Free Republic

In a shocking reversal of policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are being told to release illegal immigrants and no longer order them to appear at deportation hearings, essentially a license to stay in the United States, a key agent testified Thursday. What's more, the stand down order includes a requirement that the whereabouts of illegals released are not to be tracked. "We might as well abolish our immigration laws altogether," suggested agent Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council. Report: MS-13 foot soldiers use 'surge' to cross border, 'colonize new criminal territory' By Paul Bedard• February...

CLEVELAND NATIONAL FOREST – A stubborn East County fire burning for a second day has charred 7,000 acres of brush and prompted authorities to alert residents in Guatay and Pine Valley to consider evacuating because flames were being pushed by erratic winds. NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune Jonathan Jordan watched the wildfire yesterday from a hill above Carveacre in the Cleveland National Forest, where 7,000 acres have burned southeast of Alpine since Sunday morning. Jordan doesn't have enough trailers to evacuate his 12 horses, plus cows and pigs The fire, burning northeast of the Pine Creek Wilderness and in the...

GOP leaders: No immigration bill this year By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 33 minutes ago In a defeat for President Bush, Republican congressional leaders said Tuesday that broad immigration legislation is all but doomed for the year, a victim of election-year concerns in the House and conservatives' implacable opposition to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. "Our number one priority is to secure the border, and right now I haven't heard a lot of pressure to have a path to citizenship," said Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., announcing plans for an unusual series of hearings to begin in August on...

LUDLOW (East of Barstow)– A van carrying 20 people careened out of control on a desert highway Monday and rolled over several times, killing five and injuring 15, the California Highway Patrol said. "No one else had seat belts or were properly secured," he said. "No one except the driver had documentation, so I'm not sure if the victims were migrant farm laborers or illegal aliens."CHP Officer Todd Weichers said. The driver, who was from Phoenix, and four others including a 15-year-old were dead, said CHP Capt. Tom McCreary. Fifteen were injured, eight of them critically, Lt. Oscar Medellin said....