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Tucson, Ariz. (AP) -- A judge has threatened to sentence an Arizona man to 25 days in prison for leaving jugs of water in the desert for illegal immigrants. A federal jury in June convicted Walt Staton of Tucson of littering in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. . . . Staton is a member of the group No More Deaths, which supports humanitarian aid along the border. He was scheduled to be re-sentenced Friday after he told a U.S. magistrate last month that he objected to the court's punishment on moral and legal grounds.

San Francisco board overrides mayor's veto of sanctuary expansion It upholds an ordinance barring local authorities from turning juvenile illegal immigrants over to the federal government unless guilty of a felony. By Maria L. La Ganga November 11, 2009 Reporting from San Francisco The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to override a recent veto by Mayor Gavin Newsom and expand the city's controversial sanctuary policy. The board was greeted by raucous applause after it voted 8 to 3 to uphold a recent ordinance that would bar local authorities from handing juvenile illegal immigrants over to the federal government...

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to bar law enforcement officials from handing juvenile illegal immigrants over to the federal government unless they have been convicted of a felony. Twenty years ago, San Francisco enacted a "sanctuary city" ordinance requiring, in part, that local agencies not consider immigration status when dealing with young offenders. But Mayor Gavin Newsom changed the policy in the summer of 2008, after published reports revealed that the ordinance was protecting young undocumented offenders from deportation. Afterward, all juvenile illegal immigrants charged with felonies were referred to federal officials. The June 2008 shooting deaths...

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors took the first step yesterday to prohibit the reporting youths accused of drug crimes to Federal immigration authorities. The measure, will pass next week, will be vetoed by Mayor Newsom, and be overridden by the Board, is packed with intriguing politics. First, from my debate on PBS’s KQED-FM, with the supervisor who has led the fight for the measure, Supervisor David Campos, I believe he is sincere in his concern for the “children”. as he calls them. He himself was an illegal entrant at the age of 14, and went on to earn a...

ISLAMABAD – The Pakistani military is setting its sights on the Taliban's remote sanctuary after nearly two weeks of big bombings across the country, as hundreds flee the Afghan border region each day before what promises to be the army's riskiest offensive yet. With the first snows of winter less than two months away, the army has limited time to mount a major ground attack. The U.S. is racing to send in night vision goggles and other equipment. The Pakistani military insists it's sealing off supply and escape routes, forcing the militants to rely on goat paths. The army has...

There's still no love lost between Supervisor Chris Daly and Mayor Gavin Newsom. Daly, making a guest appearance Monday at the Board of Supervisors' public safety committee to support Supervisor David Campos' amendment to the city's sanctuary ordinance, said Newsom should be "held accountable" for releasing a confidential legal memo that said Campos' amendment violated federal law and would invite a legal challenge to the entire sanctuary policy. Daly downplayed the memo, saying it outlines a worst-case scenario and "exaggerates the legal risk involved." But he also said Newsom had provided a road map to anyone looking to challenge the...

A San Francisco supervisor's proposed legislation would make it more difficult for officials to hand over undocumented youths suspected of crimes to federal immigration authorities, a policy that, if approved, could have far-reaching impacts. The proposed law would require that juvenile suspects be convicted of a felony before San Francisco officials contact federal immigration authorities - unless the suspect is charged as an adult. Currently, immigration authorities are contacted at the time of a felony arrest - a change implemented last year by Mayor Gavin Newsom after the city's sanctuary city policy made national headlines. Newsom's change angered many in...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The family of a father and two sons who were gunned down on a San Francisco street last year has failed to convince a federal judge that the city violated the victims' constitutional rights by shielding their alleged murderer from deportation. But a lawyer for Tony Bologna's widow and daughter said he'll return to a state court with claims that San Francisco acted negligently by not notifying federal authorities of Edwin Ramos' immigration status when police arrested him in separate incidents in 2003 and 2004. The city's lawyer said he'll seek dismissal of those claims as...

KLBJ-AM's Don Pryor (son of Cactus Pryor) and Todd Jeffries have been suspended from their weekday show without pay for two weeks after the repeated use of an ethnic slur during an on-air discussion Tuesday, station management announced Wednesday. The suspensions were effective immediately.

  Third Officer Shot By Illegal Alien In Sancutary City Last Updated: Mon, 06/29/2009 - 3:52pmA third law enforcement officer in one of the nation’s biggest sanctuary cities has been shot by an illegal immigrant who was protected by a don’t-ask-don’t-tell immigration policy during previous police encounters.The Houston Police Department’s longtime rule prohibiting officers from questioning suspects about immigration status has cost the department dearly in the last few years. Two officers have been murdered and one shot in the face by illegal immigrants with previous records. The latest shooting occurred just last week when an illegal alien from Mexico killed...

The problem isn't that San Francisco lacks good ideas. It is that it takes them too far. In a period of 20 years, we went from a reasonable sanctuary policy that shielded political exiles who were here illegally to District Attorney Kamala Harris justifying letting first-time drug offenders clear their convictions even though they were illegal immigrants and subject to deportation. But here's the question: Why didn't anyone see this coming? Wasn't the uproar a year ago enough to get everyone's attention? Last year, The Chronicle's Jaxon VanDerbeken revealed that the city had been transporting convicted juvenile crack dealers back...

D.A.'s office let illegal immigrants go Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, June 23, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris' office on Monday defended allowing about a half dozen first-time drug offenders to clear their records by going through a job-training program, even after prosecutors learned they were deportable as undocumented immigrants. But Harris' aides said they have since made changes in the program that would prevent a recurrence of instances in which illegal immigrants got their criminal records cleared by going through the Back on Track jobs program, which trains offenders for jobs that...

Whenever a dictatorship is near falling there are only a few limited options for the dictator: 1. Institute a brutal crackdown, and murder a substantial fraction of your subjects in hopes that the survivors will be cowed into submission. 2. Die. Usually in a very unpleasant and humiliating fashion. 3. Seek sanctuary in another country. Even the likes of self-admitted cannibal Idi Amin was able to find a country that would accept him. Should the mad mullahs of Iran be backed into a corner they will turn even more vicious. Sun Tzu recognized that putting an enemy in this position...

As we saw this morning, American citizens are not faring too well in the era of the Eric Holder Justice Department. But aliens — especially those who are illegally in our country, or who commit crimes in our country — continue to thrive. The Legal Times is reporting that Attorney General Holder has reversed the ruling by Attorney General Mukasey that aliens in immigration removal proceedings have no right to effective assistance of counsel. As Mukasey explained back in January, in a well-reasoned 34-page opinion which carefully analyzed the pertinent law, the Sixth Amendment right to counsel applies only to...

Rangel-Ochoa, whom police arrested after he was treated for his injuries, remained in jail today, accused of driving with a suspended license. He is not in the U.S. legally, according to police; they did not know his country of origin. Authorities said Rangel-Ochoa's license had been suspended and revoked numerous times for offenses ranging from failure to complete driver improvement classes to driving under the influence. In 2003 his driver's license was revoked for 15 years following a conviction for third-offense DUI. He now will face a charge of misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide, Sgt. Doug Klein said in a police...

So what did President Obama get in return for the most sweeping shift in US policy toward Cuba in nearly half a century? A public kick in the pants from Fidel Castro. The ailing despot left no doubt about who runs things in Havana -- and it isn't his brother, Raul, Cuba's president. After Raul declared he was "willing" to discuss issues like human rights and political prisoners with Obama, Fidel responded with an essay on a state-controlled Web site that said, essentially, not so fast. And, he predicted, Obama will wind up on the "path [to] sure failure, like...

Dallas Morning News columnist Rod Dreher may have to fly to Costa Rica if he wants to see some of his friends. In one of his recent blogs, Dreher told of multiple people discussing potential moves to Costa Rica if things go downhill. These aren’t people who are eager to join Paulville. Rather, these are normal, middle-class conservatives who are considering moving to Costa Rica if the country goes downhill under President Obama. One of the commenters on Dreher’s blog asked if this was not unlike liberals throwing a fit in 2004 and threatening to leave if Bush won. Not...

Margaret Rains and Haley Tepe were sitting down to enjoy ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins in Aurora, Colo., when a sport utility vehicle driven by an illegal immigrant sent two cars plowing into the shop, leaving three dead and the two women injured. Now the women are taking action against the city of Denver, arguing that its sanctuary-city policy contributed to the Sept. 4 crash. The driver, 23-year-old Francis Hernandez, had been arrested numerous times by Denver police, but was never reported to federal immigration authorities. "Despite these numerous arrests and the readily ascertainable illegal-immigrant status of Mr. Hernandez, at...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2009 – Whether it’s sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows in the winter or standing in the middle of a creek fishing during the summer, a Colorado troop-support group is promising a week-long retreat full of fun and relaxation for 80 deserving military families this year. Project Sanctuary will give the military families a five-night, all-expenses-paid, therapeutic retreat in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The retreats will be co-hosted by the YMCA of the Rockies at the Snow Mountain Ranch near Winter Park, Colo. “The stress on military families is enormous,” Kristi Kinnison, director of development at...

Hundreds wait for hours to buy S.F. ID card Hundreds of people stood in line for hours at San Francisco City Hall on Thursday to be among the first in the nation to receive municipal identification cards (regardless of their immigration status.) The cards, also available in New Haven, Conn., and being considered in other cities, have sparked fury among advocates of stricter immigration laws. They argue cities have no business declaring people residents if they are not in the country legally. But San Francisco officials and recipients of the cards hailed the new program as a way to connect...

City officials are finally admitting what others have been saying for years: San Francisco is attracting huge numbers of homeless people from all over. Thousands of transient people, arriving from other counties, states and even countries, are overwhelming the city's homeless system. Facing a crippling budget shortfall, officials at San Francisco's homeless agencies are proposing a radical idea - take care of the city's own first, and require newcomers to show proof of residency for aid."If a homeless family living in San Francisco doesn't get shelter, and somebody just off the bus does, it doesn't seem fair," said Trent Rhorer,...

OBERLIN — Several members of City Council said Monday night they want to amend a proposal to make Oberlin Ohio’s first “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants. The issue passed 6-to-1 on the first of three readings, but it could be amended before a final vote."....

Still seeking to out lib the liberal Mecca’s of San Francisco and Seattle, Portland, Oregon is home to a class of professional protesters who live only to protest. Nothing energizes these moonbats more than the United States defending itself or fighting those who seek our total destruction. It should come as no surprise that once again, the malcontents that have infested Portland are seeking to make Portland a Sanctuary City where those who desert the obligation they volunteered for in our Military can come to when they need a safe place to live. The anti-war ilk in Portland desire the...

On November 5th of this year, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor of Little Rock introduced a pastoral letter titled “I Was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me…” to the Catholic Church and to the public. In a public statement announcing the letter, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor claims that “being able to immigrate to another country is an intrinsic human right”. Bishop Taylor also states that “We do support them being here illegally. They have a right to be here.” The Pastoral Letter is designed to indoctrinate Christians into supporting illegal immigration. KeepArkansasLegal believes that churches of all dominations can help any...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A teenager accused of stabbing a 14-year-old boy to death in a gang-motivated attack had been given sanctuary from deportation under San Francisco's previous practice of shielding young illegal immigrant felons from federal authorities, records show. Rony Aguilera, 17, known as "Guerrillero," has been charged as an adult in the July 31 sword attack in the Excelsior neighborhood that killed Ivan Miranda, who police say was an innocent victim caught up in an act of gang vengeance. Authorities believe Aguilera is an illegal immigrant from Honduras, but he was never referred to federal officials after being arrested...

"Sanctuary Cities” are replicating disease like throughout the country. These make-shift communities serve as safe havens for illegal immigrants, with sometimes tragic results. Just ask Jamiel Shaw, a 17-year-old Los Angeles resident, who was recklessly gunned down by a 19-year-old "Sanctuary City" resident named Pedro Espinoza. Espinoza, an illegal immigrant and member of the 18th Street gang, murdered Shaw without reason. Even worse, Espinoza was allowed to seek cover for his murder by hiding out in "Sanctuary Cities." Espinoza’s motive for killing Shaw was imprinted on the two-letter tattoo that stretched across his neck: "BK." The letters are an acronym...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal grand jury is investigating whether San Francisco's policy of offering sanctuary to undocumented immigrants violates U.S. laws against harboring people who are in the country illegally, city officials say. City Attorney Dennis Herrera said his office has hired a criminal defense lawyer to represent employees who might be questioned or asked for documents. He and Mayor Gavin Newsom said they would cooperate with the investigation. San Francisco, like about 80 other U.S. cities and five states, has a law prohibiting the use of its funds to help enforce federal immigration law or to question individuals...

It turns out that San Francisco wasn't shielding just juvenile illegal immigrants from deportation if they committed crimes - City Hall officials have discovered that there are 372 convicted adult felons on probation in the city who weren't reported to the feds. The findings were reported in an audit overseen by the city's incoming probation chief, Patrick Boyd, ... City officials repeatedly claimed that adult illegal immigrant felons were being turned over to federal officials - unlike juveniles, who for years were protected under what authorities now concede was a misinterpretation of the sanctuary law. Officers with the city Probation...

San Francisco -- Nearly 30 percent of the felony offenders San Francisco juvenile justice officials have reported to federal immigration authorities since the city stopped shielding youths from deportation have turned out to be adults, authorities say. The city's Juvenile Probation Department has referred 58 offenders to federal authorities since Mayor Gavin Newsom announced July 2 that the city no longer would protect youths from deportation under San Francisco's sanctuary law. The mayor took the step after The Chronicle revealed that the city was paying for flights home and $7,000-a-month group homes for underage, undocumented offenders, who as adults could...

World's First 'Soldiers' Sanctuary' September 04, 2008 PR Newswire FAYETTEVILLE, NC -- A North Carolina county has declared itself a "Soldiers' Sanctuary," and enlisted a citizen "Army's Army" to defend. On September 5, in a statement of support for the nation's military men and women, Cumberland County, N.C. will declare itself the "World's First Sanctuary for Soldiers and Their Families," with major roads entering the county marked by official blue and white "Sanctuary" signage.

AURORA ? At least eight local law enforcement agencies have made contact with him over the last five years, but until this week, most of them say they had no reason to believe Francis Hernandez was an illegal immigrant. Aurora Police say last week Hernandez caused a chain-reaction crash which resulted in the deaths of three people inside and outside of an ice cream store. On Friday, Aurora investigators said they believed Hernandez was born in California and could find no indication that he was in the U.S. illegally. Monday, federal immigration officials confirmed they now believe Hernandez came into...

For years, Gerardo Salazar played the Romeo in dusty Mexican villages, trolling town squares and schoolyards for women and girls he could seduce with declarations of love and, ultimately, sell in seedy Houston cantinas. Salazar, who called himself El Gallo — the Rooster — could have been arrested three years ago after a federal indictment named him leader of an international human trafficking ring. Instead, he escaped to Mexico, where his hometown is a notorious center for kidnapping. But the cantina sex trade Salazar helped build in Houston continues to flourish. Despite enforcement efforts, human traffickers and prostitution operators have...

State Sen. Tom McClintock spoke to a gathering of Minutemen from the Sacramento region on the steps of the State Capitol Tuesday. In town for their annual ‘Lobby Day,’ the Minutemen make visits to lawmakers to raise awareness on issues stemming from illegal immigration. This year, one of the topics is crimes caused by illegal aliens. One high-profiled example is the murder case involving Edwin Ramos, a native of El Salvador who is charged with three counts of murder. Tony Bologna and his two sons, Michael and Matthew, who were on the way back from a family gathering, when they...

HAYWARD — Walking to and from school has been a nightmare for Amoni Packnett, an eighth-grader at Cesar Chavez Middle School. The 13-year-old and other girls are the target of daily whistles and hard stares from day laborers, who often also stalk the girls, along Tennyson Road in south Hayward. "It can get uncomfortable, and I feel violated," Packnett said. "We just want something to be done to prevent this from happening again." Helping children feel safe along a stretch from Ruus Road to the railroad tracks on Tennyson Road — an area dominated by day laborers — was the...

... the unrelenting financial, political and sanctuary support provided by Mr. O'Malley and the legislature to the illegal-alien support group CASA of Maryland. Millions of tax dollars are annually pumped into the nonprofit ... The more Mr. O'Malley feeds CASA, the more illegal aliens find their way into Maryland looking for drivers' licenses, free social and health services, tax-free employment, in-state college tuition, fraudulent voting opportunities and immunity from law enforcement. ... When CASA publishes a handbook to teach illegal aliens how to not cooperate with Maryland law-enforcement officials, no problem for our elected officials; when Mr. Torres lobbies our...

soon all the problems will be erased because a government think tank has looked carefully at the question of second homes and has announced that the rich bastards who have them should be forced to rent them out to underachieving, fat people. I wonder. Did it deliver its findings to Gordon Brown at No 10, or to his second home in Buckinghamshire? And how does it think such a scheme could possibly work? ... Second-home owners would adopt similar tactics here. Or they’d say their country cottage is their primary residence and that their apartment in London is a pied-à-terre....

If Mayor Gavin Newsom is serious about tightening up San Francisco's sanctuary laws, he might want to take a look at the case of Marco Martinez - a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador who has been arrested by police five times in the past year and a half for allegedly selling crack cocaine but has never wound up in the feds' hands. According to police records, Martinez first appeared on the radar here Oct. 6, 2006, when he sold crack to an undercover officer in United Nations Plaza. He was booked into jail, but quickly posted $35,000 bail and...

As San Francisco's juvenile justice system shielded young illegal immigrant felons from possible deportation, Mayor Gavin Newsom's office gave grants totaling more than $650,000 to nonprofit agencies to provide the underage offenders with free services - everything from immigration attorneys to housing assistance to "arts and cultural affirmation activities," city records show. Newsom has said the city began its policy of not referring young immigrant offenders to federal authorities for deportation under previous mayors, and that he reversed the practice after he became aware of it this year. However, in 2006, the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice - a community...

San Francisco authorities have been able to justify the handling of just 127 border-prosecution cases out of the more than 2,300 that the city billed to the federal government under an anti-crime grant program. Federal auditors said last year that the city was not entitled to any of the more than $5 million it got over three years under the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative grant program, which repays local authorities in border states for handling prosecutions referred to them by federal authorities. In 2006 alone, San Francisco took in $3.7 million from the program, the largest share of any jurisdiction...

Prior to this year, it had been over 25 years since I last filled out a job application and all the accompanying paperwork. I was quite impressed with my current employer’s requirement for me to provide proof of citizenship prior to being hired in. If only all area employers were so diligent, one of Holland’s favorite sons might still be alive today. For years, I have warned against the consequences of illegal immigrants taking up residency in our community. For years, area employers have violated federal law by hiring illegal aliens. For years, illegal immigrants have stolen wages away from...

SAN FRANCISCO -- About a dozen members of the Minutemen, a group that patrols the U.S.-Mexican border in an effort to keep illegal immigrants out, stood on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall today to decry the city's sanctuary policy and demand that Mayor Gavin Newsom resign. They waved signs calling Newsom, District Attorney Kamala Harris and William Siffermann, head of the city's Juvenile Probation Department, "accessories to murder" for the city's now-reversed policy of not turning over illegal immigrant youths arrested for felonies to federal authorities for possible deportation. One Salvadoran immigrant who benefited from the policy, Edwin...

Come join the Minuteman and all of us in the Bay Area who are fed up with San Francisco's illegal shielding of alien criminals. PLACE: San Francisco City Hall DATE: Wednesday, July 30th TIME: 11 A.M. We will demand the resignation of Mayor Newsom and criminally negligent District Attorney Kamala Harris, in addition to an end to San Francisco's criminal alien shield - otherwise known as the "Sanctuary City Policy." Three members of the Bologna family are dead as a direct result of this insane policy, and those responsible must be made to feel the heat. Please join us.

Frank Kennedy, brother in law of murder victim Tony Bologna will be on with John and Ken in a few minutes. The illegal alien MS-13 gang member had been protect by Gavin Newsom's sanctuary city of San Francisco. Instead of throwing him out of the country, he was here to murder Denise's Bologna's husband and two sons. This case may be the rallying cry to wake up the nation. LISTEN ONLINE ON KFI

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The scene repeats itself daily on city streets: a driver gets stuck bumper to bumper, blocking an intersection and preventing another car from turning left. But authorities say that was enough to cause Edwin Ramos to unload an AK-47 assault weapon on a man and his two sons, killing them. The deaths immediately drew public outrage, which intensified when authorities revealed that Ramos, 21, is an illegal immigrant who managed to avoid deportation despite previous brushes with the law.

Sen. John McCain will visit with Michael Reagan this afternoon/evening, at 330pm Pacific/630pm Eastern. Michael has solicited questions for the Senator and will ask him about ANWR and the San Francisco Sanctuary Murders last week. Michael will demand that we cut funds to Sanctuary cities.

SAN FRANCISCO — The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday called on Mayor Gavin Newsom to allow the federal agency full access to information about local inmates, saying the city should rescind its policy that prohibits ICE agents from reviewing jail logs and records. A letter sent to Newsom from ICE director Julie Myers urging more access to inmate records was the latest flare-up following accusations that a San Francisco policy to shield undocumented immigrants also caused the city to shelter felons charged with serious crimes. Eileen Hirst, chief of staff for San Francisco County Sheriff Michael Hennessey,...

Laura Ingraham interviewed Danielle Bologna this morning. It was a tear-filled, emotional, gut-wrenching interview. Danielle was widowed on June 22 when Edwin Ramos, 21, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, allegedly gunned down her husband, Anthony, and two sons, Matthew and Michael, in a road rage incident when her family was returning from a picnic. Ramos was a felon. He was protected by Mayor Gavin Newsome and his San Francisco sanctuary policy and not reported to ICE for deportation. He was out walking free and was able to murder three Americans. The mayor, who is the champion of gay marriage,...

San Francisco's "sanctuary city" policy - as it was implemented until recently - put the welfare of juvenile gang-bangers and drug dealers, who also were illegal immigrants, before the safety of law-abiding residents who are victimized by gangs and thugs. As The Chronicle reported Sunday in a story by reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken, one beneficiary of that policy is Edwin Ramos, 21, who is charged with killing Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16 in a spectacularly senseless shooting spree on June 22. If Ramos is guilty, San Francisco political correctness and a federal immigration screw-up...

CESAR TORRES, right, spoke Monday in support of a proposed ordinance that would prohibit Hartford police and other city agencies from inquiring about a resident's immigration status. Torres, an illegal immigrant in 2002, was forced to return to Peru after he reported a crime he had witnessed. (RICHARD MESSINA / HARTFORD COURANT / July 21, 2008)

The man charged with killing a father and two sons on a San Francisco street was one of the youths who benefited from the city's long-standing practice of shielding illegal immigrant juveniles from possible deportation. Edwin Ramos, 21, is being held on three counts of murder. Ramos is a member of a violent street gang and was found guilty of two felonies as a juvenile. In neither instance did the city's Juvenile Probation Department alert federal immigration authorities, because it was the agency's policy not to consider immigration status when deciding how to deal with an offender. Three months before...