Free Republic

GENEVA, July 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday launched an international inquiry into human rights violations and crimes that may have been committed by Israel during its military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The U.N. Human Rights Council condemned the Israeli assault which it said had involved "disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks", including aerial bombing of civilian areas, collective punishment, and the killing of more than 650 Palestinians. At the end of an emergency session, the 47-member forum adopted a resolution presented by Palestinians by a vote of 29 states in favor, 1 against (the United States) with 17...

La Joya (KNVO) — It was a terrifying situation in a Texas border town as authorities exchanged gunfire with a murder suspect. Border patrol agents were under fire as they tried to arrest a man in La Joya, on the Rio Grande River near the Gulf of Mexico. Two law enforcement officers were shot, but both are expected to recover. Authorities said the man was wanted for a murder in Edinburg. He was also believed to be a member of the notorious "Texas Syndicate" prison gang. The gunman had barricaded himself in an apartment and fired at sheriff's deputies and...

If conscious thinking Americans have followed the news over the last three months, they would have read, or at least heard about two stories involving two American servicemen who were, in one manner or another, captured and held in foreign countries. However, the similarities of those apprehensions end right there. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a member of the United States Army was either captured by, or surrendered to, the Taliban in Afghanistan in June 2009, while Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who was recently honorably discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps, was apprehended by Mexican authorities this past March for mistakenly crossing into...

Joel Vasquez Rojas, the mayor of San Pedro Huamelula, married the reptile – dressed in a white gown – at the city hall and then shared a dance in front of packed party of local residents. According to local tradition, the crocodile is a princess whose marriage to the town mayor will bring in an abundance of seafood for fisherman on the Pacific coast. ‘As young people, this means a lot,’ said local resident Eduardo Zarate 'It’s the greatest treasure our ancestors have left us.’ For safety, the crocodile’s jaw was wired shut for the day. ‘It is my wish...

<p>When justifying the release of five vicious Taliban terrorists detained at “Gitmo” in exchange for U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, the president said, “We don’t leave our people behind.” He was subsequently accused of violating a law requiring him to notify Congress thirty days before releasing any Gitmo detainees.</p>

When justifying the release of five vicious Taliban terrorists detained at “Gitmo” in exchange for U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, the president said, “We don’t leave our people behind.” Sergeant Tahmooressi completed two combat tours and received two meritorious promotions for battlefield service in Afghanistan. This spring, the honorably discharged 26-year-old veteran was planning to relocate from his home in Florida to California. Late on March 31, disoriented by poorly-lighted, graffiti-covered traffic signs, he inadvertently drove his pick-up truck, loaded with all his possessions – including three legally purchased firearms -- into Mexico at the San Ysidro, Calif., Port of Entry...

<p>Talk radio host Glenn Beck criticized Fox News and Breitbart for their reporting of his plan to visit the border to bring food, soccer balls, and teddy bears to illegal immigrants on the southern border.</p>

First those Texans took our jobs. Then they took our money. Well, to be precise, Mexican Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna’s leg. A group of Illinois soldiers stole it fair and square – back in 1845. During the U.S. war with Mexico, Santa Anna skedaddled from the battle on a donkey and left his prosthetic leg behind in a carriage along with a bag of gold and a freshly cooked chicken. A group of Illinois soldiers ate the chicken, gave the Army the gold and kept the leg. One of the soldiers traveled about Illinois charging 10 cents for...

Rio Grande Valley ABC affiliate KRGV reported on Wednesday a La Grulla, Texas police officer was confronted by an illegal migrant member of the notorious MS-13 gang with a car full of illegal aliens he was recruiting.

On July 18th and 19th, grassroots activists around the country will be protesting illegal immigration and the handling of illegal border-crossers by the Obama Administration. There are a handful of pro-enforcement organizations coordinating the events and more than 300 locations on the list of protests. The list is updating daily and can also be found on one of the organizing group's website here. For more information, contact the group organizers by visiting the events on the Facebook link.

he influx of children across our southern border is troubling. First, because they are not all children — not by a sight — but images of children are useful for stirring emotions to muddy the policy waters. Second, because it is not all that unusual: As the Wall Street Journal reports, between 23,000 and 47,000 minors illegally entered the United States and were apprehended in each of the past five years; in 2013, we ordered only 3,525 deportations, suggesting that something on the order of nine in ten, or more, of minor illegal aliens — again, of the number apprehended...

But while Obama chomped on a rib and downed a “brewski,” hundreds of Mexicans rioted at the southern border of the United States and rushed the guards.The rioters themselves documented this video: -snip As you can see, these people were ready to fight, and there is talk of this being a “dry run.” 

Republicans have played defense on immigration for so long that they’ve forgotten how to play offense. The waves of aliens, the dead children washing up on the banks of the Rio Grande, the thousands of free airline tickets for reunions with stateside relatives — all of these things are happening because left-wing control of the levers of power has been met by Republican ineptitude. Shock and outrage at administration policies isn’t enough. The Republicans have provided no effective leadership in stopping the tsunami rolling north from Central America. But Republicans can control the issue, and the nation’s future, if they...

In a shocking revelation made by a veteran U.S. counterterrorism expert, Hezbollah has infiltrated the Southwest United States by joining forces with Mexican drug cartels that have long operated in the region. Judicial Watch has for years reported on the chilling connection between Islamic extremists and Mexican drug cartels. In fact, as far back as 2007 JW wrote about an astounding Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) report that lays out how Islamic terrorists and Mexican drug gangs have teamed up to successfully penetrate the U.S. as well as finance terror networks in the Middle East In Hezbollah’s case, a growing “business...

Border Patrol agents are dropping off undocumented immigrants at bus stations and now at airports. Some said those who crossed illegally into the U.S are able to purchase plane tickets and board flights without a picture I.D as required for everyone else. National Border Patrol Council said while they are unaware of immigrants boarding planes without identification in the Rio Grande Valley. A union representative out of the Laredo sector told us that it is happening in Laredo and it’s happening quite often. We spoke to National Border Patrol Council #2455 in Laredo, and what they told us was shocking....

NEW YORK – Mexico and Guatemala have reached an agreement that is intended to make it easier and safer for Central Americans, including unaccompanied minors, to enter the United States illegally. Though largely unreported in the U.S. mainstream media, the two nations agreed on July 7, in a presidential-level meeting in Mexico, to make it legal and safe for Central American immigrants, including unaccompanied minors, to cross Mexico’s border with Guatemala and transit Mexico en route to the U.S. border at the Rio Grande. The agreement apparently does not recognize that the result of such trips – entry into the...

The number of foreigners who successfully filed asylum claims in the United States almost tripled from 2012 to 2013, up to 30,393. That’s 10 times the number from 2008, when President Barack Obama was elected, and it is evidence his immigration officials are approving most of the asylum requests from the growing wave of Central American migrants. If you came illegally to the U.S. seeking asylum in 2013, you had better than a four-in-five chance of successfully filing an asylum claim. That’s up from a three-in-five chance in 2008. The migrants include mothers with children, and youths who have been...

This week Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina held a joint press conference to announce they have reached an accord to cooperate in the shipment of more illegal migrants from Central America to the United States. “This agreement is a win-win for both of our countries,” Peña boasted. “Guatemala rids itself of people they cannot adequately care for. By assuring that these migrants have guaranteed transportation through Mexico we avoid becoming the repository of these undesirables.” Perez insisted that “we are only responding to America’s invitation to send our tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to...

Every Central American immigrant that arrives in the U.S. had to first pass through Mexico, which raises the question: How should Mexico respond?

Lawyers advocating for illegal immigrant children flooding across the U.S.-Mexico border want Congress to make it more difficult to deport illegal immigrants, even from Mexico. Under current law, the federal government can immediately deport illegal immigrants from Mexico and Canada. Those from countries like Central America, though, cannot be immediately deported under a 2008 law. The American Immigration Lawyers Association told Congress this week that "there is no valid reason for treating vulnerable unaccompanied children differently based on their country of origin." The group, which is the national association of immigration lawyers that was "established to promote justice and advocate...