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR. It is your RIGHT to demand a...

QUETZALTENANGO, Guatemala -- Across Central America, growing numbers of impoverished children appear to be setting out for the United States on their own, risking robbery, rape and death as they try to sneak illegally through Mexico and across the U.S. border. Last year, 6,460 underage illegal immigrants from Central America were detained in the United States while traveling without their parents and sent to government shelters, a 35 percent increase over the previous year. Many others likely slipped in undetected.

Cingular Wireless has removed a ringtone listed for sale on its Web site called "La Migra" and apologized for its offensive nature. In it, a siren is heard, followed by a male voice that says in a southern accent: “Calmate, calmate, this is la migra. Por favor, put the oranges down and step away from the cell phone. I repeat-o, put the oranges down and step away from the telephone-o. I’m deporting you back home-o.” Walt Sharp, a spokesman for AT&T, part owner of Cingular, would not immediately comment on the product. “Let me do some inquiring,” he said after...

Washington, DC: President Bush made clear today that he thinks guest workers should be able to become American citizens. He stated, "I believe that we ought to say to somebody doing a job an American won't do, 'here is a tamper-proof identity card that will enable you to be here for a period of time. And if that person wants to become a citizen of the United States, because we're a nation of laws, they get at the end of the line, not the beginning of the line." Senator Kennedy issued the following statement in response: "I commend President Bush...

Expect more violence as officers move into more areas along the border, said the national chief of CBP Border Patrol during a Saturday visit to Laredo. Chief David Aguilar visited Laredo to address concerns raised by recent instances of violence against Border Patrol agents. He said assaults on agents in the Laredo sector are occurring at a record pace. As more agents get assigned to the border, the Border Patrol is taking control of areas that have been historically used by criminal gangs who are reluctant to give them up, Aguilar said. Danger to agents will continue to increase until...

Posted on Wed, Jun. 29, 2005 MEXICO Mexican migrants could vote from U.S. Mexican lawmakers approved absentee voting for millions of migrants living abroad. An estimated 11 million Mexicans live overseas, most in the United States. BY WILL WEISSERT Associated Press MEXICO CITY - Lawmakers overwhelming approved on Tuesday a law allowing millions of Mexicans living abroad to vote by mail in next year's presidential election -- a measure that could reshape the country's leadership race. To chants of ''Viva Mexico,'' the lower house of Congress passed an absentee voting proposal by a margin of 455 to 6 with six...

Growing up the son of traveling migrant farm workers, Fernando Beltran remembers what La Migra, the Border Patrol, meant to some of his parents co-workers. "Some of us younger ones would laugh at how quick the illegals would run off the fields at the sight of the agents," Beltran said. "But they would return to work the next day and so would the agents. It was like a cat and mouse game." But for Beltran the adult, the "cat and mouse" game represents something much different. Now 43, the Mexican-American is Field Operations Supervisor at a station in North Laredo...

NEW IPSWICH, N.H. -- W. Garrett Chamberlain, chief of police in this bucolic town near the Massachusetts border, was tired of having to release the undocumented immigrants his officers had picked up on routine stops, so he decided to do something about it: He would cite them for trespassing. A few weeks ago, one of Chamberlain's officers came upon Jorge Mora Ramirez, who was making a phone call from his car. Questioned by the officer, Ramirez, a 21-year-old who is Mexican, admitted he was in the country illegally, Chamberlain said. The chief called Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, but they...

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2005 11:10 a.m. EST Americans Lose $68 Billion to Illegals Using a new approach, Columbia University economists David Weinstein and Donald Davis estimate the net economic losses from immigration to Americans. Unlike earlier studies, this new model does not treat the movement of immigrant labor into the country simply as a result of abundant resources and demand for labor, assumptions more appropriate to the 19th century. Rather, the model takes into account globalization, the technological superiority of the American economy, and the resulting high standard of living. Among the report’s findings: -- In 2002, the net loss...