Free Republic

The violent late-night fight that ended with the death of a 23-year-old California woman might have been sparked by a photobomb, a source told the LA Times. According to a friend, Kim Pham accidentally walked right in front of a camera while another group was snapping photos outside of The Crosby lounge in Santa Ana on Saturday. A verbal argument erupted between Pham's friends and the other group, which quickly dissolved into a brawl as the young woman was pummeled into the ground. Pham did not survive the beating. She was declared brain dead and taken off life support Tuesday.

Outspoken conservative Ann Coulter says lawmakers' proposals for amnesty, school tuition and drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants must stop because "the country has not voted to turn itself into Mexico." "How many times do these Republicans have to try pushing amnesty and in-state tuition and drivers' licenses then, suddenly, they discover, oops, the dogs don't like it? They try to back pedal but no one trusts them anymore anyway because it is just such a God-awful idea." Coulter told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV. "We're a country. We are not a department store. We have to have some...

Complaints that immigration reform activists are harassing Republicans by sending children to confront House Speaker John Boehner at breakfast or singing protest songs at the Capitol tree lighting drew a sharp rebuke from Latino leaders Tuesday. “I understand it can be a little painful to be face-to-face with the consequences of your inaction and that’s what we are bringing to the doorstep of Congress and to their offices at the district level,” said Clarissa Martinez-De-Castro, an immigration expert at the National Council of La Raza. She said the tactics pale in comparison to a father not coming home after a...

In a little over half an hour, the White House will be hosting a live immigration question and answer session starring Vice President Biden and Cecilia Munoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. Most of you may know her as La Raza’s point-woman in the West Wing. Fortunately, the Federation of American Immigration Reform has been devising questions to ask of two of amnesty’s chief supporters in the Obama administration. Follow along at FAIR’s Twitter account, or direct your own questions towards the dynamic duo by using the hash tag #AskTheWhiteHouse.

Stung by conservative backlash earlier this year, Marco Rubio has spent months seemingly trying to convince skeptical fellow Republicans that he's more than just the Florida senator who championed comprehensive immigration reform. He joined the drive to defund President Barack Obama's health care law, though his voice grew softer as the resulting government shutdown and his party sank in polls. He then turned to championing social issues like legislative prayer. On Saturday, Rubio will deliver the keynote address at a fundraiser for the Florida Family Policy Council, an evangelical group that led the successful 2008 effort to ban gay marriage...

The state’s Latino population of 630,000 has soared by 92 percent since 2000, and 74 percent of Hispanic U.S. citizens in the state, about 214,000, are registered to vote. Of those, more than two-thirds identify themselves as Democratic — and about 71 percent voted for President Obama last year. .... Latinos are heavily involved in the gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Terry McAuliffe, both as campaign staffers and as volunteers in numerous counties and cities. McAuliffe, who supports immigration reform, is running Spanish-language ads on Univision and Telemundo TV and has created a “Latinos con Terry” steering committee with more than...

Latinos make up 17 percent of the one in six Americans who use food stamps. According to the National Council of La Raza, Latino families experience food insecurity at a higher rate than non-Hispanic white households (23 percent versus 11 percent). SNAP is often a significant buffer from hunger for children, helping to ensure proper growth and development, the group said. Nearly one in three Latino children in the U.S. lives in a household receiving SNAP, according to NCLR. .... On Friday, White House spokeswoman Katherine Vargas said ”These cuts come at a time when many hardworking American families are...

Matthew McClellan, executive director of the National Council of La Raza Action Fund, said the get-out-the-Latino-vote groups are making more than 75,000 calls over the next few days leading up to the race. In addition, they are conducting door-to-door campaigns, putting up advertisements in Spanish-language media and sending direct mail to almost 27,000 households. “The Latino community is tired of talk and demanding action,” McClellan said. “Saying the right thing is not enough and we will be looking for action after is over.” Hector Sanchez, executive director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, said it is not an...

State Sen. Ron Calderon accepted about $88,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent posing as a film studio owner and a Southern California hospital executive during a wide-ranging probe into his conduct as a legislator, according to a 124-page affidavit published online Wednesday by cable news network Al Jazeera America. No charges have been filed against Calderon, a Democrat from Montebello. His attorney, Mark Geragos, did not return calls Wednesday. The federal affidavit, filed with the court under seal as the FBI sought a search warrant for Calderon’s office, alleges that he worked with interest groups in a pay-to-play...

“One little glitch on a particular website is not going to stop our community from moving forward on this critical issue,” said Hector Sanchez, with the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda. “The success of this affordable care act, because of the proportionality of our Latino families who are eligible, is integrally tied to the success of our community being enrolled,” said Janet Murguia, of the National Council of La Raza.

Trying to sign up for Obamacare the old-fashioned way — paper, pen or telephone? Good luck with that. With the supposedly state-of-the-art $600 million HealthCare.gov portal malfunctioning, President Barack Obama is urging Americans to go ahead and try to get health coverage by mailing in a paper application, calling the helpline or seeking help from one of the trained “assisters.” But the truth is those applications — on paper or by phone — have to get entered into the same lousy website that is causing the problems in the first place. And the people processing the paper and calls don’t...

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is planning to release legislation next week that would provide legal status for six years to undocumented immigrants in the United States, he said in an interview Wednesday. Issa, an influential Republican who leads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, described the legislation as a “come-from-the-shadows” effort that would allow the government to do a full accounting of those who are in the U.S. illegally. Immigrants in this new status would be able to travel to their native country while on this temporary visa, he said.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday that Republicans need to craft a positive agenda and can’t just rail against Washington, D.C. “We have to have an agenda, we just can’t be against what’s in front of Washington, D.C.,” Bush said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday. -snip- Taking one last dig at lawmakers on the Hill, Bush called on them to pass immigration reform and hoped it would set a precedent of lawmaking.

Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) said on Wednesday at the Heritage Foundation-hosted Conversations with Conservatives press event that House Speaker John Boehner has promised him that the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” immigration bill is dead in the House. “I very recently had a conversation with the Speaker and if immigration reform moves, it’s going to move piecemeal,” Salmon said in response to a question from Breitbart News. “And it will go over one bill at a time and if there is any kind of conference, it will be on specific bills we send over. It will not be on the Gang...

Carney announces that now the CR and Debt Ceiling have gone Obama's way, the president is putting "immigration reform" back on the front burner. "It's the right thing for America."

Immigration reform advocates plan an aggressive campaign to bring the issue back — and the White House has signaled it’s on board. Can Obama emerge from the fiscal crisis with enough momentum to win the immigration fight? As the fiscal fight roiling Washington nears its end, the White House is already signaling that it plans to use the political momentum it has gained during the shutdown fight to charge back into the immigration debate. And this time, Democratic pollsters and advocates say, they could actually win. The final chapter of the current crisis hasn’t been written yet, but Democrats in...

Over the past few years, immigration reform has been at the forefront of debates in Congress. In both the Senate and the House of Representatives, members from across the aisle have come together to develop bipartisan bills that would change the lives of over 11 million undocumented immigrants. Some in Congress have worked tirelessly to create a law that would provide a path to citizenship for millions, while others have focused the debate on border security. In an exclusive interview with Latinos Post, National Council of La Raza (NCLR)’s senior immigration legislation analyst Laura Vazquez discussed the future of immigration...

A planned immigration reform rally will take place on the National Mall on Tuesday even though the site is closed due to the government shutdown. ~~~SNIP~~~ Susana Flores, a spokesperson for the rally, confirmed for the Washington Examiner that the Park Service will allow the event to take place under the group's rights granted by the First Amendment. About 30 members of Congress are expected to attend the rally, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

A top House Republican says in an upcoming interview that the chamber will take up immigration reform in 2013, insisting that “there’s still time” for a comprehensive rewrite despite the rapidly dwindling time left on this year’s calendar. Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, said during an interview with Univision’s “Al Punto” that top leaders are still discussing when to bring immigration bills to the House floor. Speaker John Boehner “over the last few weeks has continued to talk about the importance of the House moving forward on immigration reform,” McMorris Rodgers said, according...

"Take your DACA and shove it!" - by John HillStand With ArizonaArizona Governor Jan Brewer is under fire from pro-illegal alien "rights" groups like the ACLU and La Raza for refusing drivers licenses to illegal alien "youth" granted virtual amnesty under Barack Obama's DACA program. They have sued repeatedly to try and stop her. But rather than back down, Brewer has doubled down. Brewer has now directed her Department of Transportation to expand her denial of drivers licenses to ALL illegal aliens granted a reprieve from deportation by the Obama DHS or ICE, regardless of circumstances. The left has erupted...