Free Republic

MCALLEN, Texas—In one weekend, the U.S. Border Patrol prevented murder suspects, multiple sex offenders, and an MS-13 gang member from entering the interior of Texas after they illegally entered into the U.S. from Mexico. The arrests occurred in the Rio Grande Valley sector, ground zero of the current border crisis. The murder suspect was caught approximately 85 miles from the border in Texas, near the town of Falfurrias. He is a Guatemalan who is wanted for alleged murder in the State of Florida. Another of the arrests occurred near McAllen, Texas as a man from El Salvador who crossed the...

LAS CRUCES – A New Mexico center where Border Patrol agents receive basic training will house as many as 700 of the people they are being taught to apprehend: immigrants who have crossed the U.S. border illegally. The Department of Homeland Security’s recent decision to turn part of the Artesia training facility into a detention center for migrant families – the latest move by the Obama administration to respond to a wave of Central American migrants crossing into the United States – is an effort to relieve the poor conditions in overcrowded holding stations in south Texas. The Artesia facility...

Bill Richardson, the former New Mexico governor who held in two senior positions in President Bill Clinton's administration, was labeled a turncoat in 2008 for endorsing Barack Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton. Now, as Clinton weighs a second presidential run in 2016, Richardson wants the political world to know he's not on board -- yet. When I called Richardson last week soliciting his thoughts on Clinton's book tour, the first thing Richardson said was, "You know I'm not in the 'Ready for Hillary' camp, right?" "It's because of our differences when I endorsed Obama," Richardson said. "The differences haven't healed,...

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — On Saturday, June 21, Protest ABQ held a public awareness campaign in a local neighborhood when a man, identified by group members as Jay McCleskey, Gov. Susana Martinez’s Re-Election Campaign Manager and Chief Campaign Strategist, confronted the pro-life activists stating, “You are all pieces of S***!” “The pro-life community has been asking Gov. Martinez what she is willing to do to STOP pre-born child killing in New Mexico. We have been completely ignored until today,” stated a pregnant and astonished Tara Shaver who was present with her husband and children. Several members of our group identified Mr....

Protesters advocating for drastic changes within a police agency criticized by the U.S. Justice Department over its use of force put the embattled police chief “on trial” during a rally Saturday. […] The Police Department is under scrutiny for over 40 police shootings—26 of them fatal—since 2010, and the Justice Department has issued a harsh report over the agency’s use of force. …

ALBUQUERQUE – Some of the immigrant families caught crossing the border together illegally will be coming to New Mexico and housed by the Catholic Church, advocates said Friday. Thomas Baca, executive director of Catholic Charities in Las Cruces, told The AP that close to 300 people will be housed at a parish in Anthony. Around half are from Honduras and most are mothers with children, he said. The migrants are being flown in to El Paso from south Texas by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The federal government’s decision to ban energy development across a wide swath of Colorado and eastern Utah to protect the Gunnison sage grouse habitat has raised concerns the action would inflict economic damage. Although the Obama administration was not expected to make its decision as to whether the bird warrants the endangered listing until November, the Bureau of Land Management’s decision this week effectively puts an oil, gas and coal moratorium on 400,000 acres – roughly 90 acres per bird. The final decision was “pushed back until after the election, because when people understand the impact on jobs, people get...

Another New Mexico county has joined a lawsuit to fight the listing of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species. Lea County in southeastern New Mexico joined three other counties in the state last week in a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ... U.S. Rep., Steve Pearce, R-N.M., .. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to cater to environmental groups and disregard science will devastate New Mexico’s way of life,” he said. “New Mexicans will pay the price in lost jobs, industry, ranching and oil and gas production.”

More than 500 armed Mexican troops or police have strayed across the border into the U.S. over the past decade, according to numbers the Homeland Security Department provided to Congress . ... Rep. Duncan Hunter ... said Mexico has been hypocritical in refusing to release Sgt. Tahmooressi even as its own troops and law enforcement are caught doing the same thing as the Marine. “It’s time for the U.S. to reconsider its treatment of the incidents and send a direct message to Mexico that incursions won’t be tolerated along the international border,”

Federal authorities have issued a moratorium blocking oil, gas and coal leasing on 800,000 acres of public land in southwestern Colorado and eastern Utah that is habitat for the imperiled Gunnison sage grouse. ... restrictive measures that will impact jobs and economic development

Jamie Estrada, 41, of Los Lunas, N.M., pleaded guilty Monday to the unlawful interception of electronic communications and false statement charges arising out of the unlawful interception of wire communications intended for others, including New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and members of her staff. Estrada briefly served as campaign manager in 2009, as Martinez was beginning her bid for governor. The Republican won election in 2010 and took office in January 2011. “Each and every one of us has a right and an expectation of privacy in our electronic communications, including our emails, and those who violate the law by...

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...

Border Patrol officials are swamped by the number of minors crossing illegally into the United States and frustrated that they can’t turn away known Mexican gang members. Chris Cabrera, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 3307 in the Rio Grande Valley, said that confirmed gang members in Mexico — including those from Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) — are coming into the country to be reunited with their families, National Review reported Friday. “If he’s a confirmed gang member in his own country, why are we letting him in here? … I’ve heard people come in and say, ‘You’re...

HOUSTON, Texas--The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is taking select Members of Congress on a secret tour of the temporary children’s shelter set up to house the children who entered the country illegally as part of the Texas border crisis. The tour will visit the temporary shelter set up at Naval Base Ventura County later this afternoon. The Congressional delegation will be given a 40-minute tour of the facility where they will witness the interior of the shelter and the care being provided for the unaccompanied minors while they are being housed in their facilities. An email obtained...

Former Albuquerque state senator Paul Becht was a pioneer of sorts – the first self-identified “Christian conservative” to run for statewide office in New Mexico. Though Becht finished fifth in the 1986 primary election for Republican governor candidates, he stood strong in his beliefs, saying in a later interview that the real battleground for modern society “is in each individual soul.” Becht died June 5 after a brief illness. He was 76. A Wisconsin native, Becht first worked in government as state purchasing agent under Republican Gov. David Cargo. He attempted to win the Republican Party’s nomination for lieutenant governor...

Gil Kerlikowske, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said Friday that many of the illegal immigrant children his agents are encountering trying to slip across the U.S.-Mexico border have never even seen a doctor before. He described scenes of Border Patrol agents changing diapers and heating baby formula in order to care for some of the youngest children, and said agents are being asked to do things way beyond their skill set — particularly for so many of the agents who are young, single men. “I’ve been down there, a lot, and spent a lot of time and I’ve...

The Mount Vernon Assembly – Indianapolis FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Skip Brown skip.brown@iga.in.gov 317-232-9521 The Mount Vernon Assembly to Meet at Indiana Statehouse June 12 and 13 INDIANAPOLIS (June 9, 2014) – More than 100 state legislators representing 33 states will meet at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis on June 12 and 13 to continue establishing the rules and procedures needed for a future state-led convention for proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as authorized by Article V of the Constitution. The meeting is a continuation of efforts that began in December 2013 at George Washington’s historic Mount Vernon estate...

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, on Wednesday said U.S. aid that has helped return Mexican cities like Ciudad Juárez to normalcy after years of violence should also be used to help Mexico secure its border with Central America and stem the growing tide of undocumented immigrants arriving in Texas. “That 500-mile border between Guatemala and Mexico is a sieve,” Cornyn said during a conference call with reporters. “Once these unaccompanied minors or other adults get in to the hands of the gangs that smuggle them through areas controlled by the Zetas or other cartels, this is not a benign situation....

White House To Request $2 Billion To Handle Border Influx of Children Nogales Border Influx of children illegally crossing U.S. border is called a humanitarian crisis Federal officials scramble to respond to unexpected surge of minors immigrating alone into U.S. A rush of young children crossing alone and illegally into the United States from Texas is so large and unexpected that senior officials with the Obama administration said Monday the White House is asking Congress for about $2 billion to grapple with what is being called a humanitarian crisis. Molly Hennessy-Fiske Immigration agents are so overwhelmed that some children are...

Chester Nez, the last original Navajo Code Talker, has passed away in his Albuquerque home. Nez was recruited with 28 other Native Americans by the U.S. Marines to create a code the Japanese couldn't crack during World War II. Nez went into kidney failure Wednesday morning. He was 93. "Many people have met him," said Judy Avila, a friend and author of Nez's memoir. "When you meet him, you're charmed by him." He was the last living member of the group. "There were a lot of people and naysayers who said, 'How can these young Navajo men help us?' But...