Free Republic

Lack Of Detention Space Leads To Detainee Release HOUSTON -- A problem at the border could lead to a Homeland Security threat, the Local 2 Troubleshooters reported Wednesday. It is not about illegal immigration. It's about terrorism, the safety of our southern border and a lack of critical resources forcing the government to release people into our communities.Lack Of Detention Space Forces Freeing Of Immigrants In Texas Every day, immigrants illegally run across our southern border unchecked. Homeland Security officials are not as concerned with the ones from Mexico as they are with the ones who may be hidden within...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison proposed Tuesday that non-Mexican immigrants be held in local and county jails, even though Congress last year slashed in half the money to reimburse local governments that jail criminal illegal immigrants.Hutchison, a possible candidate in Texas' 2006 gubernatorial race, said in a statement that her proposal would replace the current procedure of releasing those who have not committed crimes into the country with orders to return for their hearings. Ninety percent of such immigrants don't show up for their hearings, federal officials say.But paying for Hutchison's proposal could be a problem.Congress reduced the State...

DOUGLAS, Ariz. -- It's no secret that people sneak into the United States from Mexico every day. But what has been kept under wraps is exactly who is coming in. NBC4's Chuck Henry went deep in the Arizona desert to find out. It's a place that used to go by the name "Cocaine Alley" because of all the drugs that were smuggled through. But now some officials are more concerned about human smuggling, specifically illegal entry at the border by individuals who are not actually from Mexico. They're called "Special Interest Aliens," because they're coming from countries believed to be...

Releasing undocumented immigrants to roam freely in the U.S. is "a terrible policy," U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla told Del Rio and Eagle Pass leaders during a press conference in Del Rio Friday, and announced he is asking the Department of Homeland Security to take a hard look at the issue. "If these people were being released in your neighborhood I am sure you would be outraged. This is happening in the communities I represent and I am outraged," Bonilla said in a letter Thursday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. Bonilla released copies of the letter during his...

The Associated Press MONTERREY, Mexico Aug. 22, 2004 — Governments throughout Mexico and Central America are on alert as evidence grows that al-Qaida members are traveling in the region and looking for recruits to carry out attacks in Latin America the potential last frontier for international terrorism. The territory could be a perfect staging ground for Osama bin Laden's militants, with homegrown rebel groups, drug and people smugglers, and corrupt governments. U.S. officials have long feared al-Qaida could launch an attack from south of the border, and they have been paying closer attention as the number of terror-related incidents has...

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- As part of a dramatic boost in surveillance of the Canadian border, federal customs and immigration officials on Friday dedicated the first of five planned bases for regular flights to look for drug runners and others crossing illegally. The 69-person Bellingham Air Marine Branch will use helicopters, airplanes and high-speed boats to patrol the border. Although similar bases have policed the Mexican border for three decades, the new facility is the first on the Canadian border. Previously, customs and immigration service aircraft have patrolled the border only sporadically, even though much of the border is in rugged...

TUCSON- Tom McNamara and the Eyewitness News 4 Investigators have spent the last three months talking to experts and eyewitnesses. The stories are compelling and the evidence is frightening, and just this week, Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo released a report showing that the problem is worse than anyone thought. Here's what the Eyewitness News 4 Investigators uncovered. "It's a Muslim prayer blanket. It was found about a mile and a half west from the Douglas port of entry in 2001." Larry Vance is a rancher who lives near the U.S.-Mexico border in Douglas, Arizona. For years, he says he's watched...

Woman's arrest raises concerns about border security By SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON — The arrest at a Texas airport of a woman with an altered passport and muddy clothes has led some members of Congress to demand the Department of Homeland Security detain all non-Mexican immigrants caught entering the country illegally. The lawmakers contend terrorists could be among the thousands of non-Mexican immigrants who are arrested then released into the country on their own recognizance while they await deportation hearings. But before releasing a detainee, officers are required to confirm the migrant's identity and run a background check...

SAN DIEGO - Authorities in California were on the lookout Tuesday for a man believed to be from the Middle East who paid a higher-than-usual smuggling fee to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, but officials said the case had no connection to terrorism. "This is not a terrorist warning," said Homeland Security spokeswoman Lauren Mack. The man, who was not identified, entered the United States Monday near Tecate, Mexico - a small border crossing station about 70 miles east of San Diego. It was unclear how he crossed the border. Once across, the man got into a Ford F150 pickup, according...

U.S. Border Patrol agents detained 53 Arabic-speaking males in Arizona near the Mexican border on June 13, according to a report by a small-town newspaper in Tombstone, Arizona. The same report detailed a second incident on June 21 in which 24 Arabic-speaking males were seized after a chase of a larger group of border-crossers, most of whom are still at large. Both incidents involved agents from the Wilcox, Arizona Border Patrol station. The agents said they encountered the 53 men on June 13 as part of a larger contingent of approximately 100 illegal aliens in the Chiricaucha Mountain foothills. The...

This week one of the most startling items to appear in my inbox was an article called, "Breaking the Silence Over a Possible Imminent Threat." The article appeared in "Pravda.RU", the English website of the famous Russian publication. It was about the ceaseless flow of illegal immigrants over Mexico's border into Arizona and the threat that this poses to American security. The source of the story was a small town newspaper in south eastern Arizona called the "Tombstone Tumbleweed." The paper is owned and published by Chris Simcox, a former school teacher who has taken time off from his teaching...

Story Number: NNS040324-08 Release Date: 3/25/2004 9:40:00 AM By Journalist 1st Class Todd Macdonald, Logistics Group Western Pacific Public Affairs SINGAPORE (NNS) -- While nothing can replace family and friends on the pier for Sailors and Marines returning from deployments, the crew of the San Diego-based USS Boxer (LHD 4) had arguably the next best thing waiting for them pierside March 21 - pallets of Girl Scout cookies —enough for everyone aboard. Local Girl Scouts, acting on behalf of their counterparts from the San Diego-Imperial chapter and its Operation Thin Mint (OTM) initiative, delivered 310 cases of cookies, along with...

More than a half-million criminals from other countries have been deported by the United States since 1966, when Congress voted to banish non-native lawbreakers. This flood of felons is overwhelming police in many of the criminals' home countries. What's your reaction? Keep deporting them - we don't need more criminals here. 92% Stop the deportations and rethink the law. 5% Not sure. 1% 790 votes

LAREDO--The government routinely releases undocumented immigrants caught along the U.S.-Mexican border while it decides whether to deport them, and roughly half of them don't show up for their date with an immigration judge.Federal officials say they don't have the resources to detain them all, and the releases create an opportunity for thousands to bypass the nation's Border Patrol barrier along the Rio Grande.Another federal agency, U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is chronically short of space at its own facilities or out of money to pay for jail beds at local lockups to house immigrants awaiting court hearings.So patrol agents...